Play Nice are hard to keep up with. The internet collective meanders stylistically, embodying the depth of what it means to be transcendent artists of the post-genre era. And they release singles so fluidly, being born from the ashes of artistic boredom during a quarantine, that with each quickfire release, comes a swift change of direction. But that’s the point. If their project’s creation exists to provide fertile space to continue creating while the world stands still, it’s also to provide the world with music during that same span. And with so much happening in the world since their inception, Play Nice utilize their framework to experiment wildly with their creative direction while using their pedestal to speak their minds on love, lust, loss, inebriation, boredom, and social injustices. They are many, and they are broad. But their music continues to refine itself with focus and intent, subsisting as a looking glass into the creation and self-discovery of a creative collective with no limits to time, opinion, or artistic genius.

 

Staring Game is a short but sweet melodic inclusion into their canon expanding on the neo-soul nuances they’ve explored most thoroughly with Stuck Inside & Distance. But, like those two prior singles, Staring Game is also something completely new. Tay Iwar & Bowtye provide the track’s undeniable vocal emotionality while Insightful and J. Robb round out production that allows the track to emerge as one of Play Nice’s more vulnerable deliveries to date.