Review: PinkPantheress and Ice Spice’s “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” is like … so fun

Review: PinkPantheress and Ice Spice's "Boy's a liar Pt. 2" is like ... so fun

Musical internet sensations PinkPantheress and Ice Spice team up for “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2,” the collab we didn’t know we needed, yet makes perfect sense.
Published: February 9, 2023
PinkPantheress
The powerful hip hop duo have collaborated for “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2.”

The internet moves fast. Every other day, it seems there’s yet another video going viral. In mid-January, it was a TikTok filmed from one side of a New York City subway track zooming in on a group of girls dancing with PinkPantheress to her November hit song, “Boy’s a liar.” But someone else was there too, donning her signature ginger afro and a blush-pink tracksuit. It was none other than Ice Spice — the up-and-coming rapper fans and critics are calling the people’s princess of hip hop — stepping in for a bubbly remix and music video for “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2.”

For two Gen-Z artists who seemingly came from nowhere out of the scrolling abyss of TikTok “For You” pages and Twitter feeds, this collaboration just makes sense. Over the past two years, PinkPantheress has solidified a specific style of electropop that sounds like music you’d hear at a nightclub in a video game. Heavily relying on an upbeat drum track and a stomping Jersey club bass, it’s no wonder the Bronx-born-and-raised Ice Spice feels right at home on “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2.”

If the title wasn’t clear enough, “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” speaks to … well, a less-than-truthful guy who keeps leading on his girl (presumably PinkPantheress), making her question whether she was ever good enough.

 

When the chorus hits, it’s like time shifts back to the 2000s, bringing out repetitive chiptune triplets reminiscent of Timbaland’s “The Way I Are” featuring Keri Hilson and D.O.E. The instrumental twangs like a children’s electric keyboard and evokes a daydreamy, Imogen Heap-esque nostalgia.

PinkPantheress and Ice Spice both have a more breathy, sultry timbre that works in favor of their musical personalities. Whereas PinkPantheress is soft and hypnotic, Ice Spice is rich and husky, suitable for her confident rhymes. But regardless of how Ice Spice’s lyrics look on paper, anything goes with a little charisma. “Good enough,” “duh-duh-duh,” and “shouldn’t have” actually fit.

As expected, Ice Spice also throws in her notorious “like” cadence. She raps, “Like that boy is a cap / Sayin’ he home, but I know where he at — like.” It’s her own definitive punctuation. (Even her 2023 debut EP is called Like … ?)

PinkPantheress returns for the final chorus with maybe one too many “good eno-o-oughs,” but the beat is so addicting and fun that “Boy’s a liar Pt. 2” insists — “Oh, what’s one more listen?!”