First off, let me just start by saying that since 2016, I have been listening to H.E.R and following her journey as a musical artist. Her old tunes from H.E.R. Vol.1, stuck with me through high school and now my last year of college. This latest album feels like a continuation of those tunes but everyone is grown up now. It hits different.
H.E.R.’s time is here
The first song on the album is called “We Made It” which insights she’s over the hill of being a new artist. She’s now a little more seasoned and has placed herself in the world of music. This song brings a sense of the storm is over now, we finally just made it. The hard work paid off. #proudofher
Now where did Lil Baby come from?
I honestly was completely shocked to see Lil Baby’s name attached with hers. Only because they’re two completely different sounds but it worked. Lil Baby did his thing and H.E.R gave us that “Slide” vibe again with song “Find A Way”.
Bloody Waters and Closer To Me are songs you just like as fans
If you have been listening to H.E.R. since her beginning than you are used to her sultry skills when it comes to singing and playing instruments. She’s multitalented and displays it in so many of her songs.
Bloody Waters reminds me of a song that would be in a commercial or a movie about Black power.
Closer To Me is a spin on “Closer To My Dreams” by Goapele. It’s a modern twist that focuses on the ups and down of love. If you’re relationship is in a rocky point, this song might just make you want to say forget the arguments, let’s hug it out.. or not.
H.E.R. goes back to original sound
Once again if you have been listening to H.E.R. since Vol.1 days than you know she had this alternative R&B flow going on. The track, “My Own” takes us back to the more confusing parts of love, where the self doubt comes into play. Vol.1 had a lot of those tracks that focused on love and the underlying self feelings that come with it.
“Lucky” has that same vibe as a fan from the past. The sound will be joyous to you.
“You a snake, I didn’t complain, no”- H.E.R.’s track “MEAN IT”
As someone who’s recently got out of a relationship, this song really brought some emotions that I did not want to feel. To me that actually means the music is good because no way this artist just basically said everything, I felt. She doesn’t even know me!
All jokes aside, this version of H.E.R. makes her a charging R&B artist, the vulnerability in her music. Expressing what some may be thinking but too afraid to share out-loud, she does it with ease.
Plus this song made me shed a tear.
The rest of the album gives us what we expected … which is?
Songs like “Exhausted”, “Hard To Love”, and “For Anyone ” are all songs that sound like we have heard already from H.E.R, but more progressed. She even explained to Apple Music in a film about the album that the new music sounded like improvements from the first EPs.
” There were a lot of records on this album that I realized were like elevated versions of songs on my first projects, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2, where sonically, it’s vibey. It’s like that alternative, kind of new R&B sound,” she says in the film.
Overall thoughts?
H.E.R. is here to stay, people call her an industry plant but fail to realize she’s been here. You’re just now paying attention to her. This album is a perfect combination of a new sound and old sound.
This album is a 9/10 which makes it definitely a hit.
Check out one of my other artist reviews here.