There is a very specific kind of song that hits differently when it is 2 a.m., you have headphones on, you absolutely should be asleep and your brain has suddenly decided that now is the perfect time to review every terrible decision you have ever made. Quinetik’s “Astronaut Dreams” fits that category pretty damn well.
The track is a mix between styles pioneered by Kid Cudi and Travis Scott, building itself around hypnotic drums, spacious production and Quinetik’s relaxed, melodic delivery. Nothing is fighting for attention.
The song deals with ambition, distance, self-reflection and that weird feeling of wanting to escape while simultaneously having absolutely no idea where you’re supposed to escape to. Because apparently the human solution to being confused is to imagine yourself several hundred million kilometers away from the problem.
Musically, the comparisons to Kid Cudi and Travis Scott make sense. “Astronaut Dreams” has that same hazy, floating quality where the vocals aren’t merely sitting on top of the instrumental; they become part of the atmosphere. There’s also something more playful in the production that recalls the dancier Aminé tracks, keeping the track from disappearing completely into the cloud-rap fog, and that balance is probably the best thing about it.
This is chilled-out hip-hop, but it isn’t boring. It’s melodic without becoming aggressively commercial. It’s atmospheric without sounding like Quinetik discovered reverb five minutes before recording the song and decided to put it on absolutely everything.
And yes, introspective hip-hop is hardly a new invention. Rap has been staring into the abyss for decades. At this point, the abyss probably has its own Spotify playlist.
The trick is making that familiar emotional territory actually feel like you. “Astronaut Dreams” gets surprisingly close to doing that because it doesn’t seem interested in pretending Quinetik has solved the mysteries of existence. Instead, the song sits comfortably inside the uncertainty. There is ambition, but also distance. There is movement, but also hesitation. There is the desire to get somewhere without necessarily knowing where “somewhere” is.
It’s the kind of song you can throw on during a late-night drive, stare out of a bus window while listening to, or play while pretending that lying motionless in bed and thinking about your entire life counts as productivity.
Quinetik isn’t reinventing hip-hop here and he doesn’t need to. “Astronaut Dreams” understands its lane, builds a convincing atmosphere and gives that atmosphere enough personality to make you want to come back.
Sometimes you don’t need answers. Sometimes you just need a good beat while you continue not figuring your life out.
Follow Quinetik
About the Author
A tenured media critic known working as a ghost writer, freelance critic for various publications around the world, the former lead writer of review blogspace Atop The Treehouse and content creator for Manila Bulletin.
