Quick Bites: Cracking the code with Sebastian Mikael
The life I'm livin don't suit me well
Quick Bites are singular, occasional looks at one song I’m vibing with at the moment.
Someone I dated shared a Sebastiab Mikael song with me a few years ago, and I loved it in part because they had shared it with me. The song also ruled! That fling ended abruptly and for good reason, but I found myself not very curious about exploring the rest of Mikael’s discography.
Enter the Spotify Daylist algorithm. I usually do not rely on algorithm generated playlists to introduce me to new music, but this time it was welcome. “Security Code” is a song off Mikael’s 2022 EP PHILEO.
The first thing you hear is that funky bassline that immediately forces you to make the internationally recognized stank face. The lyrics are standard fare for R&B made by men, but Mikael’s voice is so refreshing. He reminds me of Prince but also like Raphael Saadiq, with the sensibility of a more 2020s star.
The first verse is gold. Sometimes I play just that section over and over:
Girl, lets have church, I wanna testify
Get this off of my chest and see you eye to eye
I was thinking of you when I was with her last night (last night)
Trying to give her something that was no longer mine
You and your friends, they always talk ‘bout (always talking about)
How I’m not good for you, I'm only for myself
I'm not saying they’re wrong, and that’s the worst part of how
The stubborn life I’m living don’t suit me well
The pre-chorus is also jammy. With lines about pledging allegiance to a lover’s body, which, yeah, I get that notion for sure. I listened to this song on my morning walk around 7am, and I found myself kinda strutting.
This song just makes you want to get up and dance, make out, do more than make out. Even though it’s mildly toxica, about trying not to cheat, it’s just so so good. Vocals out of this world. The style, the cool. It’s all there in the performance.
The chorus is quick but delicious:
I will change for you, cut off my games for you (cut ‘em off, cut ‘em off)
Give you my phone with no security code
Turn off the sauce for you, but that’s not all I’ll do
I wanna give it all to you
I don’t know y’all, if my philandering lover sang this song to me I miiiight let them back in my bed. MAYBE. No guarantees.