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Pop singer-songwriter Lyn Lapid’s latest single sees her paired with beloved pop and R&B singer Ruth B. for what results in a bouncy, inordinately catchy, but ultimately inoffensive tune to soundtrack late-night drives and middle-aged runs for the next few weeks to come.
“Do U Really?” opens with those words precisely; the song’s intro is its first chorus, ringing out with a Lapid solo backed by dreamy vibraphone and periodically accompanied by a simple yet effective stack of vocals. As she constantly asks the listener whether they “really want to fall in love,” Lapid quickly builds up the lyrical thread carried throughout the whole song. Her potentially enchanting proposition of choosing deep love over a shallow hook-up ends up falling somewhat flat, though, with a verse that combines seemingly disconnected lines like “Wonder if we let this love grow / I won’t have it in me just to let go” with an overall lack of lyrical risk-taking.
This isn’t par for the course for Lapid, who blasted onto the music scene in late 2020 with her TikTok smash hit “Producer Man” — a song whose lyrics deftly follow the struggles of a wide-eyed girl new to the pitfalls of the music industry. Yet “Do U Really?” credits four people for its lyrics, including producer Ido Zmishlany and English songwriter Joel Baker, and this writing dilution stands as a primary suspect for the uninspired lyrics that are emblematic of a broader trend: In her first big collaboration with an established artist, Lapid — or her label — chooses to play it safe.
With the first hit of the bass drum, however, all concerns with lyrics go out the window. Zmishlany, who has produced for the likes of Shawn Mendes, Imagine Dragons, and Justin Bieber, lays down a truly uncontainable beat, with layers of Lapid’s signature ukulele providing a crisp foreground to a restless pairing of drums and bass that inevitably leads to unconscious head-nods from listeners. Dark synth organs and ghostly backing vocals provide the finishing touches on a beat that swings in full force on the first chorus. Apart from an apparent mistreatment of vocals, the song’s production stands as its strongest aspect, morphing a simple verse and chorus repetition into a fluid, connected piece.
And then Ruth B. comes in. Lyrically, her verse does little to clarify the storyline, although couplets like “Opening up on the drive home / You were giving me hints, winks and high hopes” introduce clever rhyming quips that can only satisfy the ear. The singer of “Lost Boy” and “Dandelions,” however, fails to add to this song the most iconic aspect of her artistry: Her voice. To an inattentive listener, the switch between the two singers might even go unnoticed; as much as the production creates a beat that shines, Ruth’s voice ends up over-processed in a way that stifles her raw talent with the exception of a pleasant run or two at the tail end of the song. Overall, her contribution seems to be more valuable as name-recognition for potential fans than as a genuine addition to the song.
Lapid released an ultimately safe song that had a big name collaboration, a talented producer, and a basic storyline — and that’s okay. Every fan needs a cache of songs with a fun beat to get them bobbing their head without thinking too deeply. In the end, though, Lapid will find herself among the myriad of TikTok artists thrown at a wall, and songs like this — while not detrimental to anyone—won’t be the ones that help her stick.
