Artist: Quinn XCII
Album: From Michigan With Love
Genre: Hip-hop, reggae, EDM
Record Label(s): Columbia Records
Recommended Tracks: Track 3- Life Must Go On and Track 6- Tough (feat. Noah Kahn)
Quinn XCII, born Mikael Temrowski, is a 25 year old singer from Detroit. He is known for his distinct style mixing reggae, hip-hop, pop, and even EDM. Temrowski got his start in college under the name Mike T where he primarily just rapped without the flare of his new alter ego style. Quinn XCII came to life in 2014 when he started taking this career seriously and dropping mixtapes and EPs produced by his childhood best friend. Quinn XCII has released four EPs since 2012 and just released his second studio album, From Michigan With Love, on February 15th of this year. This album has such a unique style and is both consistent making it a solid 4 out of 5 in my eyes. The album is well produced and flows well making clean transitions between tracks.
Life Must Go On was the first single released from this album and came out on the first of February, two weeks before the release of the album. The song features Jon Bellion who has a very similar sound and style to Quinn XCII. The song is extremely catchy with an ear catching beat from start to finish and a chorus that’ll be stuck in your head for days. The song has a pop sound but captures the style that the two artists share perfectly making it have a different sound than your average pop song. The song is about their shared experiences with anxiety and how through the bads times they remember that “life must go on” giving an uplifting message of not giving up even when things seem like they can’t get worse. The song is a perfect first single off the album because it definitely sets a tone in the best way possible for the rest of the album.
Track 6, Tough featuring Noah Kahn is one of the slower more calm songs off this album. The guitar based song is about someone who puts on act of being tough and is seen as a bully. She is described as the classic millennial popular girl acting tough when in public, but how vulnerable she actually is when she is alone. The chorus says “You’re not so tough. Yeah, you watch Eat Pray Love on repeat and I’m sure you’d win in an altercation, but you’re still insecure to me” explaining how insecure these people who seem to have everything together really are but just hide that side of themselves from the rest of the world. I think really emphasizes that we all have our insecurities and how some people show off being so confident, but we all have flaws,
This album is such a feel good album that makes you just want to get up and dance around in your room. It features some cool artists of different genres, all of which mesh well with Quinn XCII all over the place genre bending. Quinn XCII may not be an artist you already know, but he is worth a listen if you like genre mixing and especially if you like Jon Bellion because of their similar sounds. The album has a fresh sound and I’d definitely recommend it!
