“Superbad (Interlude),” the latest single from Hydra‘s upcoming EP Superbad, plunges into a supplicant spiral. With a single, hollow drum note serving as its sensory stimulus, sultry chords trigger images of palm pressing against a muggy car window in the middle of the day and a juddering kick/high hat combo to the surface beneath the rippling effects. Hyrda is an enchantress who is armed with a voice that could make knees buckles as if they stumbled along artificial turf; She’s the one who finds herself giving out praise.
As charming and spellbinding as the instrumentation is, she’s the one being explicit and dependent. The elongated lilting of the word “I” in the hook to a memory etched in her being “so good how you beat it up and lick off your fingers” (this is the second line of the verse. SECOND!) is a call to action to give more of herself to someone who she finds praiseworthy. She knows the feelings aren’t mutual “this might be love, but it feels one-sided,” she’ll hold her breath a little longer if it means a spiral of lust last just a little longer.
