By Bangers
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Remi Wolf – Big Ideas
Island Records

“I think genres are pretty obsolete at this point,” Remi Wolf told SPIN back in 2022. “I think artists are their own genre.” 

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If you were to try and pin the 28-year-old Californian down to a particular style, however, you might call it “Day-Glo pop-funk.” Juno, her 2021 debut album, snapped with elastic rhythms and production that bounced like a rubber ball—a sonic representation of her rainbow styling and seemingly sunny disposition. Wolf’s audacious, hilariously filthy lyrics only added to the head-spinning chaos.  

This slightly less assured follow-up was pieced together between tours throughout 2022 and 2023. At its best, Big Ideas jostles with brilliant songcraft that signifies her rapid growth as an artist—if the essential aesthetic is little changed, the execution is often warmer, more mature and expansive. On “Cinderella,” with its whistled refrain and chanted vocals (“Me and the boys in the hotel lobby!”), she takes no chances when it comes to commercial appeal. “Soup,” meanwhile, echoes with padded drums and shimmering production flourishes that would make it the hottest new track of 1985 (a compliment!). 

That ‘80s influence crops up again on the crunchy “Toro,” which conveys a raunchy encounter in a relatively coy manner: “I’m not worried about the sound / We’re waking up the people down the hall / You’re a bull, and I can’t help but say, ‘Toro! Toro!’” In fact, the sex talk is dialed right down throughout this record; aside from the odd reference to Playboy (on the ‘90s radio rock-influenced “Alone In Miami”) and masturbation (the uncharacteristically dark “When I Thought of You”), it’s the work of a scrubbed-up Remi Wolf.   

Perhaps she has eyes on a bigger audience—a recent support slot with Olivia Rodrigo would suggest so—but some of her debut’s idiosyncrasies have been lost in the wash. Big Ideas sometimes feels like a showcase for Wolf’s malleability, grafting different styles onto the pop-funk that is—ironically, given the artist’s aversion to genre—her go-to sound. “Pitiful” (bubblegum indie) and “Kangaroo” (lo-fi psychedelia) don’t quite match the distinctiveness of her best tunes, though even her least successful experiments boast killer moments—including the latter’s squalling jazz freak-out.

More fascinating still is “Just the Start,” the delicate Daniel Johnston pastiche that departs from the template entirely. Here she reveals the insecurities behind her sunny exterior: “I call myself an artist / And sometimes I think it’s true…” Despite this album’s unevenness, there’s no debate there. GRADE: B+

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