Ups and downs
Jessie Reyez is a Canadian singer and songwriter who focuses on pop and R&B-inspired songs. She has been grammy-nominated and broke into the mainstream in 2016 with “FIGURES.” She released her latest album, YESSIE on September 16th, 2022.
The album starts off with the track “MOOD.” This song is a good start to the album. The production is pretty solid and her vocals are on point. The chorus could have used some work however, as it doesn’t have very good transitions between the choruses and the verses. Another con about the track is that the vocal effects are sometimes a bit jarring and don’t necessarily fit the song that well. Her wordplay and lyricism, however, are great along with her storytelling abilities. The next track improves as the production is better as well as her vocals, this mainly being due to the fact that there aren’t as many vocal effects as before. The only downside to the track is that the flow switches are a bit sudden and not smooth, but overall the track is a great improvement from the last one.
“FOREVER” further improves from the previous two tracks as it has great production, vocals, and transitions. Unlike “HITTIN,” this song has great transitions between the chorus and verses as well as between flow switches. Furthermore, the 6LACK feature is amazing and fits the song very well. His background vocals as well as his actual verse both add so much to the song and make it one of the best, if not the best on the album. “QUEEN ST. W” follows “FOREVER” and is also a great track. Reyez is at her prime in this track. Her vocals are great. Even the vocal effects fit the song very well. Her flow switches and chorus are both very well placed with great transitions. Her background vocals are also great.
“MUTUAL FRIEND” is the most popular song on the album and it’s clear to see why. The production is very mellow and laidback and her vocals shine through. The lyrics are also very relatable to many people. The song mirrors a lot of other popular songs but also manages to maintain a level of uniqueness that allows Reyez to call this song her own. One of the most distinct parts about Reyez is her ability of vocal manipulation and that makes this song stand out amongst the rest. In the next track “TITO’S” Reyez goes back to the style of “MOOD” with a few verses, however, this time she implements it a lot better. Her vocals, lyricism, flow switches and wordplay are all great. One thing that could use some improvement is the chorus, however, it is still listenable and doesn’t detract too much from the track.
“STILL C U” is a song that shows Reyez’s stellar wordplay and lyricism once again. The production is amazing and her transitions are great as well. Next up, “BREAK ME DOWN” is one of the weaker songs on the album. Her vocals don’t fit as well on the beat during the chorus as they could have. Her verses are fine, but they are nothing amazing and the same goes for the production. It also sounds very similar to other radio-played songs and doesn’t seem to have that element of uniqueness that “MUTUAL FRIEND” did. “EMOTIONAL DETACHMENT DEMO” is by far the longest track on the record and it is worth it as it is one of the best songs on the album and is definitely worth the long playtime. The outro, “ADIOS AMOR” is also a great track and is an amazing closing to the album.
Overall this record has its ups and downs. Reyez’s vocal effects, transitions, and choruses do need a bit of work, but the other aspects of the record such as her wordplay, production, and vocals make up for it and make this record an enjoyable listen.
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