Album Review: Chris Brown, Indigo

indigo

Chris Brown

Indigo (released June 28, 2019)

Let’s begin by talking about what makes a great album because I think many of your favorite artists have lost the recipe.

Great albums obviously feature great songs but there’s much more to it than that. Top-notch vocal performances. Expert songwriting. Solid song sequencing and consistency. And most importantly, a great album has something to say.

In simpler terms, a great album is like a great movie – it’s captivating storytelling that keeps you hooked from beginning to end.

A great album is not a random collection of songs throwing into a ziplock bag like stale trail mix.

We’ve been here before with my play Cousin Chris Brown – a man who is unquestionably the face of modern R&B, yet has struggled to assemble solid LPs. His dance moves often get him tagged as “this generation’s Michael Jackson,” but none of his works come close to MJ’s heights. I mean, it’s been a decade since he’s delivered anything as good as MJ’s Invincible, let alone the rarified air of a Thriller or Off the Wall.

Breezy’s last album, 2017’s Heartbreak on a Full Moon, was a THREE HOUR grab bag of random tracks and reviewing that thing nearly put me on a stretcher.  The follow-up Indigo, his ninth studio album, shaves that runtime down to TWO HOURS. So instead of sitting through Avengers: Endgame, it’s like sitting through Captain Marvel.

And both are more entertaining than this.

To its credit, Indigo stars out promising. The title track is the usual Breezy formula for radio hits – oversexed lyrics drenched in autotune. But what shines here – and through most of the album – is solid production. “Back to Love” is yet another danceable homage to the King of Pop, and it’s the style where he shines best. Cousin Chris’ airy vocals are tailor made for upbeat pop numbers, when he actually decides to showcase them.

Brown teams with HER for the perfectly serviceable duet “Come Together,” which is far from groundbreaking but gets the job done nicely. And speaking of teamups, the album’s biggest surprise comes from “Don’t Check On Me,” with Justin Bieber delivering arguably the best vocal performance of the album. He and Brown show surprising chemistry. It turns out much better than the insanely hyped collabo with Drake “No Guidance”: Aubrey sounds like laid his vocals while literally laying in the bed while Brown auto-screeches over the track like a robotic harpy. Absolutely zero chemistry there.

But it’s about 15 minutes into Indigo when things start going off the rails, thanks to lethargic slow jams like “Girl of My Dreams” and embarrassing strip-club tracks like “Wobble Up.” Remember what I said earlier about expert songwriting? Well, lines like “if my d*** out you better start suckin’ or something” from “Wobble Up” ain’t it, chief.

Cousin Chris also does his best to ride the nostalgia wave, with several songs leaning on strong samples to make their mark. It produces mixed results. “Temporary Lover,” which flips Alicia Myers’ “I Want to Thank You,” is forgettable yet harmless but turning Aaliyah’s “Back and Forth” into a thirst trap anthem for “Throw It Back” is grounds for the death penalty. “Not just my tongue, gonna use my whole face!”

WHAT.

CB’s hit “Undecided,” which jacks Shanice’s “I Love Your Smile,” likely will get the most buzz but here but even that leans too closely to the original, making it feel like a cheap copy of a classic. Compare it to Mariah Carey’s flip of Lil Kim’s “Crush on You,” which took a recognizable beat to construct an entirely new concept with “A No No.” Brown DID get it right with “Sorry Enough,” which swipes Clipse’s classic percussions from “Grindin” but adds a sax to give it a whole new dimension. It’s a way better approach than just singing over an old beat and calling it “Blindin'” or something.

Honestly, if Brown ended Indigo after “Sorry Enough,” he’d have an uneven but listenable LP. But OH NO, “Sorry Enough” clocks in at just the halfway point, and things really take a nosedive afterward. “You Like That,” “Troubled Waters,” “Take A Risk” – all are ultra bland, forgettable tracks that sound like something Jamal would sing for 30 seconds on Empire before Lucious shoots somebody. And songs like “Trust Issues” and “Sexy” are so saturated in autotune that Breezy’s voice is almost unrecognizable. The only standout on the album’s back end is “Side N****,” another of those disco-inspired dance tracks that Brown does so well and REALLY needed to be showcased more on this LP.

By the time we limp to the finish line, Chris tries to tie things together with introspective tracks like “Dear God,” but the goodwill is LONG gone by then. And when Indigo finally wraps up with “Play Catch Up,” another bland sex song with another above average beat, you’re just happy to have this thing over with than looking forward to another playthrough.

Listening to an album shouldn’t have to feel like work.

As harsh as I was on Heartbreak on a Full Moon – and that album deserved all my slander – I fully admitted that there were very good tracks to be found, you just had to dig through too much bile to find them. Indigo is worse in a different way – the lows aren’t quite as low as the worst stuff on Heartbreak on a Full Moon (there are only four or five REALLY bad songs here) but the highs are nowhere near as high. What we’re left with is a cauldron of mediocrity – two dozen tracks that, despite solid production, were better left on the cutting-room floor.

Now obviously, the Breezy stans (who are probably plotting the deaths of my unborn kids as we speak – those weirdos are a red cap away from MAGA-level insanity) will be unmoved by this review and will be compelled to just pull seven or eight of their favorite songs from this and build their own playlist.

Yeah, and this would have been a MUCH better release if Breezy did that himself.

Let’s be real – this “album” is a transparent play to elevate Brown’s streaming numbers, nothing more. And hey, it worked with Heartbreak on a Full Moon, you can’t fault him for trying it again.

But that ain’t what makes a good album.

Good albums don’t come with a note saying “some assembly required” or give you arthritis from skipping so many songs. Good albums sure aren’t eight OK songs out of 32. Get eight questions right out of 32 on a pop quiz and see what grade you get.

Call this a compilation or a playlist or whatever you like. But you can’t call it a good album.

Best tracks: “Don’t Check on Me,” “Sorry Enough,” “Come Together,” “Back to Love,” “Side N****”

2 stars out of 5

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16 Comments

  1. Hey lol!
    I’m a die hard Chris brown fan!
    Buying every single album, seeing him in concert since i was like 10 and I’m 22 now!
    But goddamn it YOURE RIGHT! And it’s breaks my heart! I loved heartbreak on a full moon.. but playing Indigo was definitely a drag and i found myself tuning it out 😬😬😬 he needs to learn quality over quantity and start personalizing his songs and A LOT LESS SEX! great review tho! I had to leave a comment just to tell you how much i agree and I’m a die hard team breezy fan! But the best fans know the good and the bad lol

    • This is real. I’m team
      Breezy too and I’m really disappointed. I DONT GET why dude leaves tracks like the full lady in a glass dress, hands up, who this, calypso, undercover and so many of his best songs off his albums esp this one which has too many boring songs

  2. Another die hard hear that agrees – sadly- with most of what you say. You’re TOO harsh, but it had me laughing. Bottom line, i’ll miss HBOAFM as my car CD because it has more RnB. Gotta get to know Indigo though – steady listening makes songs grow on you.

  3. I really don’t know what you guys are talking about, this alb has been on replay with me for straight 3 days.
    Breezy is giving to RnB what most of these guys wouldnt and haven’t given to RnB in years.I prefer this album to heartbreak on a full moon.

  4. Let’s be real at this point his music is a reflection of his life and personality.

  5. Completely agree,

    I’m so sorry to see this happen because he is a remarkable talent. I don’t understand how he can be an artist who features on another artists track and become the sole reason for listening to it YET be unable to translate that into his own work.

    Bitterly and devastatingly disappointed.

    • like most of ya am die hard breezy fam but I can’t it be disappointed by the fact that despite being a multi talented he’s not doing so well with his new album man I wish he could just see from our(fans) point of view 🤦🏻‍♀️ oh dear God I missed.
      🥺😭😭
      (HBOAFM)

  6. Don’t know what you are talking about take a risk is a great song hope it becomes a single..

  7. Like I said take a risk is a great song.should be a single..

  8. Who is this nigga writing reviews and being critics and where the fuck are they albums ???

  9. Point of correction! CB isn’t only great for his dance moves, his singing is heavenly!!! MJ might have appeal to the world more but we all know of how CBs mistakes hampered his career a bit! That being said, This might not be his best album but it’s great IMO the the review is a bit too harsh.

  10. To me Indigo is by far Chris Brown’s magnum opus and the first album of his I truly love. HBOAFM was a mess and I probably didn’t even give half of the songs on it a second listen. But Indigo I can listen to start to finish without getting bored. I genuinely love around 20-25 out of the 32 tracks, which is still enough favourites to run longer than most full albums. Probably my AOTY so far tbh and I wasn’t even a huge CB fan until now. Legit I’ve never given his albums much more than a few listens (X being my next favourite) and I went into this one with similar expectations, but it’s exceeded them. Just my opinion

  11. Bomb amusing Review as usual, interesting responses alzo. I don’t love the cd but hold the belief Indigo and HBOAFM will age gracefully together as reflections of the late 2010s and CBz late 20s.

  12. In my opinion his last SOLID album (as in, I can listen to it all the way through without skipping)is FAME. I loved his first and second albums. Graffiti was awful and actually the last physical album I bought from CB. I just can’t seem to get into his music anymore. I like a few songs here and there but overall, I’m just not a fan of the over used electronic voice and beats. He’s got an R&B voice and I wish he would just do a solid 12 track album and really focus on the quality of it, and keep it organized. I do have to be honest and say I haven’t listened to any of his albums all the way through since FAME though. So far off Indigo I like “Sorry Enough”, “Come Together”, “Undecided”, “Red” and “Overtime”.

  13. You are right people make an album to be a movie with a constant over-arching theme. For me I see breezy be making episodes on each songs. His albums are an episodic series of songs. Each has its own thing. Almost like Family guy.

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