ONLY HALF-WOKE
Sprinkled with big-name collaborators from Ed Sheeran to Rihanna, N.E.R.D.’s fifth album is their most coherent, although less so as protest music
‘The truth will set you free/But first, it’ll piss you off,” prefaces Pharrell Williams on Lemon, the opening number of N.E.R.D.’s comeback LP, No One Ever Really Dies. Pharrell, a super producer, fashion designer and all-around dilettante, along with Chad Hugo and Shae Haley, are having a major woke moment and they’ve brought a whole lot of “wokeness” to their first full-length album in seven years since 2010’s Nothing.
To quote Merriam-Webster, being “woke” means to be “aware of and actively attentive to important facts and issues [especially issues of racial and social justice].” Throughout the history, musicians have always used their music as a platform for social movements. This last year, in particular, saw a rise in pop artists becoming acutely aware of what’s going on during the Trump presidency. Political pop is now the genre du jour, and these guys are putting their spin on it.
As its core, N.E.R.D. acts like a receptacle for Pharrell’s eclectic musical ideas, a side project where he can be as experimental as he wishes. This usually results in a mishmash of sounds, styles and influences that don’t always mesh together. On this record, however, the sonic direction is surprisingly coherent, thanks to guest spots that range from Rihanna and Gucci Mane to M.I.A. and Kendrick Lamar. Even the appearance of Ed Sheeran feels natural here.
Set to frantic beats and cut-up vocal samples, No One is rife with political commentaries. Some a little too on the nose, others on point, though regrettably get mixed with braggadocio rap. In the former camp, there’re lines like “Oh, you won’t get away! The way you treat Islam” ( Deep Down Body Thurst) and “Got all this freedom in your room/Your mom’s against the immigration/ Your dad’s against your right to choose” ( Secret Life Of Tigers).
In the latter, truth, borders and guns get jumbled up with Rihanna’s verse revolving around telling “the paparazzi get the lens right” and a wordplay between her name and Ferrari’s LaFerrari ( Lemon). Similarly on the Future-guested 1000, Pharrell subtly addresses the plights of Native Americans (“We painted our face”) and LGBT communities (“The rainbow angst”) whereas Future goes on about how his “girl don’t wear shoes unless they cost over a thousand” and how he’s simply “too rich to talk”.
Reggae-leaning closer Lifting You is the most laidback number here. Singing in a higher register than he normally does, UK singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran brings ample breeziness to the sticks-and-stones-may-break-my-bones party (“So let them say what they want to about us/ When they say your name/ They’re lifting you”).
While indeed a welcome return, No One feels half-baked as a protest record. Topical issues such as racism and social injustice are touched upon superficially, and are often undermined by some guest artists boasting about their lavish lifestyles. Having said that, this is still a solid record as far as the production is concerned. It’s bold, brash and impressively consistent.