Review Summary: Show me a good time...
Until three years ago, I had no interest in Jeremih. The Birthday Sex singer’s brand of commercial R&B just didn’t appeal to me. Then on a dark, rainy night in London I came across his
Late Nights With Jeremih mixtape – it was so far removed from anything I had heard from the singer before. It was perfectly balanced, with a great blend of seductive, bass-heavy tracks and woozy, futuristic sounds. The beats were fantastic and Jeremih sounded so convincing.
Late Nights With Jeremih ended up being one of my most played release of 2012 (and continued to dominate my listens thereafter). As it turns out, I wasn’t the only one that adored it. L.A. beatmaker Shlohmo put out a remix of ‘F*** U All The Time’ before collaborating with the singer for
No More (2014), a six track EP filled with trap-infused R&B. Then came the DJ Mustard-produced smash single ‘Don't Tell 'em’, which left me scratching my head. Had Jeremih abandoned his new direction? I lost interest. So much so that when I saw that
Late Nights: The Album had (finally) been released, I was unmoved. But what if it is as good as the mixtape, or even half as good?
Taking the mixtape’s lofty atmosphere and penchant for seductive, hypnotic beats as a starting point,
Late Nights: The Album sees Jeremih regress even further into the haze, habituating a purple-filled world that begins at dusk and ends at sunrise. Production-wise, the album blends together a mix of minimal, trap-inspired beats and light airy sounds, with the majority of tracks littered with contemporary hip-hop tropes. The problem here, however, is that none of this is particularly new or innovative. Essentially,
Late Nights: The Album comes across as a compilation of what’s hot in 2015 hip-hop/R&B. The ominous sounding ‘Feel Like Phil’ for instance, sees Jeremih channel his inner Young Thug spitting and spurting lines all over the place with the carefree manner we’ve come to expect from Thugger. The sparse, heavily distorted ‘Royalty’ sees the singer joined by Future and Big Sean, the latter doing his best Drake impression. Elsewhere, it wouldn’t be a stretch to imagine Justin Bieber crooning over ‘Planes’ spaced-out synthesized beat, while ‘Remember Me’, one of the album’s better tracks, feels very Weeknd/The-Dream-esque in its construction. In many ways, it’s testament to how much the sound of mainstream hip-hop/R&B has changed in 2015 that when the DJ Mustard-produced ‘Don’t Tell ‘Em’ appears towards the latter stages of the album, it sounds completely out of place.
The best moments on
Late Nights: The Album occur when all of this extra baggage is stripped away. ‘Oui’, the album’s standout track, is a lavish celebration of love and devotion. “There’s no
oui without you and I” he sings in a soaring chorus, surrounded by skittering drums and tinkling piano chords. It’s a glorious song, and serves as an important reminder of Jeremih’s talent as a songwriter. Elsewhere, ‘Woosah’ is the closest the album gets to replicating the woozy vibe of the singer’s
Late Nights mixtape with its chopped and screwed hook and hypnotic beat - the latter floating across the track’s runtime. Evidently, Jeremih is capable of crafting some wonderful songs so it’s a little frustrating that
Late Nights: The Album is such a mixed bag. Every now and then a song comes along and catches you off guard, like the poignant ‘Remember Me’, but moments like these are few and far between.
Although
Late Nights: The Album doesn’t quite reach the heights set by its respective mixtape, it still remains a good record. Perhaps the album’s greatest quality is that it’s simply a fun listen. Despite J. Cole’s trainwreck of a verse, ‘Planes’ was one of 2015’s best radio singles while ‘Pass Dat’ is a catchy club jam. In many ways
Late Nights is a celebration, a celebration of Jeremih’s ascent to the top and everything that comes with it. Welcome to the party, just don't expect to remember too much of it tomorrow.
Recommended Tracks
‘Oui’
‘Woosah’
‘Remember Me’
‘Planes’
‘Pass Dat’
