Wilmington, California’s rapper and songwriter, Dre’es has returned with a breezy, coastal new summer single, “Pure Sugar.” Having been consistent since 2014’s debut offering, the Work In Progress mixtape.
This track really shows that artistic maturity he’s accrued as Dre’es finds a new sonic vehicle, both in the vocal delivery and instrumental approach. On one hand, the single is an easily accessible summer anthem, but still has the substance to reward repeat listens.
The single plays out like a ride or die anthem. pledging allegiance through the highs and the lows. “Pure Sugar” leads in with a bouncy, audio snippet and looping drum hits co-engineered by producers Pontiac and Ocean Rogue. The high energy instrumental cradles a calm but focused vocal performance.
The lyrical content tells a story of quiet confidence and tenacity in lines like, “Tell em about the highlights. Win or lose I’m on your side” and “Pure sugar, deserve it because you’re pure.” Dre’es spoke on where he was mentally coming in to this track in sharing, “Pure Sugar,’ lyrically and thematically, is rooted from insecurity but delivered with the greatest intention in an almost like musical peace treaty with a former lover.
Naturally providing reassurance and desperately seeking reassurance despite the current state of a relationship on top of a static, blade-like, heavy-winded reverse synth cutting through an even heavier 808 drum. A rap verse delivered like a sermon digging into personal nostalgia in storytelling that an audience can’t help to feel, but only two people could really know.”
The track comes with visuals crafted by director, Luis Vidal that showcase the process behind Dre’es and his upcoming project, collaborating with his friends and frequent collaborators Lecx Stacy, Rasheed, Pontiac, Nikola, and Moises. The video comes with these sort of vignette-like ideas coming via subtitles as the video plays out giving further insight into this thought. Mirroring this duality expressed above, the visuals have a vintage filter used to portray current actions invested for a future project. This timeless quality of loss, acceptance, and moving forward loop in and out of the concept of this record again in this way.
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