Album: Nectar
Artist: Joji
Release Date: September 25, 2020
Genre: R&B
Length: 0:53:05
Label: 88rising Records
Producer: Bēkon/Joji/Justin Parker/Justin Raisen/The Donuts
A melancholy look on the positive aspects of relationships...
The second full release from Joji, a former YouTube comedian turned producer and singer-songwriter. Taking a more serious approach to his career, Joji has perfected the shock value that he became famous for in his YouTube channel.
The album opens up with "Ew", a personal ballad where Joji discusses how he wants to find someone that won't break his heart. A very typical lyrical meaning within R&B, Joji combines these classic lyrics with a higher falsetto singing, impactful synth beats and a dreamy orchestral score. The overall unsettling bass drone gives "Ew" the sound needed to discuss something so painful and dear to his heart.
The following track "MODUS" starts with a similar sound as "Ew" with a peaceful, introspective piano and string section. Eventually the song hits a hump where a steady beat lays down underneath Joji's dreary voice rapping about the issues within the music industry that are trying to shape him into someone he isn't. Eventually ending with the familiar piano from the beginning, "MODUS" introduces a mix of a trap like sound with orchestral instruments making it a unique and surprising song among a lot of music coming out now.
A heavier sound while still keeping the melancholy vocal performance, "Daylight" features Diplo. The contrasting phrasing from the verses to the chorus make the song exciting, especially with the stylized, driving beat behind the lyrics all building up into a release in the chorus with a large bass sound, filling your headspace with the connection Diplo and Joji have with one another.
One of the most positive aspects of Joji as an artist is his ability to do what he wants and not fall into the typical formula trap. The song "Sanctuary" brings this strength of his foreward and makes the listener realize his talents. Using three chorus', each sounding different than the last, keeps this song and the entire album surprising while also being an audiophile's dream. The first chorus carrying a more minimal sound, the second adding in an exciting beat on top of the ideas brought together from the first, and the last giving a more rhythmic beat behind.
It would be wrong to say Joji doesn't have a very distinctive sound. With a more somber tone, using his high-pitched singing sometimes, he is able to take a sound that could be considered repetitive and boring, but mixes it up enough to never feel that way while listening to Nectar. The staccato sound within "NITROUS" is a perfect example of this. The tone is a very notorious Joji sound but he keeps it interesting by the way he phrases and sings it.
A majority of the lyrics adopt themes of relationship issues which, for some artists, serves them poorly. Joji finds a way to make each song sound different and appealing even though the overall theme is similar across the tracks. It seems that the album was inspired by a personal relationship that went wrong for one reason or another and Joji flawlessly captures that vibe.
Using a perfect combination of synthetic sounds and acoustic instruments, Joji perfectly mixes completely different styles of instrumentational sounds and makes them work flawlessly with each other. The song "Upgrade" showcases this really well as the percussive sounds are all synth based, whereas there is a soothing guitar playing licks over the song. Across the album, Joji and the producers that worked on the album keep these differences in instrument styles in the back of their minds and are able to perfectly showcase them to their fullest. This album is great. Sometimes it does feel like it can drag on at parts, but overall the songs you can tell are very emotional tracks to Joji and it shines through in the music. He does share a similar feel that a lot of artists have in 2020 but the ability to keep it fresh and exciting is something Joji performs to perfection. The emotion, style of the instrumentation, seamless balance between synthetic and acoustic instruments and the mixing of each song to hear every single sound serves this album impressively and for those reasons alone, I recommend giving it a listen...
Favorite Songs: "MODUS", "Daylight", "NITROUS", "777"
Least Favorite Songs: "Reanimator"
Production Quality:
Mix = 9/10
Innovation = 6/10
Songwriting Quality:
Arrangement = 9/10
Lyricism = 6.5/10
Instrumentation Quality:
Vocal Timbre = 8/10
Instrumental Timbre = 8/10
Group Chemistry = 7/10
Overall Likability:
My Personal Rating = 8.5/10
Overall Rating: 7.95/10
Any confusion on how the rating is weighted/calculated, please look at my "About" page.
Remember this is all my opinion! Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any comments!
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