Bengaluru-based artist Mary Ann has been doing various things for a few years now. She jumps between genres, styles, sensibilities and ideas on what seems to be a monthly basis; DJ, singer, electronic artist, recording artist, featuring artist… she’s a distributor’s nightmare (that’s an inside joke for the industry, by the way). That being said, she can do almost everything as a singer-songwriter, and her new single ‘Bling Bling’ shows that she can also do something a bit 'strange' without anyone knowing.

On the surface, ‘Bling Bling’ is a pretty simple 'pop' song. It has the R&B vocals one would expect from the late 2000s, along with a confident vocal delivery one would expect from the Brandy and Aaliyah era of that genre’s golden age a few years prior. There are also (very) overt hip-hop sensibilities of the revival of the same late 2000s sound that helped make early trap producers define their sonic identities.

Artists are adapting this sonic template a lot now in the 2020s, especially considering the fact that both the hyperpop and Soundcloud scenes are currently on a downward trend, and we are currently in an age of redefining styles of music from decades ago (you can all blame The Weekend and Frank Ocean for that). Mary Ann has her own spin on this, which is what makes ‘Bling Bling’ interesting; specifically, she almost completely ignores the (popular music-wise) existence of the 2010s.

Whether intended or not, Mary Ann seems to have skipped an entire decade stylistically with this song, and the fact that it still works is the most interesting thing about it. 2010s progressive metal deep thoughts? Nowhere to be found. 2010s folk revival? Nope. 2010s lip service to classic cloud rap? Sorry, no. 2010s neo-soul that swept India’s indie scene after 2015? No, not really. But ‘Bling Bling’ still works purely through personality and strength of writing, and that is proof that today’s artists have got bunches of talent no matter what kind of music they’re making. And what ‘kind’ of music they’re making does not matter one bit. Go ahead and have a listen.