Jeremih: "Impatient" [ft. Ty Dolla $ign]

Let’s put aside the irony of Jeremih releasing a song called “Impatient” and just appreciate the fact that Late Nights is finally here. The album is as faithful to its 2012 namesake mixtape as anyone could hope for after three years, and “Impatient” is the glimmer in its bloodshot eye. London on da Track’s beat is as sheer and flowy as anything on the original Late Nights, and it captures the same glowing mood, highlighting Jeremih’s voice without distracting from it.

“Impatient” is so quiet that you barely notice it creeping up on you. Jeremih’s vocal performance is a master class in, well, patience. He starts off nearly muttering, before elongating his syllables at the start of the chorus and slipping into falsetto so quickly you’ll feel his breath on the back of your neck before you hear the words. And “Impatient” pulls a neat trick there, too: when that pivotal moment hits, everything else falls away just as the track should be surging forward.

Jeremih is one of R&B’s most engaging stars because he knows about restraint, about when to let the notes go and when to hold them. It’s a subtlety contrasted by Ty Dolla $ign, who shows up to offer the same crude come-ons as J. Cole does on Late Nights’ “Planez” (though “I’ma have you suckin’ on my fingers while I hit it” doesn’t come anywhere near “dick so big it’s like a foot is in your mouth”). Ty—earthy to Jeremih’s ethereal—only throws Late Nights‘ brilliance into even starker light. Give Jeremih a synth lead and some snapping fingers and that’s all he needs; his music wafts through the room like a perfume, and it’s rarely more pleasant, or intoxicating, as on “Impatient”.

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