Review: Hot Singles in Your Area by Scene Queen released via Hopeless

Hannah Rose Collins, better known as Scene Queen, has gotten a lot of attention on social media lately for better or worse. Releasing music since 2020, she has been accused more recently of being inauthentic by a wide margin of the community. I myself enjoyed some of the early tracks from the EPs, thought it was harmless pop music everyone was weirdly angry with and looked forward to a debut album.

Now it's here, and I think I finally see what you're all talking about.

I want to start off on a positive note before getting into any serious criticism in saying Scene Queen does pay homage to her favorite artists quite well. "BDSM" is a very true to era Warped Tour intro song. It shouts out, by name, the album's attempted niche genre, emphasizes its composition lyrically and says something self critical. In this case Hannah takes the easiest route; she hates men.

Which, valid.

The reason I'm pointing this out, however, is it's the lowest hanging fruit. Between this and the industry plant accusations this is what most people know about Scene Queen. In the same way, this song is what most people know about this genre of music. Pretty much all of the music on all of thess songs have very little substance instrumentally and many play back to the Warped era. "Whips and Chains," reminds me of quite a few crunkcore tracks making waves on MySpace. There is also quite a bit of nu metal influence, which, also is fairly cut and dry.

None of this to say I think Scene Queen is a lesser artist for using tricks of the trade, obvious or not. Where I start to take issue is all of those early EPs led me to believe we'd be at a much more interesting place on a full length. The title track is more so what I wanted of the entire project. Its an understanding of the early releases with a bit more polish. It makes use of Hannah's vocal range with some heartfelt sections mixed in with the more comedic inflection. The instrumental here is still simple but has a lot more personality and its not the only song I can say this about. "18+," a track I felt positively about as a single, feels like it came from a totally different worldine where this dream get's realized. Its taking clear shots at a specific larger band while making it apply to most men in the same space. Its clever without being so confident it sounds fake. All of this and the beat, again, simple, but it takes ownership of it.

It isn't just sonics, everything about this particular batch of tracks feels fake in a way it didn't before. Within the first minute or so Scene Queen says "oh you hate me? Well I hate you more!" In this tone where I understand it's being written for her character but it also comes across as juvenile. "Pink Push Up Bra" conceptually is so forced, so disjointed and sort of gets lost in its own influence.

Truthfully, however, I'm unsure of whether or not I enjoy this record as every time I find something to like it sort of gets walked two steps back. "Mutual Masturbation" is something, but I would be lying if I didn't say it sounds incredibly lame. And, again, all these things are actual problems to the scene, and I know Scene Queen has run into them. Pretty much all of the local cis men in bands who were around the PVD scene when I was growing up acted like they were too good for every headliner and yet are still in those same clubs now. They also assumed every woman in said club was an audience member and never an artist. All of these things can be true, and this artist can make a bad song about it. 

I think where I reach a boiling point with Hot Singles is "Girls Gone Wild" with Wargasm. I will acknowledge no one is doing this exact blend of sound, sort of a RadioDisney meets Octane and I do appreciate the fact she likes both of those things enough to solve their marriage. Wargasm plays in a similar space as Scene Queen so a marriage of these two worlds also makes complete sense to me. Where I take issue is this songs mission statement, at its bassline, really bothers me. The entire concept here is "if girls had penises we'd be so dangerous" but, as a girl with a penis, I can assure you, Hannah, this actually makes me more of a target than someone with power. Again, in a review, I have to circle back to being fed up with transness as a rethoric rather than something really going on in the scene. It also plays back into Hannah's using of queer spaces in a really weird way, its all for the attention and the anti-right talking point. Which, are you tired of me saying this yet? I get, is important but I also think this attempt not only fails to stick the landing, it makes the trans woman listening to your album uncomfortable. 

It's on the playlist, but more so as an example.

Finally, the second half of this record is a lot more sexual and sort of throws anything else out the window. I want to give points for being so vocal about your sexuality but its hard to do so when it's produced this poorly and written with innuendos about as clever as a fanfic. This section is also where the worst parts of Scene Queen's music are a lot louder. "Finger" especially has an awful use of Hannah's vocal range and lifts, again, from Falling in Reverse. 

I feel pretty silly for having looked forward to a Scene Queen full length when so many people in the community sort of looked at me funny for supporting this artist. I get it now, thirty-six minutes of this has opened my eyes.

You can hear the highlighted tracks on the AsterTracks 2024 playlist,

1. BDSM
2. 18+
3. Whips and Chains
4. Pink Push-Up Bra
5. Mutual Masturbation
6. Girls Gone Wild feat. WARGASM (UK)
7. POV feat. The Ready Set
8. Hot Singles in Your Area
9. MILF
10. Amateur
11. Stuck feat. 6arelyhuman
12. Finger
13. PEG
14. Oral Fixation
15. Climax

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