The Singles Bar: Brie Angellina, ‘That Bad’ featuring Jallal

Welcome to The Singles Bar, a review series focused on new single and song releases.

The best thing you can do for your emotional wellbeing is to cut out all toxicity from your life. Some learn that lesson the hard way, undergoing unstable relationships and waves of destructive behavior that suffocate our brain cells and lead to the entire collapse of self-worth. It’s a heroic task to determine the root of the pain, reclaim your identity and escape the clutches of some villain-esque individuals ⎯⎯ but it must be done. Pop upstart Brie Angellina roars back to life with a slow-burning anthem, a silky mid-tempo serving as her new creed for living her happiest life. “I don’t miss you that bad,” she spits, churning beats and piano coming in thick in the background. “That Bad,” an airy and scorching collaboration with Jallal, a rapper out of Los Angeles, who spent some time under the tutelage of Lupe Fiasco, bubbles just on the surface.

“I don’t need no one to tell me what I already know,” she later contends, seconds before Jallal’s fluid but savage breakdown. “I’mma show you what I like / I’mma show you why I fine / Are you even worth my time? / ‘Cause I don’t give it up for anyone,” Jallal provides. “Maybe you / It may be true / I got to remind you, I’m running things / We just got caught up with messages / This is the story of me and you / Couple of stars with different views…”

On the song, which stands as a polar opposite to last year’s “Lullaby,” lyrically at least, Angellina elaborates: “This is an ‘I’m done with you’ song. I am done with someone’s lies and drama that you bring into [my] life. ‘That Bad’ is saying you cut ties with this toxic person, and you want nothing to do with them anymore. You are not sorry for choosing yourself over them, and no matter what, you won’t change your mind this time.”

Angellina’s debut EP, Honeyed Words, is expected later this year.

Grade: 3 out of 5

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