Every Sunday, the Free Review will highlight the most significant releases of the week. This week, we tackle new albums from Kali Uchis, 21 Savage, and Kid Cudi, as well as tracks from Ariana Grande; Lil Nas X; and Waxahatchee & MJ Lenderman.

Albums

Kali Uchis ORQUÍDEAS

On her second album in less than a year, Colombian-American songstress Kali Uchis captures lightning in a bottle. ORQUÍDEAS (“orchids” in English) is a sister album of sorts to last year’s Red Moon in Venus, a more buoyant amalgamation of her previous record’s velvety soul that incorporates elements of Latin pop, reggaetón, dance-pop, and disco, all with a spectacularly light touch and forward-thinking vision. While her vocal abilities and sonic arsenal have grown with each successive release, she’s on a real run here; Uchis’ recent discography shows the artist settling into her place as one of music’s most intriguing tastemakers. She indulges in bubbly synth-pop on “Perdiste,” settles into bolero on “Te Mata,” and glides over a slinky dembow groove on “Diosa.” The features are creative and immaculately placed; “Igual Que Un Ángel” finds chemistry with corridos tumbados superstar Peso Pluma, and centerpiece “Muñekita” recruits both King of Dembow El Alfa and City Girls’ JT to splendid results. While the record maintains a fizzing energy throughout, its latter half is particularly mind-blowing, bending decades of Latin music into thrilling, idiosyncratic shapes. She flexes a swaggering rap flow on “Labios Mordidos,” and straddles a shape-shifting merengue arrangement on closer “Dame Beso // Muévete.” But none of the album’s moving parts sound out of place, patched together by Uchis’ eclectic ambitions and stellar voice. On Red Moon, she proved herself one of modern R&B’s greats - on ORQUÍDEAS, she sets her sights on the entire game. B

21 Savage american dream

In the eight years since his breakthrough, Atlanta rapper 21 Savage has become one of trap music’s true underdogs, a distinct talent with a subtle hand and steady work ethic that give him a sneaky advantage over his contemporaries. His third solo record, american dream, is a compelling argument for his increasing prevalence; few rappers are capable of balancing menace and humor, street-wise instinct and blistering insight, as he is. dream doubles as a soundtrack for Savage’s upcoming biopic, scheduled for release later this year, but it stands up on its own as a landmark in his discography. It’s his most consistent project to date, if not quite as eclectic as 2018’s i am > i was or as concise as 2016’s Savage Mode, structured with the mindful sequencing and thematic gravity of a motion picture film. The production is tasteful and restrained, fitting razor-edged trap percussion between syrupy nineties R&B and dust-caked soul, and Savage conforms to its smooth, subdued pallet. The record’s biggest drawback is its lack in dynamic variability, a quality that allows the more streamlined, slow jam adjacent cuts to bleed into each other, especially towards the album’s close. But its highlights display some of the rapper’s finest performances to date; early standout “redrum” is bug-eyed and cold-blooded, and “letter to my brudda” is marvelously introspective and rich with detail. Even if the album scans at times as overly concerned with its own perceived maturity, american dream is a sturdy effort that suggests 21 Savage is growing in stature and ability with every triumph. C-

Kid Cudi INSANO

Fifteen years apart from his debut mixtape, Scott Mescudi remains one of hip hop’s great enigmas. His discography is long and varied, and his reputation has held up throughout its many peaks and valleys. But as a marginally gifted emcee with a fairly one-dimensional delivery, his influence has long outweighed the quality of his actual output. On his ninth solo effort, INSANO, he leans into his legacy, emerging with some of the most vital music of his career. His limitations as a performer are still glaringly evident (see opener “OFTEN I HAVE THESE DREAMZ,” which attempts to frame him as a better rapper than he actually is), and he spends large portions of the record cosplaying as artists that he’s inspired, such as Travis Scott and Lil Uzi Vert. There are also moments that directly harken back to his heyday, to unsatisfactory returns; “X & CUD” and “BLUE SKY” sound like they might’ve fit well on his major label debut, Man on the Moon: The End of Day, and they come across as explicit retreads rather than nostalgic callbacks. But there are plenty of standout moments that make INSANO his best work in well over a decade - he fits right into the pockets of the raucous beat on “A TALE OF A KNIGHT,” and he sounds lively and inspired on late album highlight “PORSCHE TOPLESS.” The production is strong throughout, and its versatility helps the album feel a lot more digestible than its hour-plus runtime might suggest. There are also some truly weird moments here that speak to the record’s eclectic pallet - “ELECTROWAVEBABY” is modern trap by way of Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants,” and the Pharrell-produced “AT THE PARTY” lurches forward at a woozy, disorienting pace. Though the record runs largely on auto-pilot, INSANO suggests that Cudi still has some tricks left in his bag, and that he’s making concrete steps towards honoring his own long shadow. D+

Tracks

Ariana Grande “yes, and?”

Add “yes, and?,” the first release from superstar Ariana Grande in over three years, to a long list of tabloid kiss-offs - see Britney’s “Piece of Me,” Madonna’s “Human Nature,” or a slew of late-era Michael Jackson tracks for notable examples. The track takes aim at the media with a pointed sauciness; “your business is yours and mine is mine,” she intones on the song’s bridge, “why do you care so much whose … I ride?” It’s likely a personal tipping point for an artist whose relationships have been scrutinized with microscopic intensity, but she straddles the line between outward animosity and self-empowerment with admirable grace. Grande’s vocals have always been her greatest strength, and the understated warmth of the performance here is the song’s selling point. But as a comeback single, the track falls short of its expected hype, a relatively slight but irresistibly bouncy slice of house-pop that lives in the shadow of her bigger, more urgent lead singles. Or perhaps that’s the point; by subverting expectations for what her big return should sound like, Grande has levitated right over the inescapable criticism.

Lil Nas X “J CHRIST”

Lil Nas X lives for the drama. Since his rise to fame with 2018’s country-rap sensation “Old Town Road,” the musician and internet personality has made his name pushing boundaries; whether he’s garnering controversy by evoking Satanist imagery or announcing his conversion from atheism to Christianity, he’s managed to stay relevant by riling up conservatives and his own faithful disciples alike. On his new single, “J CHRIST,” Nas X ushers in his third act as one of music’s most polarizing figures, flipping his apparent turn towards religiosity into a self-serving boast: “bitch, I’m back like J Christ.” The song itself plays things relatively safe; the instrumental, courtesy of French musician Gesaffelstein and Omar Fedi, is a less dynamic, more streamlined take on Mike Will Made It’s production for Kendrick Lamar’s 2017 comeback single, “HUMBLE,” and Nas X’s delivery echoes Lamar’s flow to the point of rote imitation. The music video is significantly more interesting than the tune itself, a recurring theme in the artist’s oeuvre, but even then, the provocative imagery utilized feels like a dull reworking of the those used in the video for “Montero (Call Me By Your Name),” a much more artful exercise in stoking heated discourse. Predictably, the single has already worked Republicans and Christian musicians into a tizzy, but at its core, “J CHRIST” feels like an exercise in diminishing returns, a reminder that Lil Nas X’s music has always come second to his skill at stirring up an excitable public.

Waxahatchee & MJ Lenderman “Right Back to It”

On her glorious 2020 album, Saint Cloud, Katie Crutchfield embraced the country roots of her upbringing in Alabama, twisting the PJ Harvey-esque indie rock of previous efforts such as 2013’s Cerulean Salt into twangier, more melodic shapes. The lead single from her upcoming album, Tigers Blood, continues her foray into rootsier territory, this time with the assistance of rising alt-country darling MJ Lenderman. “Right Back to It” is just as gorgeous as any of the standout cuts from Saint Cloud, its lilting banjos and delicate harmonies caressing a story of jealousy and dependence. The lyrics are masterfully written and incredibly affecting - “I lose a bit of myself,” Crutchfield sings, “laying out egg shells” - and her vocals are powerful but discernibly pained. On her previous album, she addressed her struggles with alcoholism, and here, she redirects the lure of addiction towards a toxic relationship; “been yours for so long,” she sings on the chorus, “[I] come right back to it.” It’s a continuation of the journey she’s illustrated in aching detail, and it sounds open and strangely inviting as ever.