Pinkpantheress Fancies Some Club Influence on New Remix Album

By Diego Gonzalez

With new releases from FKA Twigs, Amaarae, Rochelle Jordan, Oklou and more, 2025 has been a monumental year for dance music, and Pinkpantheress is clearly eager to establish herself as one of the trailblazers of the increasingly popular electro-recession pop zeitgeist. Earlier this summer, Pinkpantheress released her mixtape Fancy That to widespread acclaim, a record that saw the ‘Y2K’ British pop princess forging her own substantial sound, heavy with UK Garage influence and samplings from dance legends like Underworld and Basement Jaxx. Five months later, Pantheress offers us Fancy Some More, teaming up with iconic names including Kylie Minogue, Zara Larsson, Sega Bodega and many more for an hour and ten minutes-long record of remixes of Fancy That’s original nine tracks. Split into two discs, (not including the third, which is simply the original album), the first disc consists of standard pop remixes featuring various big names like Oklou, Bladee, Ravyn Lenae, Yves, SEVENTEEN and more, each feature providing their own unique sonic interpolation on the original tracks with a dance-heavy focus. Bladee’s rework of ‘Stateside’ transforms the song from a euro-dance bop about yearning for an “American hot boy” into a synth-heavy and melancholic, vaguely dubstep track with shrill autotuned vocals singing from the perspective of Stateside’s American love interest. Zara Larsson’s interpretation of ‘Stateside’ swaps out the original track’s breakbeats and electronic bass for punchier, almost Ray of Light-esque synths and bass, with strong, belting vocals that complement the track’s hard-hitting production. Oklou’s subdued rendering of ‘Girl Like Me’ utilizes her signature electronic minimalism and cool, modulated vocals to produce a spacey trip-hop sound reminiscent of Tricky’s Maxinquaye. Ravyn Lenae brings the romantic and cheeky ‘Romeo’ into a sultry R&B context. 

While many of the songs on disc one attempt to take each original track to a new level sonically, some tracks hardly change up the original compositions at all, notably Kylie Minogue’s version of ‘Stateside’, simply including a verse or two of her vocals mixed on top of the original track. Anitta’s feature on ‘Illegal,’ the opening to the album, is a similar story; the artist opens the track, singing the first verse and sharing the chorus with Pantheress, while keeping the production largely the same as the original. Overall, I would say the first disc is a satisfactory extension of Fancy That’s strongest elements; it transforms the record from UK garage into an electro-pop, dance club framework with some of the most consequential artists in the genre. However, despite many of the remixes adequately subverting their original tracks’ production to some degree, the repetition of the same remixed songs over and over, alongside the barely remixed Kylie Minogue and Anitta tracks, makes the first disc feel a bit redundant and tedious. It also begs the question of why Pantheress couldn’t instead have focused on creating new songs for a deluxe release, rather than a somewhat bloated remix album that is coming out months after the 20-minute mixtape released in May. Because of how intricate the production is on the original album, and how much it exemplifies the best of Pantheress’ signature touches, it is a bit of a shame that this disc primarily focuses on outside artists to rework existing songs that are already substantial, rather than working on new songs to extend the length and experimentation of Fancy That. To sum up disc one, it consists primarily of standard pop remixes with some added dance and club influences.

On disc 2, Pantheress switches up the energy and sound significantly, still only reworking the original nine songs but dialing up the energy and club influence to a much more noticeable degree. This disc has a much bigger focus on transforming the original songs’ production, and features less of the added verses by outside artists that disc one did. Opening the track, Nia Archives’ rework of ‘Illegal’ sets the stage nicely for an energetic club experience, heightening the energy of the song with a rapid jungle beat. KAYTRANADA’s ‘Girl Like Me’ remix slows the original song’s tempo down and is mixed over one of KAYTRANADA’s signature alternative R&B funk beats, resulting in a subdued yet satisfactory reimagining of the song, and evoking something reminiscent of Solange’s sound. Basement Jaxx’s remix of ‘Tonight’ incorporates an intricate house beat, truly feeling like something that would be heard in the depths of a sweaty dance club at 1 am. In contrast, Joe Goddard’s remix of ‘Tonight’ pulls back the song’s punchier elements for a more understated indietronica sound, bringing to mind Baths or Caribou. Mochakk’s ‘Noises’ turns the short, atmospheric breakbeat song into a 6-minute-long hypnagogic funk dance experience. Sega Bodega gives ‘Nice to Know You’ glittery and airy synth melodies, and KILIMANJARO closes the remix album with yet another house remix of ‘Romeo.’ In comparing disc one and two, both sides certainly demonstrate a range of sounds and genres, keeping a focus on danceability and elevating the original album’s production in various ways. Pinkpantheress undoubtedly succeeded in producing a substantial remix album, and I can see many of these tracks growing on me in the near future. However, it must be noted that these same melodies and compositions being used over and over ultimately leads to a feeling of tedium, making the experience of listening all the way through not super musically compelling, despite the various genres incorporated into these remixes. Though this is, of course, a remix album, so frequent repetition is to be expected. While this new release from Pantheress demonstrates her aptitude for energetic club music and elevates Fancy That to some degree musically, nothing will top the original album’s cohesion and uniqueness. Fancy Some More is an acceptable extension of Fancy That, sacrificing some of the original album’s unrelenting experimentation for a more easily accessible, crowd-pleasing dance experience.

Overall Score: 75/100