Double Feature: Review of 6lack’s East Atlanta Love Letter & Nao’s Saturn

Sophomore slump or comeback of the year? 6lack and Nao soar to new dimensions on their second full-length albums.

Nao takes you on a trip of her soul with her sophomore effort Saturn that solidifies her among the greatest songwriters of this generation. Saturn is modern day gospel at its finest and finds us watching Nao navigate through the complexity that is losing and finding love.

Another Lifetime — the epic album opener — thrusts us into the end of Nao’s relationship with an unnamed lover and features Nao belting out to her now former lover to find her in another lifetime. The song sets the tone for a hopeful future, and is reminiscent of the openers found in SZA’s CTRL and Kelela’s Take Me Apart as here we start off with Nao picking herself back up after a failed love. The song is followed up by Make It Out Alive which, in my opinion, is the highlight of the album. The song gives off a very different vibe than the album opener as Nao sounds fed up in the sassier track when she sings “house burnt down, burnt down to the fucking ground I don’t even care now if I make it out.” Throughout the rest of the album we see Nao jumping from emotion to emotion as she both reminisces and moves further away from a lost love. Other tracks like Orbit answer some questions about the lost love introduced in Another Lifetime. The track beautifully recalls of the time she was stuck orbiting around her past lover, but was somehow able to gravitate to her new lover.

As a whole, Saturn finds Nao with her defenses down, and that’s what makes her powerful. Throughout the record she oozes confidence and grace in her lyrics that results in one of the rawest albums of the year.

6lack leads the pack of new wave R&B singers on the moody East Atlanta Love Letter. He spills his guts over a series of trap beats that remind us that this is his world and we are just living in it.

Tracks like Loaded Gun, Let Her Go and Switch are reminiscent of his first project in their confidence and spunk, yet different in that 6lack has a lot more fun with the lyrical content:

No shit, I treat my dick like it’s a loaded gun
Point that shit away, these hoes gon’ blow or come

When he is not singing about his d**k being a loaded gun, 6lack is also not shy when it comes to showing softer emotions — with songs like Pretty Little Fears and Seasons being some of the more vulnerable tracks that exist in his discography. Speaking of Pretty Little Fears, I myself was caught off guard with chemistry 6lack and J Cole exude over this track. Over the years, Cole has become increasingly “corny” in his lyrical content, but here he couldn’t have done a better job complimenting the song with his verse.

A double edged knife about 6lack as an artist is that he knows what sound works for him and pushes this sound to its absolute limit. The lack of risk in the sound of East Atlanta Love Letter can leave you a little bored and wondering when he’s going to switch it up — resulting in rather underwhelming moments. Regardless, 6lack knows what works for him and you can’t help but respect him for it. Lyrically, 6lack hardly ever misses on East Atlanta Love Letter, but sonically I’d like to see him take some more risks on his next album.

Of course this is just my take and I would love to know what you guys think — hit me up on my social media @cedeemgrande, or on here in the response section.