Folk/Review My New Mixtape - Who's Your Daddy?

Jarrett Nicolay is a songwriter from Alexandria, Virginia. Recording under the moniker My New Mixtape, Nicolay has self-produced and released three full-length albums to date. Nicolay’s songwriting prioritizes originality while maintaining a pop sensibility and has been featured in indie films, including this year’s Sundance favorite, “I Don’t Feel At Home In This World Anymore.”

Jarrett Nicolay's song "Who’s Your Daddy?" from his solo project My New Mixtape is a sonically contagious and darkly sarcastic critique of moral ambiguity and political deception. This most recent song, which is appropriately referred to as "existential dread pop," pushes hard on the dread by fusing scathing social criticism with an unquestionably catchy, looping rhythm that is both memorable and unnerving.

Pointed, unrepentant, and brimming with irony, the song serves as an open letter. By using lyrics as a mirror to reflect the cognitive dissonance and mistaken faith in a leader who, in the artist's opinion, epitomizes everything contrary to their professed principles, Nicolay challenges the stereotype of the Trump-supporting, freedom-fixated Christian conservative.

"Who’s Your Daddy?" holds a peculiar and alluring place in terms of music. Gritty guitar textures and percussion loops highlight the song's melancholy vibe, despite its simple arrangement. Like someone attempting to rouse a buddy from a terrible dream, Nicolay's approach balances sarcasm and sincerity to create a tone that is combative yet oddly sympathetic.

"Who’s Your Daddy?" calls out hypocrisy and urges reflection in an era of misinformation, tribalism, and manufactured anger. The point is that it's not subtle. One of the more witty, scathing, and catchy acts of resistance you'll hear this year is this sardonic protest song.