The pride of Portland, Aminé did an admirable job staying busy during the pandemic. The rapper put out nearly a full album’s worth of new material in the Limbo (Deluxe Edition) and then was among those featured in the soundtrack to the Space Jam: A New Legacy sequel. Now he’s dropped “Charmander,” his first new track of 2021 and the video is telling of what he’s been up to since… well, sort of.
“Charmander,” named after the classic Pokémon fire-breather, sees him expanding into new sonic frontiers as the track is propped up by a sped-up jump up drum and bass beat. He ruminates on being comfortable in his home base with the repeatable hook, “I’ve been chillin’ on an island, too,” and is seen hanging with a new friend: A giant poodle. As he goes about his day-to-day in a woodsy Oregon cabin, flipping through records, cooking with his lady, and chopping wood, the massive pup is by his side. And the dog has a similar disposition to Aminé: Curious, but always relaxing. He spoke about the track in a statement:
“After the release of Limbo I took some time to experiment and challenge myself to create in ways I hadn’t before — exploring different textures and tempos without any expectations. ‘Charmander’ was the first product of that period that felt natural while still being at a completely different BPM than any of my previous work.”
Watch the video for “Charmander” above.
