Final verdict: 8/10 ★★★★☆
Over the course of the last decade or three, pop music has seen a lot of ups and downs. While the CD era was still in full swing in the 2000s, we had pop divas such as Beyoncé fresh off her Destiny’s Child tenure, and Britney Spears, who needs no introduction. The trail went cold in the late 2000s, a period which, with the exception of Lady Gaga, sorely lacked popstars of the Madonna or Michael Jackson archetype. It was a rough time for pop music, and it led directly into the 2010s, when electronic trends saturated the scene and a more down-to-earth approach to spectacle was employed. We did get good music out of that era, of course – there’s good music to be found in every decade. Yet still, the 2010s pop sound was fairly quickly wiped out in favor of alternative genres and 80s revival tendencies in the late 2010s and early 2020s.
The “2010s pop sound” still survives, however – and I recently happened to spot it in E.J’s upcoming album “Conversations With My Heart.” This will be the British-Nigerian singer-songwriter’s 3rd LP once it’s released this October, and it has already been backed by a series of singles which are currently available for you to enjoy on your favorite streaming service – if I had to recommend one, it would be the retro synthpop anthem “In Too Deep.”
But let us not get too ahead of ourselves – let’s discuss the album, which, clocking in at an hour and a half, qualifies as a double LP. As I mentioned earlier, this album’s mainstay sound is 2010s-reminiscent pop – and yet E.J offers a varied sound, weaving together bits of soul, turn-of-the-millennium R&B, and electropop.
The album’s first two tracks, “Words Only You Can Hear” and the aforementioned “In Too Deep,” are a thrilling streak and a great opening to the album. These two opening songs explore themes of love through a rather optimistic lens – similar goes for the rest of the front half of the album, which I deem to end with track 8, “Run To Me.” “For You” is a lovely mid-tempo piano ballad, and “Power of My Love” is another mid-tempo pop number in the vein of post-Disney Channel Demi Lovato.
Starting with “Chinese Whispers,” the tone of this album begins to shift – in lieu of cheery love songs, we get a slew of heartbreak songs, my favorite of which is “Hit the Road,” which marks a stylistic break in the overall sound of the album as well.
Past this point, however, the album started losing me a bit – each song is solid, but the album dragged on for so long that I got lost in the woods of it. Don’t get me wrong – it had been an enjoyable ride up until that point, and it continued to be pleasant, but there’s only so many similar-sounding songs one can listen to before starting to lose track of each and every one of them. This is a common issue with double LPs – the only no-skip double album I can name is probably Akiko Yano’s “ごはんができたよ,” but it is clear that that is but an exception to the rule.
“Conversations With My Heart” makes up for it all by being rock-solid all the way through, though listening to it in one sitting can be kind of challenging. It is a cohesive album, but what could’ve been a 12-track all-killer-no-filler record was buried in a couple of songs I could do without. Perhaps that’s just me. Regardless, it is clear E.J has honed her skills in both songwriting and singing – her voice is sweet, like honey or apple pie, perhaps.
Her upcoming album is an easy 8/10 in spite of its drawn-out duration, though some of the content may be closer to a 9/10, namely “In Too Deep” – man, I love that song. I recommend marking October 9th on your calendars, because some of these songs just have to be heard.
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