The Singles Jukebox

Today’s posts are brought to you by the letter K! Is that o-K with you all?

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[7.00]

Jackie Powell: This song is personal while also serendipitous for me. I came to the same realization as K.Flay this past Thursday. “Sister,” according to Flaherty is a song about “unselfconcious love” that comes to the forefront in sisterhood, a bond that is free from institutional standards and rules. I said goodbye to my younger sister this past Thursday. She’s a college freshman now. It still doesn’t feel real. But this track helped me internalize the concept that my sister won’t judge me for how weird I am, and that love is eternal. This track is both a promise and a dictionary definition. Katy Perry attempted to explain it in “Unconditionally,” but K.Flay’s take is about a type of relationship which retains a less continuous spotlight. While the earnestness in her writing is consistent, “Sister” represents a sonic departure. It’s less dark and sexy compared to the Tommy English-produced “Giver,” which plays in the background during the most NSFW scene I’ve ever seen on any teen soap: Choni, the best queer pairing on Riverdale. The brighter “Sister” may lean toward the stylings of Lorde rather than K.Flay’s usual Joan Jett vocal tone, but that’s the effect of production from Joel Little. The explosion into and out from the chorus is accompanied by a rhythm guitar loop that’s reminiscent of Annie Clark but is still fresh. What’s most impressive about Little and Flaherty’s collaboration is how they’ve allowed this track to breathe, providing it with surprises including that cartoonish slide sound that enters the song for the first time after 2:00. The lyrics “If you ever go and get your heart broke/I would go and take a red-eye plane” illustrate the rage I feel inside when I hear that anyone crosses my sister. I’m so lucky.
[8]

Kylo Nocom: Sure, crush songs are great, but friend crush songs are something to cherish. What makes “Sister” such a resounding victory lap, though, is how K.Flay manages to shed the slight misanthropy that she engages with too often on Solutions. There’s none of the signature try-hard cool here that’s stuck with her since originating as a “real” rapper in the aughties (and hasn’t quite gone away even after transitioning into a bit of an alt-pop oddball since her Dan Reynolds co-sign). “Sister” shines as the most heartwarming thing I’ve heard all year, where the awkwardness this time lies not in her self-importance but in endearingly lame adoration, which makes the release of those Sucker guitar blasts that much more exciting. On an album so concerned with others’ nihilism and its own blank inspirational platitudes, there’s something resonant about how the most obvious standout is a song that’s so dedicated to sincere companionship.
[9]

Will Adams: Putting the CRUSH in friend crush, “Sister” dials up the distortion to match K.Flay’s professions of loyalty to her would-be sister. But more than trying on all their clothes, offering to be an accomplice or to revenge-kill someone (not the person who hurt them, mind you, just some random someone), the line that rings the truest is the chorus’s repeated, “DO YOU WANNA BE MINE?” That’s where the vulnerability lies, and that it’s set to the song’s loudest, unabashed moment makes it all the more effective.
[7]

Ian Mathers: Even just the delivery of “if somebody hurts you/then I’m gonna kill somebody for you” manages to sell the two-edged blade of wonder and terror that’s a particular kind of intense friendship, especially when you’re still in the feeling-out phase (“do you wanna be mine?” I mean, sometimes we check that before swearing murderous pre-vengeance, but I get it). K.Flay matches the sentiment with maybe the most quiet/loud/quiet song like this since, what, “I Love It”?
[7]

Alex Clifton: Platonic relationships can be really tricky to navigate, especially in adulthood; you can’t really go up to someone and just declare an intention to be BFFs for life. And yet you can go up to someone and ask them on a date without hardly knowing them — why isn’t there any sort of middle ground? “Sister” is highly relatable because it’s a wish for intimacy with a person, a closeness with a friend that definitely builds over time — but sometimes it’s like a crush that just overwhelms your senses. I want to be there for you! I want to have your favourite flavour of ice cream in my fridge for when you have a bad day, I want to keep a mental log of the books you want so I can get you them for your birthday, I want to let you know that if you need a friend in the middle of the night I am always here for you. I have spent much of my life writing stories about this kind of friendship and trying to build it myself, although I know (again) solid friendship takes constant work and time to build a foundation. It’s a rush and a thrill, though, to know you want to be friends with someone, and I don’t think I have ever heard that expressed so clearly in a song before. It’s not a perfect song (I find the industrial-ish synths a bit much at times) but K.Flay has knocked on a feeling I have chased my whole life.
[8]

Nortey Dowuona: A thick, rubbery bass line is strolled over with an unerring calm by K.Flay, who starts back flipping over the volcano as her sister sends pics to the family group chat.
[8]

Alfred Soto: When the synths go blippety-bloopety like Eno rubbing knobs with erotic glee in Roxy Music’s “Editions of You,” I consider “Sister” one of the more garishly, fully realized approximations of erotic craving. And K. Flay shows more vocal power than recent Taylor Swift and Carly Rae Jepsen.
[7]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: K.Flay saves “Sister” from pure Imaginary Draconian burble with a few weirdo turns of phrase and vocal melodies, but can’t save it from her own variety of too-specific corniness. The third verse is nice — tightly written and with a nice melodic shift — but the hammer of the chorus can’t help but ruin a good moment.
[4]

Joshua Lu: All of the background information and promotional imagery K.Flay has released in support of “Sister” paints the song as genuine and heartfelt, an honest depiction of a filial love that can be applied to anyone, regardless of blood ties, you hold dear to you. Yet upon listening to the song, I feel more frequently uneasy than I’d expect; at times K.Flay’s delivery sounds sinister, and the second verse’s allusions to death and murder feel oddly serrated for a song with a concept as ostensibly frictionless as this one. This impression comes and goes, and I’d prefer if the song committed to one interpretation instead of hovering between two.
[5]