Growing up the little sis to a multiplatinum-selling superstar can’t be easy. In fact, it sounds like a total nightmare. But leave it to Beyoncé’s younger sib to step out of her sister’s shadow in style. On True, Solange’s first EP and inaugural release since dropping her last name, she moves beyond the pop realm with ease, embracing a potent mix of new wave and R&B. Opening track and lead single “Losing You” is a brazen mix of sampling tricks and slick beats that’s great, but only partially indicative of True’s motives. Further down the track list, the EP hits its stride with “Lovers in the Parking Lot,” a smooth melding of Solange’s silken harmonies and producer Devonté Hynes’s signature slinky beats. Much like Hynes’s Blood Orange project, True is brimming with ’80s pop touchstones; think syncopated percussion, sexy bass lines, and subtle flourishes of sonic sparkle. But it’s Solange’s ability to channel Janet, Pebbles, and Lisa Lisa that helps make True the throwback gem that it is.

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