Song Review: Katseye – Gabriela

Here’s a little secret about the ratings on this blog, and it may seem counterintuitive. I rarely venture below a “6” on my overall scale, but any song that hits below this mark has a special place in my heart. In fact, I tend to “like” them more than many of the songs rated in the 7’s. I may not ever want to listen to them again, but at least they made me feel something. Such is the case with Katseye’s now-viral hit Gnarly. I still think that song reaches for a quirkiness it doesn’t fully attain and feels overly manufactured to create virality, but it’s certainly not boring. I have to appreciate the sheer nerve even if I don’t love the actual song.

So, in a funny twist Katseye’s new single Gabriela will earn a higher rating even though I find it dull in comparison to its predecessor. For this song, the group scored a Charli XCX co-write, which makes sense since Gnarly bent over backwards to replicate a certain Brat energy. However, the quirkiest thing about Gabriela is its soap operatic video. On its own, I don’t see the song turning many heads. The girls have added a Latin twist to their sound, married to a moody mid-tempo groove that never develops into anything more. It’s all a bit ‘Camila Cabello circa 2018,’ which I can’t say is a pop style I miss.

Mainstream pop music has slowed to such an inert tempo over the past decade and Gabriela fits right in with that trend. I’m sure I sound like a broken record, but the song could do with a major kick in the butt. Imagine if its energy matched the madcap mugging in the music video. The thought of a new global girl group like Katseye is so exciting. I wish their music would capture that excitement in a way that feels unique to them. Gabriela simply trudges along, performed nicely but cycling around the same repetitive hooks without the payoff I crave. In the grand scheme of things, Gnarly can still wear its “4.25” rating like a badge of honor because a “7.5” is far more common and way more forgettable.

Grade: C