Kimiko Glenn, performing as KIMIKO, has released “Just Like That!,” the latest single from her upcoming debut EP ‘Modern Dance’. The track is an outwardly laid-back, completely un-chill examination of the devolving mental state that comes with waiting for a text that never arrives, and it arrives with a music video that frames the whole spiral through the lens of a TikTok For You page.
The song captures something specific and universal. “‘Just Like That!’ is a seemingly chill song about the world being literally on fire, but your biggest concern, the greatest tragedy of all, is that he hasn’t texted you back,” says KIMIKO. “It’s the process of convincing yourself you’re more important than this, while ultimately voice-noting everyone you know, spiraling out of control.” The production keeps it breezy while the lyrics do the damage.
The video builds the concept further, structured as a series of stitched-together vlogs: the Get Ready With Me’s, fashion hauls, song teasers, matcha flashes, and dance trends of a fictional micro-influencer who is very publicly, very visibly not spiraling. Except she absolutely is. “If you look closely, beyond her manicured online presence, she’s totally spiraling,” KIMIKO explains. The format is the joke, and the joke lands clean.
“Just Like That!” follows “Emotional Whiplash,” KIMIKO’s previous single and her first venture into directing her own music video. Both tracks pull from the same inspiration pool: Lily Allen and Sabrina Carpenter, 2 artists who find power and fun in the messiness of gender and romantic politics. The comparison holds. ‘Modern Dance’ shapes up as a sharp, funny, and genuinely felt debut from someone who has spent a decade making audiences feel things through other people’s words.
Glenn is best known on screen for her role as Brook Soso on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, which earned her and the cast 3 Screen Actors Guild Awards for Outstanding Ensemble in a Comedy Series. Her voice work spans Hazbin Hotel, Disney’s KIFF (which earned her 4 Children & Family Emmy nominations), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and both sequels, and the upcoming Netflix adaptation of Among Us. She originated the role of Dawn in the Broadway production of Waitress, nominated for a 2016 Tony Award for Best Musical with music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles.
‘Modern Dance’ EP Track Listing:
- Hang Out Forever?
- Emotional Whiplash
- Just Like That!
- BIG ICK ENERGY
- Modern Dance