Calvin Harris is a 38 year old DJ, producer & singer/songwriter from Dumfries, Scotland who came in 2007 off his decent full-length debut I Created Disco. Ready for the Weekend & 18 Months both went on to receive moderate reception as well, but his 4th album Motion was easily his worst. However, the last album we got from Calvin was Funk Wav Bounces in the summer of 2017 & is widely acknowledged as his best one yet. So here we are 5 years later with a sequel & was anticipating it considering the singles leading up to it.
After the 40 second intro, the first song “New Money” is a disco/rap opener with 21 Savage flexing on the mic whereas “Potion” by Dua Lipa & Young Thug fuses contemporary R&B with dance-pop & synth funk to deliver an enticing slow jam. “Woman of the Year” by Chlöe & Coi Leray keeps the funk alive declaring themselves as such, but then “Obsessed” by Charlie Puth & Shenseea works in some cheery piano chords as they talk about missing 1 another.
“New to You” by Offset & Tinashe goes full-blown boogie confessing they want each other just before “Ready or Not” by Busta Rhymes brings back the keys to talk about taking this shit to the galaxy. “Stay with Me” by Justin Timberlake takes the nu disco route encouraging his lady to stick by him the whole night leading into the sequel which has a funky groove to it, but feels a bit redundant in the track listing.
Meanwhile on “Somebody Else”, we have these incredible bass-guitar licks as Jorja Smith & Lil Durk confess that both of them are in love with another person while “Nothing More to Say” by 6LACK is a groovy slow jam talking about getting the feeling right. The song “Live My Best Life” by Latto & Snoop Dogg has a more tropical aesthetic to it describing a place where the people have a good time while the penultimate track “Lean on Me” by Swae Lee is more synth-based talking about money following. “Day 1” by Pharrell & Pusha T ends the album with a warm ode to loyalty.
Like I said at the beginning of this review: I wasn’t really the biggest fan of Calvin prior to Funk Wav Bounces, but I’ve been wanting a sequel every since it initially came out & it’s just as much of a solid listen as the predecessor if you ask me. The production is colorful & the performances from the guests are pretty consistent for a good portion of the album.
Score: 3.5/5
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