Making pop to appeal to the very demographic to which she belongs, “Sixteen” is a sweetly lilting follow-up to Cutler’s first solo smash. “Sixteen” sees lyrical nostalgia and warmly layered vocals come together over a backdrop of distant handclaps and reverb-laden guitar lines. It feels like a hopeful antidote to the post-breakup rawness of “Your Shirt”, channelling the dizzy joy of young love into a uniquely conversational pop song. As before, Cutler walks a masterful line between predictability and innovation, her to-the-minute production style harnessing the most appealing aspects of pop in 2017.
“Do you still feel it?” Cutler implores over and over before the track’s radio-friendly electro-pop drop, showcasing exactly why her summery sound is bound to crack the mainstream in the very near future. With a SoundCloud endorsement from ubiquitous duo The Chainsmokers, Cutler’s future success seems delightfully inevitable.
