Written by Noelle Alarcon
SHNTI is one of the local hiphop scene’s darlings; coming from Quezon City, her verses and bars are as explosive as the busy landscape of the metropolis she resides in. With her bright orange hair, this era and cover artwork are equally as striking; her debut album ‘Melting PT.’ is purely her; loud as firecrackers and as unapologetically radiant as the sparks that follow right after.
Though SHNTI mainly rose to prominence through chill, laid-back pronouncements over lo-fi beats, ‘Melting PT.’ shows a whole other side to her artistry. Infusing her raps with the clever daringness of other genres like breakcore and dance pop. This debut album starts off hot and continuously heats up until the very last track, setting ablaze to a more sonically adventurous path in her journey as an artist.
Bass-boosted opener “Heartless” establishes the playful yet self-assuredly brash vibe that prevails throughout the album. The thumping, bass-boosted instrumental is fired up, a bouncy medium for SHNTI to serve a steaming hot plate of righteousness: “your father raised a dirty son / what more have you really done/keep getting older/your victims not over twenty-one.” The choruses even descend into breakbeats, centering on the rage that funnels through the song.
‘Melting PT.’ also displays SHNTI’s knack for making magic out of collaborations; this album features Pette Shabu on “DND” and FEIFEI on “My Girls.” Both tracks play to the strengths of their collaborators: the quickfire, hard-hitting lines of the former (“tanginang mukha ‘yan / kailangan din ng beat switch”), and the chill, smooth vocals that grace the latter.
SHNTI continues to present this rage in multifaceted ways across tracks. This is heard in the rap metal anthem of determination that is “BREAK” and the breakcore-influenced “not(shygirl),” where the artist huffs and puffs about taking up space and staying true up to the very end. Hidden in between the breaks and plugins are the rhymes that paint the conflict of SHNTI versus the world, and how she continues to stay 100% authentic despite the hurdles that come her way.
There is quiet, vulnerable simmering that lies beneath all the fierceness of ‘Melting PT.,’ too. In contrast to the blaring synths that crowd “OMO,” there is self-reflection that takes a great deal of maturity to admit; “kung ako ay iibigin/ayoko sana na maubos ka,” sings SHNTI. Closer’s “melting point” encapsulates the struggle of growing up under the public eye in a manner that is truly heartfelt, committing her to growth. “I will unlearn my shame/and it’s all for love.”
This album’s momentum starts off fast and heavy, but somewhere in the middle, it seems to be indecisive about whether it wants to accelerate further or slow down to accommodate the inhibitions that bring its explosiveness to light. Every once in a while, a couple of songs are contingent upon similar sonic patterns that can be hard to differentiate, at times, as heard in “(not)shygirl” and “timebomb.”
But despite such remarks, ‘Melting PT.’ is a phenomenal debut. It may be miles away from the SHNTI sound that everyone was hooked on in the beginning, but this is her flame-embossed mark on the world: an unexpected, yet creatively authentic shift of sound. ‘Melting PT.’ shows SHNTI is not finished exploring the tricks up her sleeve—she’s just getting started.
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