Single reviewsThe Other Side Reviews

Frederick, The First – Spit You Out (2023)

Inspired by life in its entirety from the comedies and joy to grimy tragedies lying beneath the surface, singer-songwriter Frederick, The First, lays it all bare in his moving melodies. Once described as a “soupy goulash of D’Angelo meets The Talking Heads”, the US-based artist comes with a label of genre diversity and innovation. He furthers this “oh, this is just me laying it all out there with a twist of everything” attitude in ‘Spit You Out’.

Known to connect on a personal, intimate level through his poetic lyricism and melodies, Frederick, The First is unafraid to tug on strands of vulnerability and fragility. Following the critically acclaimed track ‘So Good’, he approaches the core of bullying with consequential depression and anxiety in ‘Spit It Out’. Living in a world filled with expectations and ruled by superficial stereotypes, it’s difficult to step outside of the box, believe in yourself and turn your back on trends. When you turn to people you trust to help you out, many find a barrage of “do this and do that because you’re not doing it right” – the root of feeling lost in a world of chaos. ‘Spit It Out’ looks at, exposes and rips apart this unfortunately relatable topic.

“’Spit You Out’ is about the transformative experience of believing someone’s harsh judgements about you from someone trusted, and then realising their words don’t define you. Swallowing such poison leads to a slow death, an erosion of every gift that made you great, that made you who you were, and then in pursuit of relief, you move to change yourself as you mistakenly chase an idea of who you should be according to another. Then, almost as if by some stroke of luck…you wake up to find all of it was trash. They were wrong, you were right and it’s time for a purging, a cleansing…” – Frederick, The First on ‘Spit You Out’

A pulsating blast of funk filled with interspersed rock guitar and bold beats punctuating the melody, ‘Spit You Out’ is a rush of anger, angst, resentment and frustration flooding from the speakers. Powerful with a funky brashness, the heartfelt lyricism punches out at that person who made your life hell with their poisonous need to cripple your spirit. It screams “you are not worth my time and I’m a rather amazing person without you” with forceful hand-pumping positivity and empowerment.

Anthemic, emotional and impossible to ignore, ‘Spit You Out’ is a song you do not listen to but feel from the depths of your soul.


For more from Frederick, The First, check out his official website, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.

This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator