Review of ‘Oh yeah?’, the new work by Steve Lacy
It is impossible to talk about “Oh yeah?” without speaking before “Gemini Rights”. Equaling or surpassing the bar of the previous album was a titanic task, even for the man himself. Steve Lacy. Not only for its commercial success or its reception in networks, but for the exercise of storytellingthe sincerity of its lyrics and the critical consensus it aroused. And that is precisely where this new work by the Californian singer-songwriter connects with its predecessor. It gives the impression that we are facing a continuation, a kind of encore that extends that same narrative line: sincere and, this time, even more introspective. Yes in “Gemini Rights” We could find the viral sound of Bad Habit, here Lacy does not seem interested in chasing another immediate success. “Oh yeah?” It does not seek to be danced to or go viral, but rather to be enjoyed in privacy. It is an album made for himself, for his own peace.
In “Oh yeah?”, Steve Lacy It submerges a few more meters into the narrative sea of its emotional honesty. Yeah “Gemini Rights” It started from a sentimental breakup to reveal grief, regret, insecurity or the search for identity, here the musician adds one more layer of rawness, or one less layer of protection over himself. He does it in a simple way, without big metaphors or particularly complex lyrics. Directly to what it touches. I talk to you about feelings, like this, firsthand, in my own way. It once again immerses the listener in its concerns—and those of an entire generation—from a much more acoustic and contained format. After all, “Gemini Rights” It was an album rich in details, layers and textures. Not this time.
Ten songs, forty minutes of listening and a few collaborations—SZA, Erykah Badu and Cecile Believe, as well as Tyler, the Creator between the lines in the credits—are all that Lacy offers for the occasion. Open with “oh yeah?”. It does not have the immediate impact of “Static”opening song of “Gemini Rights”but it does have an emotional charge greater than that of the opening of “Apollo XXI”. A first hit with a melancholic tone that distantly recalls the atmosphere of the “Flower Boy”by Tyler Okonma. Yeah “oh yeah?” works as an introduction to the relationship“is it cool?”together with SZA, is a reflection between the lines on the way we relate to each other today. Distrust, fidelity, self-sabotage. Three steps before sinking into family tensions with the help of Erykah Badu in “Pure Colour.” Another recurring theme then enters the scene: drugs, a resource with which to cope with a depressive state that was already sensed between the lines in their previous album.
There is one especially notable element on the album: “nice shoes/in your world”. Nine minutes of song in the midst of the era of virality and songs that last just one minute. A true declaration of intent that highlights the desire to make an album for oneself. Plus, it brings back that old Tyler, the Creator habit of building double songs. We saw it in their first six albums and it disappears with “Chromakopia”but that is another topic for another day. Steve Lacy maintains that plot line that runs through the entire album around his introspection until reaching baby, the closing song. The tenth of the album reminds us what this is all about: “That’s the story ’bout the time I got my life screwed up.” Because, in the end, that is “Oh yeah?”: the chronicle of a musical introspection. An album that converts the personal exhibition of Steve Lacy in a story shared with his listeners, a place in which to take refuge again.
