Funk Wav Bounces Vol. 1 Review
An Album By Calvin Harris
Calvin Harris is known for making music that is generally popular on the radio, and has hits like We Found Love and Feel So Close. His work in the past has been focused on the genres of pop and dance, and he continues to focus on those genres on Funk Wav Bounces. But, what’s new about this album is that he’s now incorporating Rap, R&B, and a little Reggae in his production and with his features.
The first song in this project, Slide, is a song that features the artists Frank Ocean and Migos. This was the main single for this album and it’s also my favorite song on the entire record. Frank Ocean brings a catchy melody and hook to the song that soothes you into the song. Then, Migos comes in and Quavo brings a nice performance that lets Offset come in with a ripping flow.
Cash Out features ScHoolboy Q, PARTYNEXTDOOR, and DRAM. The first verse in the song comes from ScHoolboy Q, and he always brings an infectious sound to the songs he’s in, he styles his verses that allows him to flow very easily. PARTYNEXTDOOR does the simple earworm hook that transitions the song from Q to DRAM. DRAM has a very weird voice and he hits very high notes in his verse on this song.
Heatstroke has artists Young Thug, Pharrell Williams, and Ariana Grande. Young Thug starts off the song with a great verse that is very uplifting and his mumble style sounds very clear. Pharrell does the hook in this song, and he comes in on Ariana’s verse with a smooth and soulful voice that’s hard not to like. Ariana is also amazing on this song and she has a powerful voice that adds pop flavors to the track.
Rollin features Khalid and Future. Khalid has an amazing singing voice, and his voice is very fruity and passionate. I love the hook he delivers on this song, he has a dynamic performance and the lyrics are about driving around and being relaxed, which always puts me in a good mood. Future adds the flavors of rap in this song and he has two great verses where he spits raw and refined lyrics of cockiness, partying, and a little romance.
Prayers Up features Travis Scott and A-Trak. Travis is autotuned and hype as always on this song. The song gets a little stale after the first minute since the beat doesn’t seem to change that much at all, and Travis shouldn’t have been left alone on this song. He’s not bad, but he’s not fantastic either. The end of the song has some mixing and scratching by A-Trak and it was a funky ending to have for a song, but it wasn’t necessary.
Holiday has Snoop Dogg, John Legend, and Takeoff from Migos. Snoop Dogg is okay on this song, but I don’t think pop or dance music is really something he should try. Takeoff sounds really good on here, with his raspy voice and quick flow and slick rhymes. John Legend has a decent hook on this track and adds flavors of R&B.
Skrt On Me is the worst song on this album. Nicki Minaj should never sing on any song, period. She is very ordinary on this song and isn’t anything special at all. The only decent part of the song is where Minaj actually raps, which is what she’s good at.
Feels has artists Pharrell Williams, Katy Perry, and Big Sean. Pharrell kicks off the song with versatile vocals and then Katy Perry comes in going along with the melody that Pharrell started. Pharrell has an amazing voice and style that makes this song better than it would be without him. Big Sean is alright on this track. I’m not really a fan of Big Sean due to how he steals a lot of his style from other rappers like Drake and Kendrick Lamar. But, his verse isn’t bad.
Faking It has singer Kehlani and rapper Lil Yachty. Kehlani has a voice that is soothing and lush, and she sounds great on this song. She goes along with the beat very well, while keeping a rhythmic performance. Lil Yachty comes in after Kehlani with a playful and short verse and adds a flavor of rap to the track.
The final song on this album just has the singer Jessie Reyez. I’ve never heard of her, but she’s a notable artist for sure. I like how the production on this song has slow guitar strings and low-fi bass that complements Jessie’s moody and mesmerizing vocals. This was a pretty good song to finish off this album, but it would’ve been nice if another artist was on it, like Kendrick Lamar or Quavo.
The production on Funk Wav Bounces isn’t experimental, refreshing, or anything new at all. The first three songs on this project all have very similar production with pop synths and fast paced drums and kicks. Rollin has a nice piano added to the beat and horns that make it a little funky. The production switches up a little on Prayers Up, with new bass, keys, and some high-pitched synths. Skrt on Me has production that sounds like Latino Pop, but it doesn’t fit with Nicki Minaj at all. Feels has a Reggae touch to it and some nice strings, but it’s not anything I haven’t heard before. Faking It has nice piano chords, and drums that have nice percussion and hi-hats. Hard to Love has a nice slow electric guitar with slow bass, and sounds a lot different from the rest of the album. The production is just very generic and sounds like most of the other dance or pop records that have come out in the past couple years, but it just has some sounds of the 80’s infused into it.
This album is overall not that bad of a record, but Calvin Harris definitely could’ve done better. I didn’t expect a lot from this record to begin with, but I thought some of the features would have come out better. An album like this isn’t something you can listen to any other time of the year except summer, which gives it less potential to stick in the music industry.
Album Grade: 6.5/10