The industry’s been waiting for the album to drop for a while, and today is the ‘official’ release day – though many of us, myself included, downloaded the leaked copy of Chris Brown’s ‘Graffiti’ album a few days before to get a preview.
I hate the fact the album has to have a moral debate that suggests buying the album advocates domestic violence – it’s a real shame, but something that is unfortunately unavoidable. Though I really don’t get the point of bootlegging the CD on download and liking the songs, but not buying it on moral grounds – surely listening to it in the first place is a self-styled act of hypocrisy?
Anyway, like I said already, I like the album. I’ve been a Chris Breezy fan for time and, feigning ignorance of the non-music stories surrounding Chris, decided to take the album on merit for the tracks alone. That’s why I like it – he’s a good r&b musician and has some great collabs on the album. There are some unexpected nuances of 80s synth (I.Y.A. particularly), and the usual hip-hop, synths and sick beats. He hasn’t opted for a morbid platform for apologising (again), instead Chris is focussing on the music. As he says: “Hey, it’s what I do”.
And he does it well.
It’s easy to take his power ballads for disingenuous, and all to easy to get sucked into a battle of morality when reviewing his songs. I think it just depends on where you sit with Chris and how much opportunity one is willing to give him to have a clean slate. Those willing to give Brown time of day will see tracks like ‘Crawl’, ‘So Cold’ and ‘I’ll Go’ as a small insight into his state of mind and will find notes of sadness and pain in the lyrics, the melody and his voice.
Others will question the overall message he’s trying to send in the album due to the dichotomy of the songs. Like I said in the previous blog – it’s half ‘I’m sad and want her back’ and half ‘I’m rich, single, famous – I can still get the ladies’. While it may seem like some of the songs contradict themselves, I think they are more of a marker that Chris is ready to move on. And no matter how cocky or bullish you think he seems with lyrics like:
‘throwing up cash, acting like money ain’t a thing’
‘what you want, you can have that. My black card ain’t gon’ decline that’
‘leaving by myself is highly unlikely’…
Most of these sentiments are undeniably true. He is Chris Brown, afterall.
One particular track that stands out dangerously for it’s contradiction -or naivity – is ‘Lucky Me’. While I don’t doubt life for Chris has been unimaginably difficult of late; he is still blessed. I think he does appreciate this fact, but ‘Lucky Me’ has a risk of being read as cocky or boastful. I don’t think he is asking for sympathy with this track – a lot of people would still love to be in his shoes (rich, successful, handsome 20 y/o R&B star!) – he is just reaching out for a bit of empathy.
Unfortunately, his long-term critics will bax the album no matter what; slating his crass attitude towards “the cars, and the girls and the cribs”, and his refusal to pen a morose 45-minute long apology. But Chris has gone the right route in ignoring their wants, as for the most part, the proliferation of upbeat songs that Chris is recognised for come-off a success. And the fact that he hasn’t penned a tortuous, soul-exploring, apologetic album are what will grant ‘Graffiti’ a high place – probably number one – in the album charts. It is all the better for it.
Chris alludes to his hurt, lonliness, regret and confusion in a selection of the tracks – but has made the move to avoid this theme for the album in favour of the club thumpers and happy disco synths that he has a great knack for. This is what his long-term fans want, and this is what will prove his credibility to the doubters.
His promo video for the album refers to starting all over again; the only PR route he can really venture. I feel this ad is perhaps more his team’s idea than his… but I get the point. I’m not saying his sentiments feel faux, moreover that I don’t think he is starting again. There are some people who ‘are not fraterning’, but the fans that were there from the start, a lot of them remain true to his music and will still support him. Chris is gonna have to hope that his music is what re-convinces anyone sitting on the fence.
