Song You Need: Keys N Krates make one for the ladies

While Toronto-based Keys N Krates began making music together over a decade ago, the group’s unique composition of two producers and a drummer gave their approach to creating hip-hop and electronic music the momentum it needed to stand out. The group continued to explode on Soundcloud with their high-impact electronic trap beats, catching the attention of Steve Aoki’s Dim Mak Records, where they released their debut Treat Me Right EP in 2013. Five years later, the trio began to move towards a softer, more soulful sound with their debut album. cura. While longtime fans were confused by the album’s unexpected stylistic shift, it proved how uncompromising they were when it came to making music they wanted.

Her Afrobeat-inspired album of 2021, Original classic, showed their love for limitless sampling, a Timbaland-inspired approach. “A lot of our approaches to these things are still through the lens of hip-hop,” they said in 2021. “Like, ‘What would Timbaland do if he was doing house today?’”

“What Girls Do,” her latest single, which was released just last week, stays on that theme. Fusing four-on-the-floor afro-house and the funkiness of afrobeat into a danceable tune, Keys N Krates rely on their signature chopped vocals and weave them through the drum’s irregular rhythmic syncopation. A wake-up call comes at the one-minute mark, with alarm-like synths blending into the beat before slowing down with a distinctive Keys N Krates piano interlude; his chords build up to the second drop where they get even wilder than the first. The singer repeats “This is what girls do” throughout, aptly dubbing the track as a song women can’t help but dance to.

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