Flyana Boss - This Ain’t The Album

With even Missy Elliott backing their TikTok-viral marketing shtick - which involved darting through Disneyland and other locations behind a fisheye - and a supporting slot on Janelle Monáe’s headline tour, Flyana Boss are undoubtedly positioned to be the next big thing. The US duo, comprising Bobbi Taylor and Folayan Kunerede, have stuck to their brand of quirks ever since hip-hop sensation ‘You Wish’ steamrolled through For You pages across the globe, lip-syncing through crowds like a virtual cross-country marathon, elf ears and manic pixie-flouting outfits to boot. Latest EP ‘This Ain’t The Album’ doesn’t pull the pedal from the metal, either: its five brief tracks are indebted to the bombast of Missy and Gwen Stefani and, as a result, never lose momentum. ‘yeaaa’ is a cinematic house party; ‘Stupendous’ bolsters ‘Hollaback Girl’ hip-hop grandiosity; and the bed-creaking ‘Skateboard’ contributes to the industrial legacy of their forebears. Such energetic tracks do feel stifled, mind, by that seemingly mandatory bite-sized TikTok formula, which cuts short any time to settle into the function. But, of course, it lives up to its title - ‘This Ain’t The Album’ - and is more an hors d’oeuvre while their debut’s still cooking.