Album Review: Before Love Came To Kill Us | Jessie Reyez

This is Album #24/20 that I listened to for my 2020 challenge. I listened to this album 8 times for my review.

Here are some quick stats about Before Love Came To Kill Us by Jessie Reyez:

• Album #1

• Released March 27, 2020

• Album length: 46:57, 14 tracks

• Peaked at #13 on the US Billboard 200 (3 weeks on the chart so far)

• Genre: R&B, Pop Rock, Hip Hop

• Metacritic score: 81/100

I did not like this album. I decided to listen to this album because Jessie was supposed to open for Billie Eilish on her tour and I know Billie is a fan of her music. I did not really like this at all though, unfortunately.

I'll do a track listing breakdown since my feelings varied drastically song to song:

1. Do You Love Her

2. Deaf (Who Are You)

3. Intruders*

4. Coffin (feat. Eminem)*

5. Ankles

6. Imported (feat. 6lack)

7. La Memoria

8. Same Side

9. Roof

10. Dope

11. Kill Us*

12. Love In The Dark

13. I Do*

14. Figures

(bold- dislike, *- like)

Jessie's voice is definitely unique. It's a little too extreme for me though that I couldn't really look past it. There are a lot of songs where her vocal style is extremely screechy and whiny. It was very distracting and off-putting. It was just not for me at all. It feels very forced to make it different and make it stand out, yet still the same as a lot of other indie girls. That is definitely what put me off of this album the most. It was really a struggle for me to finish listening to this album for this review. There is a lot of variety between song types and genres on the album. It's a pretty clear divide with what songs I like and which I don't like. I like the slow songs, and dislike the uptempo more hip-hop songs. The slow songs tend to have a little more throwback, blues influence which I like. I also think her voice was tamer on those songs. The slower songs have more depth in the lyrics as well; the uptempo songs tend to be shallower and focus on topics that I don't care to listen to. But even the songs that I liked, I'm not sure that I like them enough to continue listening to them in the future.

Reyez is listed as a writer on all of the songs. Most of the songs have about three other writers, some songs have as few as one other writer.

Recommendations:

Listen or don't listen? Don't listen. I thought her vocal style was extremely off-putting for many of the songs. I also think that the album is a little too scattered and all over the place. While I do like a few of the songs, I don't like these enough for them to make up for the other songs that I really dislike.

I will give this album a 4/10. While there were quite a few songs that I strongly dislike, there are also a few songs that I like which I think evens it out to be a 4. I wouldn't really recommend for people to listen to this album. I don't really see myself listening to this full album ever again, and I don't think I will really listen to even any individual songs.