This is the latest project from actor, singer, songwriter, rapper, and Twitter big-brain extraordinaire Jaden Smith, and it’s also the follow-up to his 2017 album “SYRE.” Now, I’m sure you remember it (because I remember it all too well) when I reviewed “SYRE” back in November of 2017…I won’t mince words, I hated it. I thought it was a hideous, overly-long, laughably bad album with weak production, silly lyricism, and an extreme lack of focus. I also stated in my review that if you happened to see a physical copy of the album on a store shelf, report it to the store’s manager so that they may dispose of it properly, and I advised that you take safety precautions when listening to it, and report to your doctor if you find your mental health worsening as a result of the album.
*snickers* Ohhh, I was harsh on that one. But either way, after teasing us with what was going to be the album’s “sequel,” allegedly titled “ERYS” (which is still on the way, apparently), Jaden is back with this new EP, which is simply “electric” versions of five songs from his previous album. Now, while I’m not really looking forward to this, because it’s simply new versions of two of the last album’s worst tracks, and three of the album’s more forgettable ones, I can at least appreciate that, at 28 minutes across five tracks compared to 70 minutes across 17 tracks, this at least will be a little shorter and more focused than before, and I can respect that, after “Lost Boy” was nine and a half minutes before, he at least shortened it to just over 4 and a half now (odd that it’s now the shortest on the EP). So, perhaps this EP could be a bit better than the full album. Let’s see:
B (Electric): Originally the first part of the “BLUE” concept that Jaden threw at us at the beginning of his first album, where the “B,” “L,” “U,” and “E” tracks were separately in four and combined to talk about the idea of sadness and melancholy, this cut sees Jaden take things on by himself without the help of Pia Mia or Willow Smith, turning the song into something slower and more minimal, as Jaden auto-croons against only a guitar melody, giving off something of a Travis Scott vibe. I like the vibe of this one, it’s very mysterious and mellow, and Jaden’s auto-crooning does add to the emotional feel of it. Sure, it’s a little bit slow, but all in all, it’s definitely a surprisingly good track!
Ninety (Electric): With this one, Jaden thankfully shortened things from what they were before: originally a nearly 8-minute cut, the track is now nearly five minutes. Thank you, Jaden, I appreciate that. Anyway, this song deals with Jaden’s attempts to improve his relationship with conversations as opposed to trivial sexual acts and it takes on a similar feel to the last one, consisting only of Jaden’s autotune-assisted mumble-singing and more guitar-driven, nocturnal production. The production and vocals mesh well together, but the big problem I have is that the song does sound a bit too much like the intro, and if every track on here is gonna sound exactly the same without changing up very much, I’ve got a bad feeling about the rest of the EP.
Lost Boy (Electric): Another track I’m very thankful that Jaden cut down, this song has been chopped from a damn-near unacceptable nine and a half minutes to just under five, and it went from being the longest song on the original album to being the shortest here. Strange transition, but this cut sees Jaden struggling to figure himself out, and he does that by doing exactly what he did on the last two cuts: auto-crooning over a very spacey, minimal guitar-driven melody. This one is a little bit louder and more thrashing than the last few cuts, which is a nice little transition, but unfortunately, it just doesn’t do enough to make the song feel any better than the last few.
Fallen (Electric): Unfortunately, just because Jaden cut down the amount of time on some of the unnecessarily long tracks, that doesn’t mean every track had that happen, as this song, which was originally just under four and a half minutes, is now just over six! I mean, Jaden is nothing if not inconsistent, that’s for sure. Either way, this song may have a multitude of different meanings (from relating to the idea of the “Syre” character being alone in his room to dealing with Jaden’s personal life), but one thing it doesn’t have a multitude of is different interesting sounds. Instead, Jaden just kinda does the bare minimum once again, auto-crooning over a guitar melody without really adding much of a different vibe. And even though the song does take on a somewhat more interesting feel at the end when Jaden starts rapping, you’ll have to sit through a lot of music to get there, and it’s not an interesting enough payoff. What started off as an interesting change of sound for Jaden is now turning into a contest to see just how much you can sit through before you fall asleep.
Icon? (Electric): The one single from the last album that got the most plays returns here with some slight alterations to lyrics and (of course) length, Jaden took a roughly three-and-a-half-minute song and made it the longest cut here, clocking in at just about seven minutes. Man can never make up his mind about how long to make his songs! Either way, the track takes on a very similar instrumental feel to the last few (though it does sound a little more acoustic) as Jaden raps in spoken-word style on the first part of the song. I can safely confirm, though, that Jaden’s flow and “performance” on this one do not make the lyrics any better to me. And even though Jaden tries to be a bit more empowering on the second part of the song by calling others an “Icon,” it’s another case where you’re gonna have to sit through a lot of music to get to that part without an interesting payoff: though Jaden actually shows some emotion for once on this track, the guitar melody once again just sounds really dull to me. Yeah, Jaden could’ve made this track more than a few minutes shorter, that’s for sure.
So is Jaden’s follow-up to “SYRE” an improvement over that hot piece of garbage? Well, if “bland and generic junk” is better than “sickness-inducing, cringe-worthy dreck,” then yes, it most certainly is an improvement! Jaden has decided with this EP that, instead of trying to make something completely silly and lame…that he should just recycle the same sounds for 5 tracks and hope that they stick. Well, bad news, they don’t. I liked the feel that Jaden was trying to go for at first by making something with more of a Travis Scott vibe. I thought doing something more mysterious and moody that was based more around auto-crooning could be a nice different direction for Jaden…and it turned out I was only right for the first song because then he just did it again, and again, and again, and again. And I just got tired of it too quickly.
In fact, really, the first track is only successful enough to be listed as a “favorite” down below by virtue of it being the first track on the project because things go sour very quickly almost immediately afterward. I honestly don’t want to hate this thing: for starters, it’s an EP so expectations shouldn’t be very high to begin with, and two, it’s not like I was cringing or losing my sanity while listening to the EP either. I didn’t want to say that this thing was completely awful, but unfortunately, after a good start, things just went from bad to worse almost instantly, and when you only got me to really enjoy ONE song from a FIVE song EP…yeah, that essentially means you got a 2/10 rating on a number scale, which, in case you don’t know, is pretty awful. Jaden, good on paper, bad in execution. Changing your sound was a fascinating idea, but next time, try not to repeat the formula for every song on the project, okay?
Just skip this. Even at 27 minutes, it’s not worth it.
Favorite tracks: B (Electric)
Least favorite tracks: They all just kinda meshed together to me, to be honest.
Rating: Awful
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