After I found Taylor Swift’s TTPD to be an overall depressing record (but a great one nonetheless), I was left wondering what song would follow Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso” and lead us farther into an uplifting bright summer. “Thank you Jalen Brunson” by Ski Team is that song. Lucie Lozinski, the Brooklyn based indie pop singer/songwriter that goes by the moniker Ski Team, oozes McAlpine-esque vocals with MICHELLE-like instrumentals of sparkly synths and funky bass on her second release that everyone is sure to love.
Lyrically, she calls back to an old song of hers, “Knicks Suck,” and sets the record straight. She thanks Brunson, a point guard for the New York Knicks, for, “giving us the team I once thought we could have.” The love doesn’t stop there. She makes a point to clarify that her love extends to the other players: “I don’t mean to give the applause all to one star / so just work hard to ensure / that every guy who's playing feels love, Jalen / Thank you / Love, New York.” The instrumentals and her soothing vocals are in such contrast to the heavy synths on “Knicks Suck.” The intro is filled with piano trills and the outro shimmers with light and airy vocalizations and a bouncy synth makes you want to groove. It’s exactly the energy I think Summer 2024 needs.
On writing the song, Lozinski wrote, “Knicks fans, who've had to be pretty sad for most of my life, deserve an anthem for this era too.” Listeners, like myself, can also hear “Thank you Jalen Brunson” as a anthem about working hard, growing up, owning your shit and acknowledging the growth that you’ve had up to this moment. Maybe this summer is for celebrating the wins. Thank you Ski team, and I hope I’ve worked hard to ensure that you feel just how much I love this song. H.A.G.S.!
Love, Jazmin.
