Delivered with a powerful strain of charm that isn’t commonly found among rookie players, especially in her rather insular scene, Lisa G. Allen’s vocal is the undisputed centerpiece of her debut single “Big Momma,” which is already burning up the club charts and attracting a lot of attention to her indie brand. “Big Momma” borrows its hook from Biggie’s legendary single “Big Papa,” but that isn’t where its retro appeal ends. Structurally and sonically, this is a fine throwback to an OG era in crossover R&B, and perhaps one of the best novelty pop singles to drop out of the Northwest underground this season.
The radio version of this single feels a little more concise than its album-oriented counterpart, but I wouldn’t say that either of them contains any filler. With Ronnue in the producer’s chair, it’s unsurprising to me that efficiency was one of the more important elements being considered in the construction of the mix, but as always, detail isn’t kicked to the curb in the name of spotlighting a formulaic verse. Allen’s natural flow is on full display here, and never hindered by any of the instrumental components she would otherwise be made to contend with live.
There’s an argument to be made that the bass element is a bit more conservative than it needs to be, but I can understand where giving us something as lean and mean on the bottom-end would be necessary to avoid too many comparisons to the other retro-influenced players making a splash in the underground in 2022. Allen doesn’t really strike me as someone who has an interest in decadent melodic trappings, and this is a performance that gives us a pretty good idea of just how much stock she puts into organic qualities over the predictably plastic – even in the case of a sample-heavy piece like “Big Momma.”
Although there’s a lot of oomph to this beat, there isn’t a lot of pushback from the percussion when Allen is giving us some of her most entrancing harmonies, especially as we get towards the conclusion of the track. She’s able to exploit the negative tension behind her so well that you could fool plenty of critics into thinking she was a veteran of the game as opposed to a newcomer to the spotlight, and to me, “Big Momma” is just what the audience needs to hear to fully appreciate her depth as a singer.
I think there’s more that Lisa G. Allen needs to explore within her sound to get the most out of what she’s working with in the studio, but as of now, what she presents to us with the release of “Big Momma” is enough to bring me back to her camp for more in the future. The only other track I’ve heard featuring her pipes is Ronnue’s 2021 single “Dance Tonight,” and just in the short time that has passed since it dropped, I think she’s grown substantially as an artist. In short, if you haven’t already checked out this buzz-worthy single, I suggest you do immediately.
Trace Whittaker