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Cy White

Jon Batiste: We Are


Jovial, joyful. Safe.

Jon Batiste has an amazing voice, a classic soul croon that makes anything he releases certainly wonderful to listen to. But his music is...easy. It's the type of soul music that makes the mainstream feel good, makes people outside of the culture soul music was birthed from feel like they're part of the conversation. Well produced, polished, unproblematic. Pretty music that, while it does feel very good to listen to, it doesn't leave a lasting impression.

Batiste's attempts at rapping on the album really bring home the lack of anything substantial to hold on to. Perhaps that's what gives the impression of something disingenuous. Or maybe that it's too much like a Broadway version of Gospel-tinged soul music. There's something missing, something unfulfilling about the music. Like a really well-made sweet potato pie being the only dish for dinner. It's sweet, has all the soul in it to make it taste perfect. But there's not enough there to be filling, so you're left hungry for something with more weight on it.

We Are is just unfulfilling. A glossy, pretty, nice-sounding but ultimately uninteresting experience. That's not to say the man isn't an incredibly talented singer. You'd be absolutely daft to believe he isn't. But the album does very little to really drive the point home, using tropey lyricism and polished soul instead of honest-to-goodness grit to bolster his voice to the platform it deserves.



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