Virginia-based producer and multi-instrumentalist Jarrett Nicolay, the man behind My New Mixtape, returns with a new single that’s both a protest anthem and existential folk satire. Named “Who’s Your Daddy”, the song leaves no punches unthrown — and still, it does so with a smile that makes the punches sting even more.
Based on a hollowed-out acoustic canon, “Who’s Your Daddy?” seamlessly blends the warm eulogies and biting commentaries into a what Nicolay himself would label as “existential dread pop”. However, do not be misled by the soft arpeggios. There is a sharp questioning of modern political and cultural disillusionment underneath the breezy strumming. It is an open letter: to Trump voters — asking: Are you happy now? Are you better off? And the titular question, Who’s your daddy?
What is powerful about “Who’s Your Daddy?” isn’t just the lyrical acuity but the way the message gets delivered with a knowing wit. Nicolay does not preach, he triggers, throws a cracked mirror, not a podium. It’s protest music for people who have had enough. Weary, sardonic and stronger for it.
The title itself is a gut-punch masked by a smirk. A pinch at a national savior complex, it doubts the father-figure obsession behind populist loyalty. There is affection in the performance though – Nicolay’s voice is full of fatigue, filled with clarity, and it reminds that this is no gloating. It’s about wrestling with absurdity in a period where irony is more often than not, the only way to survive.
With “Who’s Your Daddy?”, My New Mixtape presents a masterclass torn between contradiction of self. a tune that’s earworm, belligerent, funny, and profoundly queasy. It doesn’t ask for answers, it asks you to think. Maybe even sing along, uncomfortably.
