Last year, Feng was a rising star in UK rap. But now, writes Tom Cameron, that same buzz and thrill feels gone. His gimmick might be on borrowed time.
Last year, the name Feng was seemingly inescapable if you were watching the rise of UK’s alt rap scene. He saw a meteoric rise in a very short amount of time, with only one mixtape to his name, ‘What the Feng’.
The tape was short and sweet, and mostly well received throughout the scene, and it was impossible to hear discussions of Feng (real name Travas Feneley) without the term ‘nostalgia’ being used.
2010s nostalgia and coming of age was soon established as Feng’s brand. This sort of thing felt inevitable for an artist of his day and age. Gen Z became adults just as the world was seemingly going to shit – we aren’t optimistic for the future at all, so we naturally end up looking back to better times when the world wasn’t as frightening. In Gen Z’s case, it’s the 2010s. We grew up on things like Skins, ‘Draw my Life’ videos, Arctic Monkeys and so on.
This same shtick has carried into Feneley’s debut album ‘Weekend Rockstar’. But what’s happened for Feng to face so much more scrutiny now? Mostly two things. 1 – him revealing his personality, and 2 – the fact he seems to be a bit of a one-trick pony, and not that great a rapper.
The former seemed to kick off with the feud between Feng and his manager CTI, who’s since parted ways with him. Late last year, he revealed there was a $5 million contract, and CTI (real name Christian Thomas-Irving) was promised a cut of it that was never given. Rightfully, he and those tapped in with the two, were surprised. There’s definitely truth in the idea that without CTI, Feng wouldn’t be in the position he’s in now.
In addition, people have grown to acknowledge that both aesthetically and sonically, he simply isn’t that versatile. There’s only so much coming of age 2010s sample crooning you can do before you get cast aside, especially with how fast internet and rap trends shift these days.
So, what’s gone wrong with Weekend Rockstar?
Well for one, Feng himself isn’t that interesting a rapper or singer here, nor has he evolved that much. He finds himself singing a lot more here, which doesn’t particularly work with how he goes about it – he sounds bored and uncharismatic half the time. That being said, there are the occasional parts where he does seemingly wake up a bit – the outro track ‘Wasted Youth’ being the best example, but even on that he sounds dreary throughout parts of it.
It also has to be noted that in terms of flow and delivery, every song feels far too similar to one-another, even the record’s highlights like ‘XOXO’, ‘Firework’ and the previously mentioned ‘Wasted Youth’ do feel a bit same-ish, even if they are still pleasant listens. The biggest stand-out might just be the laid back and effortlessly cool ‘Teenage Famous’.
“How I say this, I’m teenage famous,” he proclaims in his usual chilled out demeanour.
With all that said, Weekend Rockstar is still an easy-on-the-ears listen. Its chilled out and gentle vibe makes it not great, but far from awful. At most, it’s a bit boring and carried by the production, which mostly feels like a fusion of hip-hop with the indie sounds of 10 years ago, making them very fitting for the vibe and brand he’s going for. Even the cover art’s an homage to Foster the People.
Feng’s biggest strength remains his overall messages in his music; he sets to stick out from the rest of the scene by demonstrating a more optimistic, grounded take on current rap, as opposed to darkness, hedonism and mystery. It was these themes that made me such a big fan of What the Feng, and it is nice to see much of that carry into this album, even if it isn’t delivered as well here.
If Feng maybe demonstrated more versatility and proved he’s more than just nostalgia and dreary singing, I think Weekend Rockstar would’ve been better received by the scene – though I do think there are glaring issues with it. I’m sure there are much worse rap albums out there at the moment.
