On “Heartbreak On A Full Moon,” Chris Brown’s last album, he gifted us with a whopping 45 tracks; “Indigo” only has 32, so it looks like he decided to tone things down a bit. All jokes aside, Chris is known to give it his all whenever he creates music, so I expect to be entertained from start to finish regardless of the project’s length.

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TOP 5

 

5. COME TOGETHER

I’ve always been a major fan of Nelly’s “Luven Me” track from back in the day. On it, the St. Louis singer/rapper pours his heart out about some serious topics over this insanely smooth instrumental. In “Come Together,” Chris and featured guest H.E.R. follow in Nelly’s path, as they turn the “Country Grammar” standout into a passionate R&B tune that features some deep harmonizing, romantic words and laid-back vibes.

H.E.R. and Chris Brown are duet kings and queens, so I am not surprised that they were able to create a certified hit once they were able to finally link up with one another.

 

 

4. NEED A STACK

“Need A Stack” is simply fun to listen to. The track features this smooth/fast-paced instrumental that has plenty of adrenaline attached to it. Over this instrumental, Chris Brown and featured guests, Joyner Lucas and Lil Wayne, each get a chance to tell their strip club tales, and not a single moment do they hold back when it comes to spitting bars carefree-ly and playing the part of desperate booty touchers. 

You know what makes this song hot? The chemistry between everyone involved on it. You can tell Joyner feeds off of Chris’ cool demeanor, Lil Wayne feeds off of Joyner’s focused bars, and Chris feeds off of Wayne’s energy — especially at the end of the song.

 

 

3. WOBBLE UP

Chris Brown might be undefeated when he makes music about some sick ass s**t.

You know what’s funny? Most of the singles off of “Indigo” are family-friendly, featuring nurturing vibes and chill subject-matters. In “Wobble Up,” Chris flips the switch, creating a banger that is raw as hell and pretty damn raunchy.

Backed by this bass boomin’ instrumental, Chris Brown goes ham, singing about getting love from strippers, disgruntled women and anti-condom users. Personally, I f**k with the energy and tempo attached to his verse, mainly because it ultimately creates a sing-a-along type atmosphere that is too infectious to pass up (Don’t sing this s**t out loud in most places, though).

Nicki Minaj and G-Eazy are featured on “Wobble Up,” and they both drop blahzay-blahzay verses about loving strippers and dismissing competition. While I do like how Nicki gives the song a ‘bad b*tch’ perspective on her verse, I thought Eazy’s ‘cool ass white boy that can fit in with black strip club goers’ perspective fell flat on its face on his verse. All in all, I didn’t think both rappers added much to this song.

It just hit me: We are living in a world where G-Eazy is a strip club God?

 

 

2. UNDECIDED

When it comes to critical receptions, “Undecided” is a ‘hit or miss’ song. Personally, I think it’s a hit, but I can definitely sympathize with people that think it’s a miss (I show sympathy to people with brain damage all of the time).

“Undecided” is one of those mid-tempo love songs that has Chris Brown delivering some pretty daring vocals and utilizing his charm throughout. Lyrically, the VA native does everything he can to let his woman know how much he loves her on his verses (Despite showing hesitance when it comes to wifing her), literally coming across like a panhandler for her body (I’m not sure I am capable of sounding this sprung for someone I’m not even officially with).

On “Undecided,” Chris sings like his girl has the same marble Agent K and Agent J were looking for on the first Men In Black.

 

 

1. NO GUIDANCE

In a year where relationships seem to be mended by the day (Meek and Drake, Logic and Joyner Lucas), one of the most unfortunate beefs has officially come to an end with “No Guidance.”

“No Guidance,” a track featuring Chris Brown and Drake, shows how powerful both hip-hop stars can be when they link up with one another, as it features everything from old school R&B vibes to highly infectious melodies. Thankfully, both artists bring out the appealing versions of themselves on the song, singing serenely (Drake) and soulfully (Chris Brown), while also pouring out their hearts to their respective women like only they can. All in all, what I heard here was a major hit, and on the real, I predict it being the biggest this summer.

Light skin people are so forgiving!

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SONG BY SONG BREAKDOWN

1. INDIGO (3.5/5)

2. BACK TO LOVE (4.5/5)

3. COME TOGETHER (4.5/5)

4. TEMPORARY LOVE (3.5/5)

5. EMERALD / BURGANDY (3.5/5)

6. RED (3.5/5)

7. ALL I WANT (4/5)

8. WOBBLE UP (4.5/5)

9. NEED A STACK (4.5/5)

10. HEAT (4.5/5)

11. NO GUIDANCE (5/5)

12. GIRL OF MY DREAMS (3/5)

13. NATURAL DISASTER / AURA (4/5)

14. DON’T CHECK ON ME (4/5)

15. SORRY ENOUGH (3.5/5)

16. JUICE (3.5/5)

17. YOU LIKE THAT (3/5)

18. TROUBLED WATERS (4/5)

19. TAKE A RISK (3.5/5)

20. LURKIN (3/5)

21. TRUST ISSUES / ACT (3.5/5)

22. CHEETAH (3/5)

23. UNDECIDED (5/5)

24. BP / NO JUDGEMENT (2.5/5)

25. SIDE N***A (2/5)

26. THROW IT BACK (3/5)

27. ALL ON ME (3/5)

28. SEXY (2.5/5)

29. EARLY 2K (3/5)

30. DEAR GOD (3.5/5)

31. PART OF THE PLAN (2/5)

32. PLAY CATCH UP (3.5/5)

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OVERALL RATING

(C-)

 

Chris Brown’s passion cannot be emulated, altered or diminished. For this reason alone, “Indigo” is a must-listen! From start to finish, you get maximum effort from Brown, as he does everything in his power to make the next R&B, club, rap, pop, trap and strip club hit throughout. Though he swings and misses a few times, it’s astonishing to hear Chris let it all hang out on literally every song.

The first thing that comes to my mind when it comes to “Indigo” is Chris Brown’s passion on it; the second thing is his vocal performances. I thought Chris did a fantastic job of reaching high notes when he needed to on this album, and I admired how he cared less to acquiesce to the emotions of each instrumental he sung over. (Seriously, there is no reason he should be singing his heart out on a song like “Wobble Up,” but he does, and it adds this level of tranquility to it that is pretty interesting to listen to). On the flip-side, I felt Chris’ lyrics didn’t quite match the quality of his singing on the true R&B cuts on this album, which I believe leads to excruciating moments of over-singing (And certainly over auto-tuning).

The instrumentals on “Indigo” are as versatile as it gets. In one sense, you get something hyped and new school-sounding like on “Heat,” and in another, you get something like “Don’t Check On Me” that features a guitar-heavy sound. As I stated earlier, Chris approaches each song like its his last, singing hard and letting his voice manifest itself throughout. In other words, you never get shortchanged by the “Yo” creator when it comes to passion, regardless of the vibes of the beat he is handed.

The features on “Indigo” were good, but not great. Personally, there wasn’t a particular person I loved, but I did enjoy a lot of the guests’ presences. But if I had a gun to my head, I would say that Juvenile, Juicy J, Drake and Bieber had my favorite appearances on this album. The worst appearances will have to go to G-Eazy and Tank.

Chris is a star. His appeal is outstanding, but in my humbling opinion, he doesn’t do the intangibles good enough to be great. Throughout listening to “Indigo,” I stumbled on way too many erratic verses and hooks, lazy ass melodies, and extremely predictable subject-matters and topics. It’s almost like Chris thinks it’s a good idea to settle and make music inferior artists are capable of making at times, not realizing that he has serious talent as a singer. Nonetheless, “Indigo” is fun enough to run back plenty of times (Especially if you take long ass flights regularly), it’s just not put together all that well.