PinkPantheress’s sophomore mixtape “Fancy That” continues to expand the borders of modern pop music. Released on May 9, 2025, the 9-track mixtape lasts around 20 minutes; however, it still has a significant amount of sounds and emotion mixed in that reflect her growth and experimentation as an artist.
“Fancy That” helps bridge the gap between past and present pop music. In the mixtape, PinkPantheress uses music samples from the 90s and 2000s to convey her genre of UK garage, hyperpop, and emo. She samples; Panic! At the Disco’s, “Do you know what I’m seeing,” Adina Howard’s, “Freak Like Me,” and Basement Jaxx’s, “Romeo”. The use of these samples shows her increasing diversity in her music while still retaining her own stylistic feel. At the same time, the difference in the time period of samples allows both nostalgic and new feels to her music.
The Mixtape opens up with the song, “Illegal,” which seemingly takes heavy influence from the drum’ n’ bass genre, showing her increased influence from UK-styled music. She’s able to use seemingly detached vocals over the fast beat in the song to make a gliding feel for listeners. This theme continues throughout the mixtape with tracks like; “Tonight”, “Girl Like Me”, and “Stateside”, which help showcase her abilities to blend catchy melodies on top of energetic beats. Other songs throughout the project also focus on unique listening experiences, such as “Romeo”, “Nice To Know You”, and “Noises”, which use distinctive samples and beats to draw out a pleasant listening experience.
During an interview with Apple Music, PinkPantheress discussed her thought process going into the mixtape. She talked about the decision process in making the project a mixtape rather than an album. She stated that the difference was in her mindset,and that if she had approached it as an album, the outcome would have come out completely different in lyrical cohesion or use of samples. She further added that this perspective allowed her to experiment freely, resulting in a project that feels more cohesive and liberated.
“Fancy That,” has seemingly been met with an overall positive reaction from both fans and critics. It gained an 82 on Metacritic, with critics praising it for; sophisticated production, self-assured storytelling, and the artist’s ability to blend influences. It has even garnered attention from social media influencers like Anthony Fantano, who gave it a strong 7, which is a high score. Critics aren’t the only ones who seemingly like the mixtape with fans getting it to almost 5 million streams in the first day and getting, “Tonight,” to her 2nd most popular song on Spotify.
This mixtape marks an important part in PinkPantheress’s career: it represents a significant artistic progression allowing her to explore more unique and different topics in her music. Tracks like; “Stars,” “Romeo,” and “Tonight,’’ help show her growth as a lyrical artist, providing more emotional depth. This mixtape deals with more personal things to her, such as sexual openness and issues in her life outside of a musician. The mixtape also helps define her as more than a social media songwriter. Although her previous debut album garnered many streams, “Fancy That,” was the final step to cementing herself as more than a “TikTok artist”.
The entire mixtape provides more depth than previous projects allowing for an energetic, emotional, and flirty feel to the music. The diversity she implemented into this project shows her talent as a songwriter and music producer. Even with a shorter mixtape, she is still able to make a long-lasting effect on listeners through her unique sound, which highlights the potential longevity of her career.
Although pop music has been seemingly getting more stale with the repetition of beats and subgenres, PinkPantheress has been able to make, “Fancy That,” a more standout and impactful project by providing a much more eccentric piece compared to others. With this work, PinkPantheress continues to show why she deserves her position as an artist and reaffirms her place as a significant voice in modern pop.
