“I’m not okay” - it’s very often the hardest statement to put out there, especially in a world where perfectly-filtered confidence and scheduled self-worth are at the forefront of any Internet user's image. It’s something that the Austin artist MALIK bravely admits in new single ‘Red’, which he described as “probably one of the hardest songs I've ever had to write," because it dealt with “a lot of the events that surrounded this tough relationship I was in... all of the stress, anxiety, and uncertainty I was experiencing at that time was put into this piece of music.” ‘Red’ is a noticeably different vibe from the dreamy predecessor ‘Pink’, gradually emerging with those surging, lo-fi guitars before jumping straight into heady, jazz-laced instrumentation and MALIK’s pointedly honest lyricism. His transparency continues throughout ‘Red’, over the fuzzy synths and colliding drums. At the 1:50 mark, MALIK breaks off from his emotional rant into a spacious moment of cosmic electronics, part hymnal, part haunting backing vocals and the last of an almost-defeated argument with the other in this dysfunctional relationship. With a signalling “word,” the track delves into deliciously dark bass and sustaining trap, and it’s here where ‘Red’ is it’s most “anti-Pink.” The final segment returns to that scratchy, fiery guitar motif, to which we’re led by MALIK’s plush vocal, woozy from repeating the same point over and over. MALIK’s upcoming album, Spectrum, promises more colourful iterations of this bedroom-produced, soulful, jazzy, guitar, synth, trap and bass infused style. - HT