Instead of the typical pseudo-definitive ranking of the “Best Albums of 2016,” this December we’re trying something different. The Rutgers Review is bringing you 31 days of our writers’ favorite albums this year, from internationally anticipated releases to local debuts to a few guilty pleasures, without caring what critics have had to say.
There’s something simultaneously resentful and respectable about being on a playlist in Urban Outfitters. Their brand is problematic and overpriced, but they really lock down that new-age-millennial-urbanite-that-owns-a-microbrewery-and-listens-to-both-Joy-Division-and-Beyonce-on-the-same-playlist look that you love to hate and hate to love.
That being said, when an artist hits that satiable sonic sweet spot, you know that you’re going to be listening to them all summer long. This is undeniably the case with London singer/songwriter/producer NAO and her July 2016 release For All We Know. Except with her, it goes deeper.
With singles such as “Bad Blood” and “Fool to Love” honing in on the pop-dance beats and catchy choruses needed to drive the capitalist market and end currency inflation everywhere, much of the rest of the album offers a more complex, challenging audial experience. The young songstress’ debut record melds the perfect potion of jazz, electronica, funk and R&B (culminating in a unique sound that she calls ‘wonky funk’), only to pour it into a holding glass forged with lyrics true to her, her past and her current position in life.
In fact, the album’s title comes from the 1970 Nat King Cole song of the same name, which she cites as a favorite and whose lyrics, she says, describe her as both a person and as an artist. With her background in jazz, her childhood as a black music student doing backing for various soul artists, and her career break working with and being featured on the electronic duo Disclosure’s album Superego, she wanted her coming out to blend all of who she is and has had experience with. In that, it’s clear that she was more than successful.
For All We Know has garnered critical acclaim from publications across the board, including Billboard and Pitchfork, and has been featured on multiple “Top Albums of the Year,” with many more expected to come. NAO’s creative, sound-defining debut has solidified her place among the new-wave R&B elite, outperforming albums from top artists and furthering the genre-bending eclecticism of hip hop’s next generation.
by: Eric Weck