Chloe Qisha’s Fantasize Review – Desire, Doubt and the Art of the Crush
Chloe Qisha’s Fantasize Review – Desire, Doubt and the Art of the Crush
What happens when the person you want to be is also the person you want to be with? That question gives Chloe Qisha’s “Baby Girl” a playful tension that extends naturally to Fantasize, her debut mixtape, due on 30 October 2026. Its title promises an escape into possibility, but the material introduced so far is just as interested in the awkward moment when possibility meets reality.
Qisha has already established a talent for turning uncomfortable thoughts into approachable pop. The London-based Malaysian artist followed her self-titled 2024 EP with Modern Romance in 2025, and Fantasize offers a larger canvas for the relationship dilemmas and sharp observations that have become part of her identity. The project arrives through Columbia in the UK and RCA in the US.
This is a pre-release review and preview, written before the complete mixtape’s arrival. It considers the advance songs and the artist’s public comments without pretending to have heard every track. A full verdict and score must wait until the finished sequence is available.
The campaign has introduced “YDH”, “Baby Girl”, “Surprise Surprise”, “So Sad So Hot” and “Question Of The Day”, with “He Likes Boys” also presented ahead of the mixtape. Those titles suggest a project comfortable with the funny and painful sides of a crush. The exciting question is whether those feelings become more revealing when the songs sit together.
Qisha’s account of “Baby Girl” points towards a particularly contemporary problem: the confusion between admiration, attraction and comparison. It is a strong premise because it resists a neat answer. A pop song can let those feelings coexist while still offering a hook worth returning to. Let’s look at what Fantasize promises
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What Is Fantasize About?
Fantasize follows Qisha’s Modern Romance EP and extends her interest in the gap between what people feel and what they can comfortably admit. The mixtape title suggests desire and imagination, but fantasy can also expose insecurity. Imagining another life or relationship can be exhilarating because it has not yet had to survive an ordinary Tuesday.
In her explanation of “Baby Girl”, Qisha describes a club encounter where admiration and attraction become difficult to separate. She also connects the song with comparison and uncertainty about fitting an idea of a modern pop artist. That makes its central question more than a clever line: it concerns how people look at one another and themselves.
The project’s mixtape label matters too. In an interview with Rolling Stone UK, Qisha describes enjoying the sense that there is still room to explore beyond this release. That is a useful way to approach Fantasize: as a substantial statement by an emerging artist that does not need to pretend every possibility has been exhausted.
Fantasize Tracklist
The following ten-track sequence has been reported for the digital mixtape. The retailer’s CD listing shows nine tracks and does not list “Mama!”, so check the final edition details when buying.
YDH
Question Of The Day
Baby Girl
Possessed (In a Hot Way)
Mama!
He Likes Boys
Surprise Surprise
So Sad So Hot
Cry About It
Fantasize
The reported digital tracklist and the CD listing should be checked against the final release pages.
The Mixtape’s Story, Tracklist and Pacing
“YDH” opens the ten-track sequence, followed by “Question Of The Day” and “Baby Girl”. That early run places direct expression and romantic uncertainty close together. It is tempting to hear a complete narrative in the order of the titles, but the complete sequence needs to be available before its pacing can be judged fairly.
“He Likes Boys” occupies the middle of the reported digital running order. Qisha has described it as central to the project’s inspiration, which makes its position especially interesting. A song about wanting someone who cannot return that particular attraction can complicate the freedom implied by the mixtape’s title.
The closing stretch moves through “Surprise Surprise”, “So Sad So Hot”, “Cry About It” and the title track. Those titles place humour and distress in the same neighbourhood. Whether the transitions make that combination feel cohesive remains a question for the full listen.
Chloe Qisha’s Voice and Performance
The strongest premise in Qisha’s writing is her willingness to let a thought sound slightly embarrassing. A polished pop song can make a private question feel like a shared joke. It can also flatten that question if the performance never allows uncertainty to register. That balance will be central to the mixtape.
“Baby Girl” gives the singer a particularly useful perspective: the narrator is not simply admiring another person but examining the comparison happening at the same time. A performance that holds both thoughts together can make the song feel more specific than a general declaration of attraction. Qisha’s explanation gives listeners a way into that tension.
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What the Fantasize Campaign Does Best
It lets desire be funny
A crush can make an otherwise sensible person behave like an amateur detective with no evidence. Qisha’s subject matter has room for that absurdity. Humour can make a confession approachable without making the feeling itself less serious.
It makes comparison part of the story
“Baby Girl” recognises that admiration does not always fit into a single category. Wanting to resemble someone and wanting their attention can overlap. That ambiguity gives the song a more precise starting point than a generic account of attraction.
It leaves space for disappointment
The campaign’s movement between flirtation and heartbreak suggests that Fantasize is interested in what happens after the first rush. A project about desire needs room for consequences. That shift could give the more playful material additional meaning.
It treats a mixtape as an opening
Qisha’s comments frame the project as a step in an ongoing development. That makes the release an invitation to hear a collection of ideas rather than a declaration that her artistic identity is fixed. The distinction is useful for an artist still building a catalogue.
What Still Has to Prove Itself
The main question is whether the full sequence gives the songs a reason to sit together. Several effective singles do not automatically make a satisfying mixtape. Transitions, contrast and the placement of less familiar songs will matter as much as the best-known hooks.
The other challenge is emotional specificity. Wit can make a song immediate, but it can also become a shield if every vulnerable moment is resolved with a punchline. Qisha’s strongest ideas appear to allow laughter and discomfort to coexist. The full project needs to sustain that complexity.
These are questions rather than invented faults. The complete release may answer them in unexpected ways. A fair review should leave room for that possibility.
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Attraction, Comparison and the Fantasy of Being Someone Else
A fantasy can be about another person, but it can also be about a version of yourself. “Baby Girl” brings those possibilities together through the experience of looking across a room and feeling admiration and attraction at once. That uncertainty is familiar to anyone who has mistaken envy for a simpler emotion.
Qisha’s perspective is especially interesting because the question does not require an immediate resolution. Attraction is often presented in pop as a clear route towards a clear destination. Here, the uncertainty itself supplies the subject. That leaves space for a song to be lively while asking something uncomfortable.
The idea also has implications beyond romance. Comparison can make another person appear to possess a confidence or ease you feel you lack. The imagined version of their life may be as compelling as the real person. A thoughtful song can reveal that gap without dismissing the attraction.
“He Likes Boys” offers a different frustration: desire does not create mutual availability. Qisha has publicly connected the track to a crush that helped guide the project. That account gives the mixtape a personal point of reference without making it necessary to speculate about anyone else’s private life.
Pop Production and the Space Around a Confession
The announced collaborators include Oscar Görres and Caroline Ailin on “Baby Girl”. The song’s premise places a private question in a club setting, a useful contrast between a public environment and an inward thought. That contrast is one reason the concept works: a crowded room can intensify a feeling of being alone with your own assumptions.
Production can help a lyric of this kind by giving the voice enough space to sound conversational. It can also underline the gap between the energy of a social setting and the uncertainty of the narrator. Those are listening questions to carry into the complete release, not claims about every unheard arrangement.
Credits should be read track by track. A collaborator’s presence on one song does not prove the same role across the whole mixtape. The available credits add context, but the finished songs are where those choices must earn their place.
Is Fantasize Worth Listening To?
Yes, for listeners interested in witty pop about attraction and self-image, Fantasize is worth exploring when it arrives. That is a recommendation to listen, not a final judgement on the complete mixtape. Start with the available tracks and then hear the full edition in order.
Listeners who prefer their pop entirely detached from romantic uncertainty may find less appeal in the subject matter. For anyone who likes songs that can laugh at a crush without pretending it cannot hurt, Qisha’s premise is promising. The full sequence will decide how far that promise travels.
Where to Listen to Fantasize
Fantasize is due on 30 October 2026. Check Chloe Qisha on Apple Music and the CD edition for availability and edition details.
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Final Verdict
Fantasize has a compelling premise: make the messy business of wanting someone sound open enough to dance to and specific enough to recognise. Qisha’s discussion of “Baby Girl” gives that premise a human detail. The contrast between desire and self-comparison is a strong place to begin.
The unresolved question is how the complete mixtape handles the movement from flirtation towards disappointment. It would be premature to rank its songs or judge its pacing before the whole edition is available. The difference between the reported digital tracklist and the retailer’s CD listing is another reason to check the version being discussed.
For now, the available campaign offers a promising introduction to an artist interested in contradictions. Listen with those contradictions in mind, and allow the complete record to provide its own answer.
Review Score: Withheld
The complete mixtape has not been assessed for this pre-release article.
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Conclusion
The most appealing idea around Fantasize is that a crush can contain several competing stories at once. The person you desire may also become a mirror for your own insecurities. Qisha’s stated perspective gives that familiar situation an entertaining twist.
The full mixtape will have to show how its different moods connect. Until then, its advance material gives listeners several ways in without supplying a complete verdict. Which released song has made you most curious about the rest?
Frequently Asked Questions
When is Fantasize released? Fantasize is due on 30 October 2026.
Is Fantasize an album or a mixtape? Qisha has described Fantasize as a mixtape, while also discussing its relationship to an album in an interview.
How many tracks are on Fantasize? A ten-track digital sequence has been reported. One retailer lists nine CD tracks without “Mama!”; the final physical edition should be checked because listings differ.
What came before Fantasize? Qisha released the Modern Romance EP in 2025, following her self-titled EP in 2024.
What is Baby Girl about? Qisha has described the song as exploring the overlap between attraction, admiration and comparison.
Which songs were introduced before release? The campaign includes “YDH”, “Baby Girl”, “Surprise Surprise”, “So Sad So Hot”, “Question Of The Day” and “He Likes Boys”.
Who worked on Baby Girl? Oscar Görres and Caroline Ailin are named among its collaborators in the release announcement.
What genre is Fantasize? The project is presented as pop, with its advance campaign drawing on Qisha’s alternative-pop identity.
Is there a review score? No. A score is withheld until the full mixtape can be assessed.
Where can I find Fantasize? Check Qisha’s Apple Music artist page and the linked CD listing for your preferred edition.
More Places to Find Music Information
Read Qisha’s Rolling Stone UK interview and the Baby Girl announcement for her own perspective.
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