André 3000’s New Blue Sun, a love letter
This album calls for a love letter, not a review.
Photo: Kai Regan
Growing up in suburban East Coast America, André 3000 represented a bridge that allowed me to navigate back and forth between avant-garde and mainstream sounds.
As a teenager, he satisfied this seemingly primordial and ironically, collective need ‘to be original’. He also helped me find a way to engage with popular culture and what was happening around me, without ever feeling like I was forcing it.
His new sound is warm, urgent, beautiful and comforting all at once. It’s coherent in its eccentricity and loveable in its intention, the best part? Each track title is a poem, maybe biographical.
That Night In Hawaii When I Turned Into A Panther And Started Making These Low Register Purring Tones That I Couldn’t Control … Shit Was Wild. Wild it always was with André “3000” Benjamin and I think I’m right in suggesting that his fans are happy he and his sound have remained faithful to this.
I recently got asked, “If anyone else had put out this album, would you care, would you like it?” My initial and honest internal response was no.
However, as the days go by and my listens multiply, I realise no one else could have put this album out. To focus on whether I like it, or if it sounds good would be to miss the point completely.
In an era where made-for social media songs dominate the musical landscape, I’m excited to hear and see that something new, novel and, yes, forever funky, can still go viral.
New Blue Sun is out now via Epic Records.
