For all of the hype, it felt like "Donda" was going to be a game-changing event, but instead, it ended up being "just another" Kanye album, and a lesser one at that.
The times he comes across a great musical moment (like with the lightly funky "Believe What I Say" or the emotional piano crescendo that hits the end of "Come to Life"), it feels less deliberate than it does stumbled-upon. Even with a cavalcade of guest stars, the beats feel dry (especially after five minutes, which several songs hover around or beyond), and the often hilariously-too-obvious punchlines now feel phoned in ("I don't do commercials 'cos they too commercial" he smirks on "Keep My Spirit Alive").
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Clocking at nearly two full hours, it's clear that for all of his alleged perfectionism, "Donda" is a dumping ground of Kanye West's half-finished ideas. Maybe they can course-correct with "Volume 2".ĭo you remember when Kanye kept pushing back the release date of his new album, focusing less on promoting it to radio and instead having stadium-sized listening parties, only to drop a record that many referred to as "unfinished"? Yes, we too remember 2016's "The Life of Pablo", which looks like the Sistine Chapel compared to 2021's rambling "Donda". There are a few genuinely good takeaways here (the Usher collaboration "Do It Yourself" has them messing around with a fascinating array of textures), but when half of your album songs clock in at over five minutes, you know something's off. The drum machines rarely deviate from their paths, the basslines are workmanlike, and the guest spots are hit-and-miss. No matter which vocalists tackle which songs, "Volume 1" stays rooted in a very staid sense late-'90s R&B. Blige, "Jam & Lewis, Volume 1" commits the ultimate musical sin of simply being boring. Featuring a who's-who of soul guest vocalists ranging from Mariah Carey to Boyz II Men to Morris Day to Mary J. While even their 2015 Janet collaboration "Unbreakable" proved that the magic was still there, their own long-awaited debut album, "Jam & Lewis, Volume One", proves that not all good things last. While the former Prince proteges have carved out a musical identity for themselves, which helped define much of the '80s and early '90s (including their stratospheric run of albums with muse Janet Jackson), their work in the last few years has been sporadic. Judging by the trajectory of his recent output, his next record will be called "Minus".Įven today, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis are still innovators. When he runs into a solid pop melody like on "Stop the Rain", he of course decides to bury it on the record's back half next to first-dance-at-a-wedding pablum like "Love in Slow Motion". His sentiments range from creepily-phrased ("I'm never gonna leave your life") to broad-swiping those darn millennials for being on their phones too much ("Seein' through a picture behind the screen and forget to be / Lose the conversation for the message that you'll never read"). There's nothing wrong with living a double-life, but "Equals" feels thematically scattershot. At one moment, he's giving praise to his son and daughter, and at another turn is going for an all-night rager. Over unadorned and generic drum machines, he sounds out of touch with culture at large. While 2017's "Divide" was filled with hits so inescapable they oversaturated the airwaves, "Equals" feels like Sheeran at his most unimaginative. Much like that other famed British collective, Sheeran has moved from scrappy sweet hits and fun co-writing stints to selling out stadiums at the sake of oversimplifying his sound. Ed Sheeran is very quickly turning into a one-person Coldplay, and that's not a good thing.