Track Review: Shenseea & Megan Thee Stallion, "Lick"

Fresh off a pair of Grammy nominations for her contributions to Kanye West's DONDA, Shenseea has unleashed her first single of 2022: "Lick." The highly sexual new track features a verse from fellow 2022 Grammy nominee Megan Thee Stallion.

Constructed around a poorly incorporated sample Denise Belfon's "Work" which was, in turn, interpolated in DJ Flex's iconic "Put Your Back In It," "Lick" falters on a number of fronts. Of course, two women spitting incredibly explicit verses and writhing over each other in the accompanying music video should not automatically mean "WAP," but you truly can't help but think of the smash 2020 single when listening to "Lick." From the general aesthetic of the video to the presence of Megan herself, "Lick" is unintentionally cast in the shadow of "WAP" from the jump. "Lick" could have carved out a more distinct lane had the song's production leaned more into Shenseea's home genre of dancehall. Instead, Murda Beatz opts for an oddly sparse soundscape that shoves the song closer to rap and strips it of any uniqueness. In the past few years, Shenseea has delivered excellent, fresh dancehall anthems like "Rebel," "Be Good," "Foreplay," etc. It does both her and the song a disservice when that sturdy dancehall foundation is relegated to a sample that does most of the heavy lifting, and yet it still doesn't feel like enough.

Shenseea's parts are solid if not a bit phoned in. It's her pre-chorus, however, that is maybe the most off-putting part of the song. The pre-chorus sounds relatively stronger when preceded by the song's first proper verse. By placing the pre-chorus at the beginning of the song, "Lick" gets off to a rather subdued start which makes the explosive hook feel ever-so-slightly out of place. Megan's verse is also enjoyable, particularly the flow she uses towards the end of her section. Most of the issues with "Lick" are structural; there was clearly a vision here and there's also a solid party anthem hidden in there somewhere. Moreover, Murda Beatz was not the right producer to helm this song; the derivative production muddies the track. Megan has already proven herself capable of adapting to more dancehall-adjacent beats ("Intercourse" off Good News), so they could have played with that a bit more. "Lick" is more "unfinished demo" than "polished radio single to lead into an album rollout." With two powerhouses like Shenseea and Megan at the mantle, "Lick" doesn't quite fulfill the potential of their combined power and talent.

Score: 50