Mascara by Cheema Y, Gur Sidhu

Mascara works because it does not try to do too much — it finds one feeling and holds it perfectly. The music, composed by Gur Sidhu, carries the song forward with a confidence that matches the performance.

There are singers who perform songs and singers who live inside them. On Mascara, Cheema Y, Gur Sidhu clearly belongs in the second group. Hearing Mascara without thinking of a talented ensemble cast is almost impossible for anyone who has seen Cloud 9.

2024 marked the release of Cloud 9, and Mascara was the track that ensured the album would be remembered. Some music is background. Mascara demands attention — not aggressively, but in the way a good conversation does.

The 2:28 runtime feels perfectly judged — long enough to develop its ideas, short enough to compel a second play. It is, at the end of it, a very good song — and sometimes that is the only explanation that matters.