070 Shake is a 27 year old rapper & singer/songwriter from North Bergen, New Jersey who started out as a member of the 070 collective. She later caught the attention of one of my top 10 producers of all-time Ye formerly known as Kanye West, who signed her to a joint deal with G.O.O.D. Music & Def Jam Recordings in 2016. Her debut EP Glitter saw a release in the spring of 2018 a couple months ahead of her mentor’s historic Wyoming sessions & it showed her artistic potential, which the full-length debut Modus Vivendi & the sophomore effort You Can’t Kill Me both expanded on. Def Jam would sever all ties with G.O.O.D. Music a few months after the latter due to Ye’s antisemitic meltdown forever altering his public appearance after calling himself a Nazi & later starting YZY SND, resulting in people questioning G.O.O.D. Music’s future. Over 2 years later, Shake’s returning for her 3rd album & presumably the last under the G.O.O.D./Def Jam tandem.
“Sin” works in some pianos & guitars to get us started singing about being awake & in a dream state simultaneously whereas “Elephant” keeps the guitars in tact addressing an individual that she doesn’t even recognize anymore & vice versa. “Pieces of You” brings the pianos back in the fold swapping out the guitars for strings asking what to do with the pieces of this person in her head, but then the standout “Vagabond” was originally conceived during the Vultures 2 sessions never loving anyone else than Johnny Depp & Vanessa Paradis’ daughter Lily-Rose Depp.
Moving on from there, the minute long “Lungs” wants to know if Lily-Rose would come with her to go find another one when the sun explodes & there’s nowhere to run kinda giving me a Yeezus vibe instrumentally just before “Into Your Garden” featuring JT brings the pair together over more keys being under the impression that all good things come to an end. “Battlefield” has these prominent organs throughout asking to come & give it up on top of restoring her faith, but then “Winter Baby / New Jersey Blues” is a drumless 2-parter paying her dues & doing her time.
“Song to the Siren” featuring Courtney Love asks if they should stand amid the breakers or lie with death while the synth-driven “What’s Wrong with Me?” sings about feeling as if a virus took control of her body with a new host. The crescendoing “Blood on Your Hands” finds her being unable to begin untangling herself from Lily-Rose while the song “Never Let Us Fade” repetitively sings about if she had her way. “Love” ties up Petrichor professing her love for her partner.
Taking it’s name from a term used to describe the smell of rain on arid soil after a long period of dry weather, what’s likely the end of G.O.O.D. Music’s partnership with Def Jam gives 1 final look at 070 Shake’s genre-bending style & a glimpse into her fatal vision of desire. The musical palate consists of acoustic guitars, ornate piano passages, ominous synths, dembow & hip-hop rhythms with a dash of psychedelia leveling up her maturity.
Score: 3.5/5
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