But as a project that stands on its own, there’s not much to keep you coming back. It’s nice to see him slow down and reach out. You’re left wondering what the song could have evolved into if it lasted longer than 40 seconds.Īs a means of community building, and as a document of Ricky Reed exploring a new sound, The Room is impressive. “We’ll Be Home Soon,” which quivers like a serpentwithfeet track, is beguiling too. The elusive lyricism-“Wait for me/I’ll be with you though/Trust/And the leaves will fall”-is some of the most evocative on the album. Still, the flute winds beautifully around her gossamer falsetto. “Catch You” lacks the complex instrumentation-brass and electronic flourishes, rich orchestration-that brought Lido Pimienta’s latest album, Miss Colombia, to life. There are a few shining moments here, though. It’s hard to feel too much sympathy for someone singing, “Who could ever love me?/I’m only nice when I want something.” Godfather666’s laments on “No Future,” which address loneliness in the most direct terms, are similarly unrelatable. “Fav Boy”’s refrain of “I want to be your favorite boy/I want to be your favorite toy” has the all-too-familiar syntax of Tinder messages from men who are “just looking for someone to go on adventures with.” Especially following a heavy verse about feeling apathy at a relative’s funeral, the line feels like a bizarre non-sequitur.
And it’s a disappointment to hear duendita’s tremendous voice largely buried in the mix on “Us (How Sweet It Was).”Įlsewhere, the lyrics can be painfully corny. The hi-hats are distracting, and the vocal distortion and watery synth subdue her usual vibrancy. Panther’s frenetic flow as a rapper or her skill as a vocalist the way her own tracks like “Infrastructure” or “Playa” do. The lyrics are unobjectionable, if a little saccharine. “Real Magic” might have brought Reed to tears, but the rest of us remain unmoved. Ultimately, most of the songs on The Room just aren’t that affecting, which is disappointing given the star power here. It’s hard to parse what this album is about beyond the narrative surrounding its creation. Generally, there’s a vagueness to The Room, a hazy melancholy that ties the project together without much lyrical cohesion. But beyond that, none of the backstory that Reed relays is evident in the music.
Certainly, there’s an improvisational looseness to this album compared to the pristine sheen of the pop music he has worked on. When “Real Magic,” the album’s first single, brought Reed to tears in the middle of the livestream, he felt he had to turn these ephemeral moments into a more permanent project. Most of these songs were written live during his NICE LIVE! YouTube sessions, which Reed saw as a way of staying connected with friends and collaborators during the pandemic.
The album promotion leans heavily on the narrative surrounding its creation. These are songs for soundtracking solitary, balmy night drives, not for kitchen dance parties with your friends. It sets an entirely different pace and tone from his earlier work, one that is much more exploratory and subdued. His debut album features an array of rising artists like duendita and Lido Pimienta, as well as pop-soul acts like Leon Bridges and A-list indie bands like Dirty Projectors. When discussing the process behind creating the song, his response was more visceral than technical: “My natural inclination on this song, or any song, is gonna be to have the bass knock.” That unbridled exuberance is what makes so many of the other songs he’s produced, from Jason Derulo’s “Dirty Talk” to Fifth Harmony’s “Bo$$,” so undeniably fun.īut despite the success of the countless pop hits he produced or co-written, he hadn’t released much of his own music, except for a few singles, until The Room. There’s a reason it’s been plastered on countless post-breakup Instagram posts and drunkenly belted at every karaoke night. Lizzo brings a singular charisma to the song, an ability to make you feel like the main character when you listen to it. Ricky Reed, the producer behind Lizzo’s “ Truth Hurts,” describes the song’s ascent as the biggest thing that’s ever happened to him.
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