Justin Timberlake – “Man of the Woods” review

With his 37th birthday passing this Wednesday, former *NSYNC member Justin Timberlake is celebrating with his 5th full-length album. The opener “Filthy” is a sex tune over a messy, techno-pop instrumental from Timbaland & Danja. The next song “Midnight Summer Jam” gets celebratory over a funky instrumental from The Neptunes (who produced a bulk of the album surprisingly) with an acoustic guitar & some fiddles.

The track “Sauce” gets playful over a funk rock instrumental from Timbo & Danja while the title track is a dedication to his wife Jessica Biel over a Neptunes best with some rubbery bass along with a twangy guitar at the beginning that later progresses into something more funky. The song “Higher, Higher” talks about Jessica yet again over a guitar & the keyboards on here are vintage Neptunes. The track “Wave” sees JT basically telling Jessica to come away to an island with him over some acoustic guitars while the song “Supplies” talks about how they’ll be living like The Walking Dead over a sitar.

The track “Morning Light” is a duet with Alicia Keys about how they wanna spend 1 more night with each other over a smooth yet funky instrumental while the song “Say Something” is a decent country-rock duet with Chris Stapleton about being caught up in the music. After the “Hers” interlude, we then go into the next song “Flannel. However, it’s pretty much JT impersonating what sounds like if R. Kelly made a country ballad. The track “Montana” gets romantical over a vintage Neptunes beat with an acoustic guitar & the song “Breeze Off the Pond” uses nature similes over an instrumental that kinda reminds me of Pharrell’s last solo album G I R L.

The track “Livin’ Off the Land” talks about being a man doing his best over some predominant bass & twangy guitars. The strings near the end are nice touch as well. The penultimate track “The Hard Stuff” pretty much tells Jessica how much he loves her over a laidback country instrumental while the closer “Young Man” pays tribute to JT’s son Silas over a Timbo instrumental with mostly guitars & organs.

While it’s not even close to a Justified sequel or anything like that, I think this is big improvement over the 2nd disc of Justin’s last album The 20/20 Experience. The lyrics are mostly endearing & the production is funky as ever, but I should point out the fact that Justin incorporates more country elements on here & it actually works out pretty well given that he’s from Memphis. Sure it isn’t reinventing the wheel, but I really love hearing JT’s maturity on here

Score: 3.5/5

Miguel – “War & Leisure” review

This is the 4th studio LP from Los Angeles, California singer/songwriter, actor & producer Miguel. Introducing himself in 2010 off his moderate full-length debut All I Want is You, his sophomore effort albeit RCA Records debut Kaleidoscope Dream & the follow-up Wildheart a month after my high school graduation would both go on to become some of the most beloved alternative R&B of the previous decade. Over a couple years later, he’s ready for some War & Lesiure.

“Criminal featuring Rick Ross begins comparing their love to committing crime over a wavy yet smooth instrumental, but there are a handful of cringey lines on there. Especially the ones about Columbine & Duck Duck Goose near the end of the first verse as well as the one about 9/11 at the start of the second verse. The next song “Pineapple Skies” sees Miggy telling his lover everything will be ok over a spacey instrumental while “Sky Walker” with Travis Scott cleverly inserts many pop culture references as they brush off their haters over a druggy beat.

The song “Banana Clip” talks about protecting this woman in a war on love over a funky instrumental & the song “Wolf” compares himself to just that over a guitar & explosive drums from Raphael Saadiq. The song “Harem” encourages this woman to follow him to see the world in a new way over a mellow instrumental & then the track “Told You So” talks about setting his lover free over a Jeff Bhasker instrumental kin to Michael Jackson’s output during the 80’s.

The “City of Angels” is a vividly told story of Los Angeles fictionally getting destroyed & Miguel expressing his remorse of cheating on his girlfriend prior to her getting killed in the bombing over a down-tuned guitar. The track “Caramelo Duro” (“Hard Candy” in Spanish) is Miggy’s first predominantly Spanish song, but he does it fantastically over this funky beat.

The song “Come Through & Chill” is pretty self-explanatory, as both Miguel & J. Cole encourage their ladies to swing by their cribs to have sex all night over a tropical Salaam Remi instrumental. The track “Anointed” is pretty much Miguel telling his woman that she makes him feel like a God over some bass & then the album then finishes off with “Now”,’ where he gives his take on the world today over a twangy guitar.

Given that I still may have enjoyed a great deal of War & Leisure, I wouldn’t put it in the same discussion as Kaleidoscope Dream or Wildheart. The contemporary/alternative R&B production with minor influences of synth-funk & neo-soul doesn’t feel as ambitious as both of it’s predecessors were during my adolescence with the subject matter getting more political than Miguel has ever been previously.

Score: 3.5/5

SZA – “CTRL” review

After a series of countless delays following the release of her fantastic Z EP back in 2014, Top Dawg Entertainment’s 1st lady SZA is finally releasing her full-length debut. The album kicks off with the track “Supermodel”, where basically SZA telling her ex that she cheated on him on Valentine’s Day to understandably get back at him for going out to Vegas that day & the instrumental has a wavy guitar along with some bass & some organic drums. The next song “Love Galore” with Travis Scott seems to follow that opening track up, as it talks about her ex wanting to get back with her when she doesn’t over some wailing synths. The track “Doves in the Wind” is a dedication to pussy with a spacey instrumental & the guest verse from Kendrick Lamar fits into the song perfectly. The song “Drew Barrymore” reflects on a low self-esteem version of SZA herself & not only does the instrumental on here enhance the emotion of the song, but it’s also infectiously catchy. Especially with the strings near the end of the track. The track “Prom” is pretty much SZA promising herself to get better as she gets older & the instrumental will make you wanna throw a party. The song “The Weekend” talks about being this guy’s side chick during the weekends (hence the title) & while I love the spacey synths at the beginning along with how the smooth keys throughout, the cliché snares just sound meh to me. The track “Go Gina” talks about this guy bringing her out of her character when he’s around her & the production from Ging primarily has these winking chimes & some drums throughout most of it, but the tension building strings during the last 20 seconds of it are beautiful. The song “Garden (Say It Like Dat)” is pretty much SZA telling this guy that she loves her & even though I appreciate, the trappy production on this track sounds so painfully generic. The track “Broken Clocks” talks about how SZA’s moved on from her ex for the better, despite him still talking about her & while I do enjoy the trophy vocal sample on here, the hi-hats are just average for me. The song “Anything” sees SZA asking her ex if he knows she’s alive & the instrumental on here has this fantastically galactic tone to it. The short but sweet “Wavy” sees SZA singing about how bad as Hell she is as well as looking for a way out over a dreamy instrumental & while James Fauntleroy’s voice does sound muffled during his hook, I still enjoyed it. The song “Normal Girl” is pretty self-explanatory, as it talks about wanting to live the life of a normal girl over a spacey instrumental. The penultimate track “Pretty Little Birds” with Isaiah Rashad is basically the 2 talking about wanting to be together for the rest of their lives & the instrumental is very smooth. Especially with the jazzy trumpets that pop in right before Zaywop’s verse. The album then closes out with the track “20 Something”, where SZA is passionately hoping that she doesn’t lose all of her friends & doesn’t die while she’s in her 20s over nothing but an acoustic guitar that enhances the beauty of this closer. When it seemed like TDE was never gonna release this album, it was well worth the 3 year wait. The production is luscious for the most part, it’s well-written & SZA’s vocals sound both very focused & passionate. If you enjoyed SZA’s early mixtapes & Z as much as I did, then I don’t see why you wouldn’t like this. She’s been one of my favorite R&B singers of this current generation & walking away from this seeing her improving herself just makes me really happy

Score: 4/5