Kevon Edmonds has things easy, one must think. Being the brother
\nof superstar producer\/recording artist Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds,
\nhe’s obviously gifted with the same vocal talents, and should be a
\ndead ringer for his famous sibling.<\/p>\n
In fact, that’s exactly what the problem is with Edmonds’s album<\/p>\n
24\/7<\/i>… it’s too much like the work of his brother. If you
\ndidn’t really pay attention to this disc, you’d swear that you were
\nlistening to a Babyface album.<\/p>\n
How great is the influence on Edmonds? So much so that his
\nbrother has more songwriting credits on this one than he does. So
\nmuch so that both brothers serve as executive producer (along with
\nKevin Evans). So much so that the two brothers turn in a duet on “A
\nGirl Like You”… stop it, stop it,
\nstop it!!!<\/i><\/p>\n
Whew… that felt good.<\/p>\n
I guess that maybe I’m being a bit too harsh. After all, Edmonds
\ndoes have a good voice, and he puts it to use often on songs like
\n“Never Love You,” “When I’m With You,” Baby Come To Me” and the
\ntitle track. He did cut his teeth with the group After 7, so it’s
\nnot like he’s never been on the scene before. And if you’re a fan
\nof the slow-jam r&b that Edmonds and his brother have brought
\nto the forefront of urban music over the last few years, then
\n24\/7<\/i> is bound to please you.<\/p>\n
Yet there is a specter that hangs over this disc that I just
\ncan’t shake. It’s almost as if Babyface wants his brother to
\nsucceed so bad that he makes sure that Edmonds stays on a
\ncomfortable musical path, one that has been proven to be successful
\nover time. And it’s hard to say that tracks such as “I Want You
\nMore” or “Sensitive Mood” are failures in any sense of the
\nword.<\/p>\n
But what I don’t get from this disc is Edmonds’s own unique
\nstyle and flair for the music. In essence, this is like listening
\nto a Babyface photocopy, and I don’t sense any individualism in
\nEdmonds’s performances. This is the biggest regret I have with
\n24\/7<\/i> – that Edmonds isn’t given the chance to succeed or
\nfail on his own terms. Maybe he’ll be given that chance on a second
\nalbum, once this one proves to follow the Babyface formula for
\nsuccess… but then again, I know this industry too well, and once
\npeople taste success, the suits don’t want to risk a dip in record
\nsales by trying new things.<\/p>\n
Edmonds is obviously a talented artist with a voice which is
\nheaven sent. And while
\n24\/7<\/i> is a pleasant enough album in its own regard, it’s a
\nshame that Edmonds sounds like he’s being forced to follow a proven
\nmusical formula, rather than being allowed his own time and space
\nto grow as a unique artist. Instead, we’re only left to think about
\nhow Edmonds could have developed on his own.<\/p>\n
Of course, I fully recognize that this whole opinion isn’t going
\nto amount to shit in the eyes of the record-buying public… hell,
\nthe title track (which, remember, is one of my favorites on the
\nalbum) has already gone gold. Oh, well… if it’s pabulum they
\nlike, so be it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25507,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6382],"rating":[5612],"class_list":["post-36713","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-kevon-edmonds","rating-rating-b-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36713","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36713"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36713\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25507"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36713"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36713"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36713"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36713"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}