Anderson .Paak and Cordae have released a new song called "A Good Day", and you can pretty much tell what kind of mood they are going for within the first few seconds. The track samples "Lovely Day" by Bill Withers, which is obviously a fairly brave song to touch considering how iconic the original is. Thankfully, they handle it really well.

The sample immediately gives the track this warm and familiar feeling, but the drums and low end push everything into a much more modern hip-hop setting. Hollywood Cole produced the song, and I like that he does not try to completely destroy or reinvent the source material. Sometimes you really do not need to. The melody is already fantastic, so the smartest thing you can do is build something tasteful around it and let it breathe.

Anderson .Paak sounds exactly like Anderson .Paak, which is a very good thing. There is this slightly raspy, playful quality to his voice that makes almost everything sound more alive. He always seems like he is having fun when he performs, even when the subject matter gets more serious. Cordae has a much smoother delivery, so the contrast between them works really nicely.

They have already worked together on songs like "RNP", "Two Tens" and "Summer Drop", and you can definitely hear that familiarity here. Nothing feels awkward or stitched together. It sounds less like somebody sent over a feature verse and more like two artists who actually understand how the other person works.

Apparently, this track is also leading into a full collaborative project called Heavy Is The Crown, which makes a lot of sense to me. The chemistry is clearly there. The main question is probably whether they can stretch that chemistry across an entire album without relying too heavily on this kind of nostalgic sample-based production.

I did see some listeners saying that using Bill Withers is almost too easy of a choice, and I understand that argument. It is such a recognisable song that you are already starting with a huge emotional advantage. At the same time, if the final result sounds this good, I am not going to complain simply because the source material is famous.

"A Good Day" is not trying to be the most groundbreaking song of the year. It is warm, catchy and genuinely fun to listen to, and sometimes that is more than enough. Put this on during a sunny drive and I think you will understand exactly what they were going for.

Author: Peter Källman

Peter Källman is a writer from Sweden who loves playing in bands, writing reviews and going to live shows!