Musiq Soulchild
Life on Earth
(Entertainment One Music)

Hey Musiq! It’s been a while. Actually, not really. I’ll explain. Musiq released an album prior to Life on Earth. It was a rap album and I wasn’t really interested. It’s not that I’m not open-minded, its just hard to deviate from expectation. Musiq is usually that soulful, vibey, R&B singer that we love to hear. When you have songs like “Just Friends” and “Love,” the people appreciate and want that. After his experimenting, I had both high hopes and a bit of skepticism toward this album. When I pressed play, it was just what I expected. I say that in the most positive light. It was classic Musiq. An unorthodox order for me, I listened to the title track and loved it. I skipped past a few like “Alive and well” and “The girl” as they fell into the melancholy pile. “Far gone,” featuring Rapsody, was a favorite. It’s the song you put on repeat and has great production as well. “I do” was catchy and flowed nicely. It eloquently describes the contradictions of relationships and is very relatable. “Who really loves you” is uptempo, which is nice on a list of mostly slower tunes. The writing paints the picture of how love can feel so close, but how fear can stop us from truly experiencing it. I feel like its inspired by Frank Ocean; its definitely in that lane. I enjoyed it and would add to my playlist daily. “Heart away” feels like classic Soulchild. It made me satisfied with the project in it’s entirety. It also makes me believe he experienced some things while away, which is necessary to have material. He slips pieces of wisdom into his smooth vocals and soul-driven tracks. This is for the eclectic music lover.