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Final verdict: 7/10 ★★★⋆˙⟡☆
Artist spotlight Monday! No, I do not spotlight a different artist every Monday – it’s a once-in-a-blue-moon instance, and that’s what makes it just so precious. But today I am spotlighting a new artist, and it is Monday, and thus; “artist spotlight Monday!”
For this special iteration of “artist spotlight [insert relevant day of the week here],” I introduce to you Bravo “Da Producer” Diablo and his 2023 song “Can’t Control Me.” This is a piece released under his self-founded label, “HEAVYMUSIK LLC,” based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Diablo – apart from being a musician and entrepreneur – is also keenly involved in graphic design, and you can definitely tell by taking one good look at this single cover. A release without intriguing cover artwork is like an angel without wings, and so what Bravo gave us here is… visual inferno. It honestly fits the bill rather effortlessly. You can’t have a lyrically grim song fronted by an illustration of the pearly gates, that’s for sure. The cover art has got to be as hair-pullingly despairing as the song itself, and that is not a rule I made up. Ask the governor of all music.
But let me not get too ahead of myself; I ought to start with the first thought that came to me as I was listening to this song – and that is that for a song with a title as defiant as “Can’t Control Me,” I have got to admit, this is a rather constrained (“controlled,” if you will) slice of trap music. Ironic, ain’t it? But more on that in a jiffy.
For now, let’s focus on tying the song’s title back to its subject matter. “Can’t Control Me” focuses on themes of alienation, betrayal and growth, with the narrator feeling “[his] heart dyin’, slowly dyin’,” and describing himself as “just a loner trying to get out the city.” The opening lines of “You trying to play me, you can’t control me” paint the subject as having been manipulated in the past, getting his ass beat by life, learning, improving, and now standing up for himself in unprecedented ways following a voyage through the vast seas of self-growth. In that way, he can’t, indeed, be controlled. Progress, people, progress!
And that is an honest, raw and vulnerable picture. I just wish the music stood up to the task; because what we got here is a pretty run-of-the-mill trap beat (which is by no means bad – it’s well produced and tight, but it doesn’t exactly warrant a song about being out of bounds, don’t you think?), and some competent rapping to seal the deal.
What I’m getting at is the lyrics are efficient in communicating the main idea and the music is alright, but all put together, it doesn’t feel quite convincing, you know? I mean, the bars are very much there and it is a good listen, but it could use a little spice – for now, all seasoning we got is salt and pepper. It ain’t entirely tasteless, but it is fundamentally ordinary with not much of note goin’ on.
That said, I do respect the hustle – running an agency of your own ain’t for the weak! And what we got here is a decent song that appears to have attracted a vast audience; 175k streams on Spotify, whaaaaat? This is far and away the most-streamed song I’ve reviewed in these “spotlight” articles (the ones centered around underground talent, anyway).
Hoo. This is a 7/10. That’s the score I tend to give to stuff that’s objectively good, but not necessarily stellar. Man, my rating scale is fucked. No criteria, no principle. But maybe that’s the way it should be. Don’t confine yourselves to rules, comrades. Don’t confine yourselves to rules, for you can’t be controlled.
Silia 
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