There is something deliciously contradictory about MAMI UMAMI’s “(Don’t) think I like you”. A song born from separation arrives with all the urgency of a packed dance floor, its restless production and infectious hooks turning romantic frustration into a high-energy collision of sound. The Malmö duo, comprising Jaquelin Elamiri and Leonard Furby, have never been particularly interested in keeping their musical instincts within tidy boundaries, and this latest single finds them pushing their blend of hip-hop, pop and club music into increasingly animated territory. Co-produced with Alex Lopez, it is a track that hits the ground running, all kinetic momentum and barely concealed emotion.
The premise is deceptively simple. Both members found themselves dealing with partners moving to other cities for work, a situation that brings its own peculiar emotional complications. You want the people you love to succeed, naturally, but that does not necessarily make their absence any easier to stomach. It is this awkward intersection of happiness and selfishness that gives the single its bite. MAMI UMAMI take the sort of feelings most people would rather keep to themselves and turn them into something gloriously theatrical, allowing resentment, insecurity and affection to coexist without demanding that any of them make perfect sense.
Musically, the duo operate with a restless confidence, allowing electronic textures and driving rhythms to carry the song forward while their vocals supply the personality. There is a sharpness to the delivery that prevents the emotional subject matter from becoming overly sentimental, while the production gives the track an undeniable physical pull. This is music designed to move, but not simply for movement’s sake. Beneath the club-ready exterior is a recognisable human experience, the peculiar frustration of knowing that your head understands a situation perfectly well while your heart refuses to cooperate. The result is an appealing tension between the body’s desire to dance and the mind’s determination to overthink everything.
“(Don’t) think I like you” is a title that wears its contradictions proudly. The parenthetical word changes the entire meaning, turning a declaration of disinterest into an admission that feels all the more revealing for its reluctance. It is a small but effective gesture, capturing the way people often disguise vulnerability behind sarcasm, defiance or a carefully constructed sense of indifference. The song moves through the familiar stages of emotional upheaval, from denial and anger towards something approaching acceptance, without ever losing its sense of fun. MAMI UMAMI recognise the comedy in romantic frustration, but they never dismiss the feelings underneath it. Instead, they make room for both, finding freedom in the chaos.
The single continues the trajectory established by the AFTERwork EP, building on a sound that has already found its way onto major festival stages including Roskilde and Way Out West. Such settings make sense for a duo whose music thrives on the relationship between individual emotion and collective release. There is a communal quality to “(Don’t) think I like you”, as though the personal business of missing someone could be temporarily transformed into a shared, sweat-soaked celebration. MAMI UMAMI are at their most interesting when they refuse to settle into a single identity, drawing equally from pop immediacy, hip-hop attitude and club experimentation. This latest release captures that restless spirit with plenty of energy to spare, proving that even the most complicated feelings can make for irresistible dance floor material.
