Written by Jason Marecki
Cold Visions is the 16th project from Swedish sadboy Bladee, boasting 30 songs and over an hour of runtime. The album marks a return of what fans affectionately call EVIL BLADEE, marked by his use of producers F1lthy and Yung Sherman’s rage beats and a focus on the demons haunting his every waking moment.
Cold Visions is a sort of return to form for Bladee. The mixtape begins with the hard-hitting “PARANOIA INTRO” instantly setting this apart from anything Bladee has put out recently. The alt-rock style seen on his Yung Lean-collab album Psykos or the more hyperpop, softer style seen on Spiderr and Crest aren’t exactly gone, but have been put to the side to make way for rage. It’s strange hearing Bladee on beats you might hear from a Whole Lotta Red-era Playboi Carti or Luv is Rage-era Lil Uzi Vert, but it never sounds bad. In fact, Bladee weirdly fits incredibly well on these beats. He’s always had this drawl and fry to his voice that may not intuitively fit on these kinds of instrumentals, but it works in his favor. Especially when he starts to actually yell and get aggressive, like on “KING NOTHINGG” (my favorite song off the project).
However, Bladee still retains his more traditional, cloud trap, hyperpop-adjacent style in songs like “DONT DO DRUGZ” or “LOWS PARTLYY”. It helps these are produced by Lusi, the RipSquadd member responsible for producing some of Bladee’s best like “Hotel Breakfast” and “Waster”. This brings up a point of the sheer amount of talent the people outside of Bladee bring to the mixtape. Everything from the myriad of Yung Lean features to Black Kray’s (also known as Sickboyrari) verse on “OTHERSIDE” elevates the entire project to another level. The production, rapping, and vibe is at the best it’s been in years.
On first listen, the project dragged with its overwhelming 30 track length. Hitting “SO COLD INTERLUDE”, I was astounded we still had 15 more songs to go. On repeat listens though, the songs started to blend together with one another. The project didn’t feel like the hour-long listen it was on first experience, it felt natural. Bladee projects tend to take on that quality. They need repeated listens to experience all they have to offer.
Coming to the end of the project, I can’t help but feel this is the culmination of a 10 year musical career as one of the pioneers of the underground. Bladee has gone through almost all of his styles on Cold Visions, calling back to the also (partly) F1lthy-produced project Working on Dying, his more avant-garde and experimental Exeter and 333, his explorations of spirituality found in Crest, his longtime relationship with Yung Lean, Yung Sherman, Thaiboy Digital, Gravity Boys Shield Gang, and his fans. In the 29th song on the mixtape “CANT END ON A LOSS (OUTRO)”, Bladee seems to allude to this being the end of his musical career: “Tell me when to quit, if this is not it / Then it is what it is”, “It’ll be the last time I spit / Tell me what is, if this is not it”, and “There will be no more of this / Find another reason to live”.
On the second outro of the mixtape, the final song “COLD VISIONS (OUTRO 2)”, we see Bladee giving us images of the flowers trapped under the winter snow, lying dormant, waiting to emerge and grow. The flowers trapped under the snow can be seen as a metaphor for Bladee. He is trapped under the weight of his paranoia, depression, and cold visions. Even after
emerging from this pile of negativity, the oncoming season looms on the horizon. Bladee is trapped in a terrifying and painful loop, similar to the one seen in the “egobaby” music video.
Whether this is the end of one of the greatest careers in the underground music scene or just a new chapter in it, I want to sincerely thank Bladee for the art he’s put out over the years. Him and the people he has collaborated with have released some of the most genre-defining music of the past decade. The Corduroy Boyz wouldn’t be the same without them.
Thank you Bladee, and I hope you find the peace you deserve. Rated 10 out of 10.