Jamie Foxx hits us with his fourth studio album, which musically picks up where the last one left off. I find Foxx is a frustrating character as he is a good comedian, good actor AND a good singer, yet his music does not always reflect this.
Unfortunately, this album is full of too many mentions of Patron and cheesy lyrics to have any real substance. Add to this the copious amounts of autotune, and I found listening to this album was not a pleasurable experience.
The intro has a nice old Soul/Blues vibe to it and quickly moves into the title track featuring Wiz Khalifa which has weak production, yet nice chord progressions and instrumental lines. ‘Living Better Now’ featuring Rick Ross is certainly geared towards the club audience and doesn’t capitalise fully on the legend of the Notorious B.I.G. vocal sample used in it, however, Officer William Roberts delivers a nice verse.
There are features galore on this album. ‘Winner’ includes a disappointing Justin Timberlake verse and an average T.I. rap, underneath which there is a nice beat switch. ‘Freak’ features Rico Love and has a very Daft Punk inspired lead synth line, with the additional chorus synths adding to the likeliness. ‘Yep Dat’s Me’ features Ludacris and Soulja Boy, both of whom add nothing to a party track that is one less for the clubs and more for a house party that about 3 people turn up to.
‘Hit It Like This’ sounds like a cheap rip of Lil’ Wayne’s ‘A Milli’ and ‘Sex On The Beach,’ the bonus track on the album, goes for a club Dance sound that is at best bearable. ‘All Said And Done’ starts promisingly, but ends up turning into a confused mix of and N.E.R.D rip off and a down south club track with all it’s ‘Ayyyyy’ and pitched down vocals. ‘Rejoice’ tries to capture the Prince sound with its choice of instrumentation and Foxx’s falsetto, yet fails miserably to impress in the slightest.
‘Fall For Your Type’ features and was penned by Drake and is produced by 40, which makes it in essence a Drake track with Jamie Foxx singing on it. The combination of Drake and 40 have created their own distinctive sound and it’s hard to see past that, even though Jamie Foxx sings the majority of the song, with a standard Drake verse towards the end. In all honesty, it’s the song I enjoyed the most on the album.
Jamie tries some slow jams on for size but comes up short. ‘15 Minutes’ is a bit boring and ‘Sleeping Pill’ fails to deliver the promise it shows in the opening, however contains some nice musical elements. ‘Gorgeous’ follows the same type of route with a nice sentimental vibe and chords, yet fails to impress as a whole.
Overall, I find it disappointing that a man of Jamie Foxx’s talent makes music like this. I found this offering was not as strong as the last, which although wasn’t by any means album of the year, had stronger songs and production. The Patron references and autotune are getting tired in R&B as a whole and I wish Jamie would switch up his whole style, as he has the voice and profile to produce something a lot stronger than this throwaway music.
Best Night Of My Life is out now in the UK [iTunes / US; Amazon UK] and available in US Dec 21st [iTunes / Amazon]
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