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deem spencer, '27'

Alongside the announcement of his sophomore album adultSW!M, Queens-raised rapper deem spencer, drops an introspective new single, "27" featuring singer DaVionne, that vulnerably depicts the heartache of loss and the power of living fully and making it to the age of 27.

In the track he floats from one bar to the next, unbottling the feelings that come with being young and facing an uncertain but boundless future. A steady beat, warping guitar and scattered reverberations bubble into ambient mediation as deem reconciles the loss of his grandfather with his own mortality, as he approaches the foreboding age of the song's title. (It's an age at which many preeminent artists have died, including Amy Winehouse, Kurt Cobain, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix, a group morbidly referred to as The 27 Club.) But the listener can be spiritually stimulated through deem's lyricism, "Ima be back in the form of an ever-flowin river / All facts / I believe in a God and a Goddess / If anybody asks / Comma fall fast / When I'm involved less / I'm what God blessed."

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Pilar Galvan
Pilar Galvan (she/her) is a reporter whose work focuses on the intersections of media and culture. She is passionate about film, music and sports. She recently graduated from Yale University where she double majored in anthropology, specializing in ethnomusicology, and art, concentrating in digital media. She previously worked in digital media at art institutions including MoMA PS1 in Queens, NY, and the Calouste Gulbenkian Museum in Lisbon, Portugal.