On Negotiations, her latest EP, Los Angeles-based pop experimentalist Kilo Kish delves into existential crisis with a high-tech sheen. Midway through the project, she practically morphs into an AI assistant undergoing ego death. “When I came to myself/I was gone/And no one else/Knew but me,” she murmurs on “When I Came to Myself,” a slow-burning standout that echoes the themes of identity and disillusionment explored on her 2022 album American Gurl. Kish’s glitchy vocal delivery lends a chilling edge to the EP’s persistent self-awareness, which flickers in and out like an intrusive pop-up ad.
The EP blends chrome-bright electro-pop with introspective lyricism, toggling between self-empowerment and self-sabotage. It plays like a software update for the soul—an attempt to rewrite faulty code and replace it with healthier patterns. A companion website describes Negotiations as an “exploration of the human body and mind as interconnected machines navigating the complexities of modern life,” particularly the mechanized grind of being a working artist. The accompanying visuals place Kish in cold, corporate purgatories—dystopian offices and sterile breakrooms—where she appears trapped in the bureaucratic machinery of the music industry, even placed on hold in a surreal clip.
The EP’s soundscape, coproduced with longtime collaborator Ray Brady, mirrors this unease. Sharp-edged synths, robotic beats, and vocoder-heavy vocals establish a frosty, intentionally detached atmosphere over the six-track runtime.
Kish’s coolly delivered lyrics confront internal turmoil with quiet intensity. On “Reprogram,” one of the EP’s emotional peaks, she admits, “Frankly, I’m just going through the motions,” backed by stuttering, synthetic harmonies. But the chorus hits harder, capturing the inertia of burnout: “Every time I think I want to do this/Waiting for the second movement… Every time I think I want to try, I don’t want to try.” The opener, “Digital Emotional,” turns tech metaphors into buoyant pop gold. Breezy, singsong verses glide over whizzing synths, tying emotional distance to digital disconnect. The chorus—brisk and bittersweet—features one of Kish’s most striking vocal performances, full of yearning and clarity.
The lone stumble is “Negotiate,” a subdued duet with Miguel. Their foggy back-and-forth feels muffled beneath pointillist synths and a plodding beat, momentarily slowing the EP’s momentum. By contrast, the sharp-tongued “DCMU” finds Kish in full control, critiquing a careless ex with steely precision. The track builds into a swirl of layered synths and pounding drums, reaching an electrifying emotional peak.
Despite the existential dread that permeates Negotiations, moments like these—when Kish’s syrupy melodies fuse with razor-sharp production—illuminate the project’s deeper message: even in a mechanized, emotionally distant world, human feeling still pulses through the noise.
