Review: It Was Divine
Alina Baraz delivers a glistening debut that provides fans with her most addicting project to date.
Hey, everybody! I’m back with another review, this time of Alina Baraz’s debut album — It Was Divine — which came out a little less than a week ago of my writing this. I decided to start this review a bit more personal than my other posts, simply because I’m reviewing an album that is so inherently personal to me. I firmly believe that no other artist could’ve put out an album such as this, plainly because this album appears to the listener as an invitation into Baraz’s life over the last few years.
Jumping right in, My Whole Life is Baraz’s finest project opener to date. It serves to highlight Baraz’s most enticing qualities through it’s almost hyperbolic lyrics, and addicting chorus that finds Alina envisioning her whole life with her partner.
Sunsets, sunsets
Never been so bright
When you, when you
Look into my eyes
Lyrics such as those remind the listener of Baraz’s greatest tool: her songwriting. She constantly succeeds in luring the listener into her world, doing so by helping us envision what she’s seeing and feeling in the most poetic way possible. This track smoothly transitions into the 6lack accompanied Morocco, which — since it’s release — has proven to be one of the strongest tracks on the album. Morocco, in my opinion, acts as as the perfect intersection between The Color of You, Baraz’s 2018 project, and It Was Divine. The track borrows from the upbeat, sometimes poppier, elements of Baraz’s 2018 project, whilst still complimenting the relaxed, more mid-tempo, feel of this album. Once the ride that is Morocco slows down, we arrive at Frank, arguably Baraz’s best song to date. A bold statement, I know, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard Alina so comfortable in her sound as she is on this track.
If Morocco borrows from 2018’s The Color of You, then Frank is certainly what a track from 2015’s Urban Flora would sound like in 2020. Frank’s outro is quite reminiscent of Galimatias’ signature sound found all over Urban Flora. Where the track differs from Urban Flora’s sound is Baraz’s discernible confidence when singing on this song. The repetition of the lyric “My divine energy (my divine), my divine energy (my divine)” toward the end of the track suggests we are listening to an Alina that has rediscovered her worth, and is trying to convey this reestablishment of power through this track, and the whole album in general.
The album proceeds on, riding the coattail of the opening tracks, and features some already established fan favorites including the poppy Gimme The Wheel (feat. Smino), as well as the Khalid assisted Off The Grid, which even Baraz says was made for a late night drive. Following Off The Grid, we are met with another standout track in the form of More Than Enough. More Than Enough, which Alina graciously sent some fans before the single’s official release, is as infectious as it is alluring in both lyrical content and melody. There’s just something about Alina singing “Second I’m with you all my love pours out” that just hits different — it’s pure ear candy.
The album takes a noticeable tonal shift around track 9 of the 16 song album, To Me. To Me, another fan favorite, finds some of Alina’s boldest lyrics, and really helps to introduce the theme of growth which finds its home in the latter half of the album.
I’m not asking for too much
I’m asking the wrong motherfucker
Just ’cause we’re in love
Doesn’t mean that we’re right for each other
Can’t keep makin’ a home out of you
Just ’cause you’re asking me to
Track 11, Who Got Me, also plays with this theme of growth as we find Alina in conversation with herself asking “Who got me, like I got me / Like I got me, like I do?” It’s a beautiful, and catchy, track that again gives witness to an Alina that is comfortable in herself, and in her music.
The album takes one more hard turn before we reach the final tracks, and that turn is Track 12, Say You Know. Alina, for this song, comes down from the fantasy she’s built around love and her past relationships to really give us, the listener, a window into one of her most personal experiences. It is Baraz’s straightforwardness on the track that makes Say You Know as deeply heart wrenching as it is.
You used to say
I was your meaning
You’d always need me
Did you forget
What that shit meant?
You were my answer
You were what mattered
This track, for me, is evidence enough that It Was Divine is Baraz’s best project. In listening to this song, it is obvious that she has gained the confidence and maturity to speak on experiences so painfully personal — and as a result her music has prospered from it. Say You Know works so well in this album because it displays another bit of versatility from her as an artist; it shows the listener that while she can romanticize her experiences and use that romanticization to lure us into her world, she can also show us the side of her life that isn’t covered in glitter and gold.
It Was Divine proves that there are layers to Baraz as an artist, especially as a songwriter. Alina has succeeded in telling no one else’s story but her own, and her music has grown and matured as a result.
Rating: ★★★★★
Finally, make sure to give the album a stream here:
How did you feel about the album? Let me know your thoughts on here or on my socials!
