As with tons of artists who have risen from the throngs of social media relevance, Mizzle considers himself an underdog with fame just within his reach. This idea isn’t so far-fetched as his social media run serves as the perfect foundation of his ascent to mainstream relevance, coupled with the Oxlade assisted Smile For You, that heralded his sophomore EP some weeks ago. Mizzle is ready to scale his present niche to the next dimension characterized by fame and fortune and while his debut EP, In The Dark, speaks to his past, its perfectly paced seven-track content is a metaphor for evolution.
The self-produced Mizzle Love, a bass synth profession of love that finds Mizzle sacrificing sense for sentiment, opens the EP. With his sultry vocals gliding easily over sprightly percussions put together by himself and Sarz, he wastes no time in drawing us into this world of emotions and sounds, he claims he created while he was in the dark. The previously released Smile For You and Sweet Escape, with percussion foundations heavily reminiscent of a Sarz project, take the tone of their predecessor, with the latter’s narrative, deviating from the love theme. Things get heated when Mizzle finds a home in Niniola’s hedonistic chambers on BDSM. The bawdy lyricism and dense acoustics segue into the fluctuating tempo of the Sarz assisted Confident. Heavily packed with literary devices that appraise Mizzle’s songwriting skills, closers, Mixed Signals and Angelica, a lush fusion of Wande Coal’s mesmeric vocals and Mizzles’, do not deviate from the standard the latter established from the get-go, but instead, expand on them.
The common denominator on In The Dark, is Mizzle’s consistency, one we see in his vocal range, his deft lyricism, his ability to adapt to any scenario, including melding perfectly with A-listers, and his overarching production skills. In The Dark might be drawn from his past, but his work ethic speaks to growth and readiness for relevance in the right quarters.