“Aquamarine / Arcamarine”

Addison Rae’s 2024 started with a bang: screaming over the top of mentor-slash-bestie Charli XCX’s viral “Von Dutch” remix and letting loose a short, fiendishly simple earworm into A.G. Cook’s Britpop highlight “Lucifer.” Rae’s first solo track of the year, the shimmery Lanacore ballad “Diet Pepsi,” became her first Billboard hit, having received a tidy profile boost from its triumphant live debut at the Sweat tour's MSG stop; her follow-up, the ridiculous-but-enchanting “Aquamarine,” played like a Ray of Light deep cut sung by Nomi Malone. And both singles arrived with sublime, funny videos directed by Sean Price Williams—cinematographer of Good Time, director of edgelord fairytale The Sweet East—and creative-directed by Interview mag impresario Mel Ottenberg, for that extra bit of cool-kid clout.

So a remix of “Aquamarine” by Rae’s dream collaborator, Arca—titled, obviously, “Arcamarine”—should be another easy win. In truth, it’s probably Rae’s first real miss this year, a creative misalignment that doesn’t make particularly canny use of either musician’s skills. There’s nothing offensive or unlistenable about “Arcamarine,” but that’s its first mistake: Both Rae and Arca have used their music to rage against the limits of good taste, and “Arcamarine” sounds a little like the kind of safe, anonymous dembow remixes that major labels use to juice chart numbers. (Arca’s best collaborations, like “KLK” and “Watch,” force vocalists to fit themselves into her mutant engineering; on a remix like this, she’s limited to working with pre-existing vocals.) The slower pulse saps “Aquamarine,” one of the year’s better pop singles, of its mystery and drama; when it ends, you can’t help but feel kind of blue.