Of Note: ‘Low’ by Toddrick Hall

Of Note: ‘Low’ by Toddrick Hall

How does one become this talented?  This savvy?  This confident?  This accomplished?

Fierce?  Oh, child, that word does not even begin to convey the artistic force that is Toddrick Hall.

Since I mentioned Mr. Hall earlier in the week when shining a beacon on Shamir’s latest effort, ‘Call It Off’, I think it only fair to call attention to the over the top, uber sharp ‘Low’.  An original song, Toddrick is in total command here and, perhaps, one of the most talented performers/visual artists to come along in years. 

The frenetically funky ‘Low’ pops, snaps and reverberates in a manner that threatens to run off the rails at any turn.  This is visionary stuff – razor sharp and honed to a high, metallic sheen.

Toddrick takes risks without batting an eye to consequences – because in his world of art, there are none.  His confidence as an artist infuses his work with a daring unseen.  Unfettered by the machinations and manipulations of a corporate overlord, Toddrick does as Toddrick envisions.

His work is political, sexual, cultural and without boundaries.  The man doesn’t blend genders – he decimates them, rendering them immaterial. Race?  What’s that?  Corporate bullshit?  Take on Disney with a glee that borders on the maniacal.

His cultural obsessions are many (Disney, Nicki Minaj, The Wizard of Oz, to name a few) and I foresee a day when museums host career retrospectives of this man’s work because of its quality, quantity, his powers of observation and singular voice.

Hailing from that bedrock of stubborn misunderstandings, the fail state of Texas, Toddrick first made waves on the 9^th Season of American Idol.  He made the semi-finals before being cut, but  it was clear even back then that his was an original, unique, one-of-a-kind talent.

Whether or not he ever breaks through to a mass audience, Mr. Hall has secured his place in the history of art by capturing this moment in time in a bottle, shaking it thoroughly, and unleashing it in a torrent of torrid effervescence.