Dolled Up: O2i3’s “Dollfie Dream”
I wasn’t aware what a Dollfie Dream was before trying to figure out what the title of this song courtesy of Setagaya-based producer 02i3 was about. Turns out it is a doll, and lots of people love unboxing them on YouTube. How they relate to this hyper-bright synth workout, I’m not sure, so let’s just focus on the music. This sound — big, bright, cute, peppered with all the samples you expect to hear in a SoundCloud waveform (“hey!,” water droplet, etc) — can be tricky to do in a way that feels novel, but O2i3 brings the energy, while also slowing things down in the middle for a quick piano interlude that really drives in the sweetness. Listen above.