I’ve mentioned before that I did not want to critique every artist’s work because I consider myself an artist of many arts and I know how sensitive artists can be but I feel like I should give my thoughts, since I’ve spoken on this artist’s work before.
There has been mixed reviews about the BROWN album, recently, and Chris’ new sound. Before I get into that, I want to discuss my expectations of the album, when I heard the name of the album and when I seen the album’s artwork.
Previously, I agreed with critics who stated that Chris should do a different sound, not because anything is wrong with his sound, but because I felt it would be interesting to see him doing something different.
Since he is getting older and, practically, a family-man, I thought a grown and sexy, old-school vibe would be a nice transition for him to try. When he was at this past Paris Fashion week, he was dressed in a brown trench coat, and that attire was giving that mature vibe and that’s kind of where I thought he was headed, when he announced the album.
He, also, stated, at some point, that B.R.O.W.N was an acronym that stood for “Break Rules Only When Necessary”,so, I figured he was going to give us a ‘Fifty Shades of Brown’ type of album, which would, definitely, be on brand for him. Don’t get me wrong, there are still some spicy lyrics in the BROWN album and I, truly, believe, lyrically, he stayed true to hisself.
Later on, he posted a picture with a leather jacket and a rock band playing in the background, so, I figured he was going to do a rock album, especially, since another major artist is rumored to be dropping a rock album this year but the official cover art gave a different vibe.
When the album’s cover art was introduced, I imagined he was going to have a more old-school, soulful type of sound but, he released the song,”Obvious”, which is nice but it does sound like what he typically does, so, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the album.
Shorty, afterwards, he dropped the video for “Fallin”, and as much as I did not want to like it, due to …, I loved every bit of it. It was perfect and it was exactly what I was thinking of when I saw his cover art. So, I believe, like many, I expected that to be the theme throughout the album. He nailed that sound!
“For the Moment” was released days later and is more upbeat and is rock/metal-themed, based on the video, so, I was thinking I was wrong, again, and didn’t know what to expect. At this point, I assumed that the album is supposed to show different sides of him, which that still may be true.
I say all of that to say, I believe the songs are nice and I just believe many people, subconsciously, was expecting the album to have a certain theme, based on the cover art and the fact that he and Usher collaborating on an R&B tour this year.
Since the first video “Fallin’” featured r&b artists like, Leon Thomas, Tank, and Usher, it seemed as if “Fallin’” was supposed to be the overall theme of the album and tour.
People are saying the overall album’s sound is different, but I believe most of the songs on the album sounds like something he would normally release and that “Fallin’” was really the only song that was different. “Leave Me Alone” had somewhat of a different sound due to the instrumentals but everything else was on brand for him, for the most part.
Overall, I like the album and, if you can’t tell, “Fallin’” is my favorite song and video, right now.
All in all, there may be a thousand of us that give the exact same of opinion but each of us would have a different vision of how we think that suggestion should be implemented. Can’t please everyone.
Anyway, toodles and thanks for stopping by š
-PJ
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