A rising star’s second album takes influence from Seventies soul and singer-songwriter icons, but makes the sound his own
In a simpler era a high-end R&B guy like Jordan Ward would just be a smooth operator. But a decade after introspective landmarks like Frank Ocean’s Blonde and Beyonce’s Lemonade, a warm crooner like this professional dancer-turned-singer/songwriter is not only free to explore his messiest feelings, it’s pretty much expected. “I feel like a stranger in my own life,” he sings at the opening of his second LP, undercutting florid acoustic guitar and flute with dire ambivalence.
As on his 2023 debut, Forward, Ward often populates his high-end, low-lit tracks. “Ross Fit” subtly bumps and burbles while Jordan uses a recent running injury as a metaphor for life moving too fast. On “Noisy Neighbors” hearing other people’s problems through the wall of his apartment leads to empathy as much as annoyance. “Smokin’ Potina,” a duet with likeminded alt-R&B singer Sailorr, is about as down-to-earth as a weed jam can get.
Jordan and executive producer Lido (who helmed Forward) take influence from soft Seventies soul like Roberta Flack and Donnie Hathaway as well as singer-songwriter icons like Joni Mitchell and James Taylor, from the acoustic guitar splashes that stir the restless mediation “Change of Scenery” to the Quiet Storm imagining for future fatherhood, “Til Then.” The mood never gets too-too chill. He glides over some Eighties synths on “Themselves” and switches from falsetto to rapping on “Champion Sound,” which mixes career concerns with romantic and political ones. The musical shifts keep the album flowing. Ward may not have life figured out, but he’s too sure-footed an artist to get slowed down.