Heart On My Sleeve

「Boo'd Up」で大ブレイク!R&B界の未来を担う女性アーティスト: Ella Maiの4年ぶりとなる2枚目のアルバム、待望のリリース!

"Bood Up" was so popular and long-lasting that Ella Mai will likely be instantly associated with that throwback slow jam forever, but six of her other singles went either gold or platinum -- or silver in her native U.K. -- by the time she released her second album, Heart on My Sleeve. Making this set seem even less like a pressure-cooked follow-up is that it contains a single that preceded it by over a year and a half, and its not presented as anything other than what it is -- no contrivances about having made something that represents her true self, or whatever. Still working closely with Mustard, Ella also welcomes other producers such as Boi-1da, DMile, Harmony Samuels, and Jahaan Sweet into her circle, expanding her sound with an apparent disinclination to make trap-styled R&B, yet still with a preference for spacey slow jams and lingering ballads. Heart on My Sleeve as a title indicates that Ella is writing a little more openly than before. Thats the case here, and its almost as if the phrase was her directive as she stockpiled material. Lead single "Not Another Love Song" proved to be an accurate indicator of the album as a whole, with Ella relishing contact with her partner but starting with "I dont wanna mess this up" and later using water metaphors to convey that shes overwhelmed. In second single "DFMU" ("dont fuck me up"), shes skeptical and demands clarification, "Fairy tales, Im not used to them at all," leading to "Cause if its love, I wanna drown," sung with her subtle if distinct vibrato. Theres little variation in tempo across the hourlong sequence, but slow and low is undeniably the singers forte. ~ Andy Kellman