Who is Leon Bridges? The question trailed his acclaimed debut, 2015’s Coming Home – not least because he seemed to appear from nowhere: the Texan dishwasher-turned-singer whose music suddenly went viral. But it also felt like a criticism. Sure, he evoked golden-era Sam Cooke and Otis Redding, but could Bridges create his own lane?
Good Thing suggests that, yes, he could: gone is the fuzzy, old-timey veneer, replaced with invigorating polish from pop producer Ricky Reed (Jason Derulo, Maroon 5) who joins forces with Bridges’ core co-writers. Bridges has lately been talking about Beyoncé-style pyrotechnics and Grammys, and this is consciously an album that’s aiming to be big: “Let me come through, I’m tired of being in the back”, he commands over the swinging shuffle of Bad Bad News. In practice, that means embracing the soft textures of modern R&B and neo-soul, but also the funky stylings of someone like Bruno Mars, notably on tracks like If It Feels Good (Then It Must Be), or the throbbing post-disco pulse of You Don’t Know.
It’s not a comprehensive pop overhaul: Bridges expands his palette while staying true to his soulful roots. His vocals remain rich and smooth – albeit with the occasional use of a newfound falsetto – and jazzy adornments abound. His lyrics contain a sense of schmaltzy romanticism gleaned from the classics: “Sometimes I wonder what we’re holding on for / Then you climb on top of me and I remember”, he sings on delicate slowjam Mrs, which owes as much to D’Angelo as it does to Smokey Robinson. But it’s his personal lyrics that push him from pastiche to presence: “I learned in school I didn’t measure up / I felt short of what true blackness was”, he sings on Georgia to Texas, a sentiment that makes sense of his faithful Motown productions.
It doesn’t all work: tracks such as Forgive You are overly broad, and his descriptions of his girl on the MOR, country-tinged Beyond (“I know that grandma would have loved her / Like she was her own”) feel cloying. Bridges doesn’t entirely leave behind his old-school roots, but, while Good Thing is hardly the next Blonde or, indeed, 24K Magic, it leaves you with a greater sense of who he is: loved-up, and striving for a level of ambition that feels within reach.
https://open.spotify.com/album/7J9fifadXb0PPSBWXctbi8