As soon as you hear the first chants of “Kobe Kobe” you recognize that this is going to be a basketball song. “Chase your dream” croons Yeo, early in the piece. It’s hard to tell at this point whether the song is written to Kobe Bryant or from the point of view of Kobe Bryant but it becomes apparent at the 1:53 mark with the line “Summer heat on an empty street”. In that moment it suddenly blooms like a spring orchard and you know, you just know that this is Kobe dissing Lebron. Heat on an empty street? Oh no he didn’t. (Yes he did.)

 

It’s hard to imagine Lebron letting this one slide and we’ll probably see him shoot back, maybe through a song by Gossling or Panama, though sources say he has some tendrils in the Saskwatch camp. This is the first time we’ve seen an NBA player commission a song from an independent Melbourne artist and given the profile of the player this might set a precedent we’ll see followed many times over upcoming season. It’s also interesting to see Yeo moving in this direction given the sentimentality of his previous gendered anthem ‘Girl’. That song managed to cultivate some audience for Yeo and this one is a strong followup for an artist who has been more active over the past few years than you may already realize. ‘Kobe’ features the same rumbling bass sound in the verses that was present in ‘Girl’ but the chorus is a far brighter synth overload. It’s right on the verge of over-polish but retreats before vertigo sends the whole thing plummeting into unlistenability. What we’re left with is a legitimate pop song cloaked in the greys and browns of an independent Melbourne production. Strong song Yeo, strong song.