Dropping her sophomore album, titled “The Algorithm”, Wowashwow brings cross-genre elements mixing up her statement hip-hop with her heritage punk rock and alternative pop elements to bring a fully-fleshed out collection of tracks. Showcasing her versatility throughout the eight tracks, this rising singer-songwriter knows exactly what she’s doing and is showcasing her effortless flow and undeniable artistry. This acts as the follow-up to her previous single release, titled “Pure Imagination“.
Wowashwow is a singer-songwriter hailing from Los Angeles. She wrote her first song at the age of six and just didn’t stop, showcasing her musical talent. Early on in her career, she acted as the lead guitarist and vocalist for the punk-rock band Rise From Ashes. This led to some awesome opportunities including opening up a tour for The Ramones’ guitarist, Marky Ramone, as well as recording her first album under the direction of legendary musician and record producer, Steve Albini. At the age of 18, she moved to New York City where she was influenced by underground hip-hop and ballroom culture. Now that she’s living in LA, she’s gone on to perform at many shows, opened for Snoop Dogg and Travis Barker, appeared at the Soul Train Awards 2022, and charted on the Hot300 List. She hopped onto the Love Bailey’s track “Hornatia” which went on to become an officially selected short at the Cannes Film Festival, then on top of that, she received a Tiny Desk Contest nomination, and performed at San Francisco Pride, Venice Pride and Miami Pride. The future is looking bright for this determined singer-songwriter as she releases her sophomore album, “The Algorithm”.
Talking about the album, Wowashwow said: “I called it ‘The Algorithm’ because it’s such a juxtaposition from my first to my second album. While creating my first album the thought process was, is this going to work for Instagram Reels or TikTok? I mostly thought about the marketing and how to feed the algorithm. This time around I completely morphed myself away from that and got back to my roots of creating music that makes me happy. Even with the album artwork, I’m half android morphing back into a human. It represents me coming back into who I am as a person, rather than being a person doing anything to stay relevant.”
Stream “The Algorithm” by Wowashwow on Spotify here:
The eight-track sophomore album has been produced by Sam J Garfield and really allows Wowashwow to show off her versatility as an artist – releasing the music she wants to release. The album starts off with “Still Blooming”, which is an addicting empowered track that is full of R&B vibes mixed around hip-hop with Wowashwow bringing an incredible rap flow for the verses and a catchy powerful chorus which will have her listeners chanting along in no time. This opens the album perfectly showing her confidence and self-belief in herself and who she is whilst also bringing a rhythmic energy that makes an impact on the listener – we’re so ready to hear the rest of the album now. “THIS IS NOT A FREESTYLE” follows next, which sees this incredible rapper launch into hip-hop verses, throwing it down up to the measure of the best of them and totally leaving it out on the floor with a quick-rap delivery that contradicts the title as it certainly sounds like the verses are freestyle as she really is that good! Quick and on fire, this track is powered to 11 and we feel her heart full of hurt on this track. The third song on the album is “Chris Rock” which sees her go in hard with her rap as a deep beat flows across her vocals. The track progresses into an anticipated R&B flow while Wowashwow sticks firmly in the hip-hop vocals during the bridge of the track, before she absolutely throws a twist with a deep bassline more suited to rising dance tracks yet works effortlessly as a dark vibing shot scene that we weren’t expecting but completely love – this is the total talent of both Wowashwow and Sam J Garfield, showcasing their brilliant collaborative artistry. Then they add in awesome vocals from Sam J Garfield creating an R&B-dance, hip-hop energy that fuses awesomely – easily our favourite track on the album.
Track four on the “The Algorithm” album is “I Bet You Think This Rap Is About You”, which is a rhythmic rap track that has a pumped-up vibe and strong lyrics that are fierce and hard – this is why Wowashwow is one of our favourite rising rap artists in the industry. Next up is the focus track, “Class Enrollment”, which was born from a break in a studio session where Wowashwow was having a heated texting conversation that made her start to doubt her self-worth, and she went on to say about the track, “Wtf! No! I’m so much more than what this person is reducing me to. And in fact, it’s time to read this bih for filth. Class is in session.” So time for some education, with Wowashwow bringing her R&B rap vocals that promote self-empowerment and will no doubt see her listeners vibing off this alternative R&B energy that we absolutely love. Come the second verse, she goes in hard with her rap and it’s completely fierce in great contrast to the vocal runs found in the chorus.
Track six sees her team up with Groovyie for the track “Wow Woah” which flips the whole album up with a laid-back hip-hop style with some awesome harmonies and incredible vocalise that blend incredibly with the backing track. Hardcore rap flows over a dynamic energy that sounds like nothing in the music industry at the moment, making this uniquely theirs and a total stand-out, not just on this album, but on any playlist. This is totally the one we’d play at any party as it has a chilled atmosphere filled with those club beats and intense rap, that effortlessly makes an impact and gives a crazy beat that gets stuck in your head for the rest of the day. “BLAHP ( I’m an Icon)” is track number seven, which drops a vogue club beat which Wowashwow keeps up with a stunning rap that wraps around the rhythm effortlessly and then that chorus hits which will have us all voguing-the-house-down-boots. Club Rap is here and it suits her style amazingly – this is one for DJs to add to their sets! The last track on the album is “Pure Imagination”, which ends the collection with a stunning R&B pop track that infuses alternative with her hop-hop rap and heartfelt vocal runs that really shows her versatile artistry, while an addictive hook draws us in – we will be ending this listening experience the same way we started it, by chanting some incredible self-empowerment lyrics which will stay with us for the rest of the day.
Stream “Chris Rock” and “Wow Woah”, our two favourite tracks from the album, on Spotify here:
“The Algorithm”, by Wowashwow, is available to download and stream, right now, across all platforms.