In Another Life (album)

In Another Life
Studio album by Bilal
Released June 30, 2015
Genre R&B, neo soul, hip hop soul, funk, soul
Length 38:28
Label eOne
Producer Adrian Younge
Bilal chronology
A Love Surreal
(2013)		 In Another Life
(2015)

In Another Life is the fourth studio album by American neo soul singer Bilal. It was released on June 30, 2015, by Entertainment One. Bilal recorded much of In Another Life with producer and songwriter Adrian Younge, who played most of the instruments on the album.[1]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic78/100[2]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Consequence of SoundC[4]
Exclaim!8/10[5]
HipHopDX3.5/5[6]
Pitchfork7.2/10[7]
PopMatters9/10[1]
Spin7/10[8]
The Sydney Morning Herald[9]
Uncut7/10[10]

In Another Life was released by Entertainment One on June 30, 2015, to generally positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 78, based on 8 reviews.[2] PopMatters critic John Paul said it would prove to be perhaps "one of, if not the best R&B albums of the year", while praising Bilal and Younge's retrofuturist approach to 1970s funk and soul on a wildly eclectic and "vital document from two of the most gifted, albeit idiosyncratic, performers R&B currently has to offer".[1] AllMusic's Andy Kellman called In Another Life a hip hop soul high point and hailed Bilal as still "one of the most dynamic and progressive vocalists in contemporary music".[3] In The Sydney Morning Herald, Paris Pompor categorized the album as neo soul while declaring the songwriting could be the best of the singer's career.[9] Kristofer Lenz from Consequence of Sound was less impressed by the record, believing Younge's unrefined analog production had yielded mixed results. On songs such as "Star Now" and "Lunatic", "some instruments feel too high in the mix, typically the drums, and the ensuing chaos threatens to consume the rest", Lenz lamented.[4] At the end of 2015, In Another Life was ranked number 13 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the year's best R&B albums.[11]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Sirens II"  Bilal Oliver, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad 2:45
2. "Star Now"  Oliver, Younge 3:10
3. "Open Up the Door"  Oliver, Younge 3:09
4. "I Really Don't Care"  Oliver, Younge 2:59
5. "Pleasure Toy" (featuring Big K.R.I.T.)Oliver, Younge, Justin Scott 4:32
6. "Satellites"  Oliver, Younge, Loren Oden 2:58
7. "Lunatic"  Oliver, Younge 2:42
8. "Money Over Love" (featuring Kendrick Lamar)Oliver, Younge, Kendrick Duckworth, Oden 2:44
9. "Love Child"  Oliver, Younge 3:19
10. "Holding It Back" (featuring Kimbra)Oliver, Younge, Saudia Mills 3:27
11. "Spiraling"  Oliver, Younge, Oden 2:59
12. "Bury Me Next to You"  Oliver, Younge, Oden 3:43

Personnel

Credits were adapted from AllMusic.[3]

  • Big K.R.I.T. – vocals
  • Bilal – executive production, vocals
  • Hannah Blumenfeld – cello, violin
  • Danielle Brimm – A&R
  • Dave Cooley – mastering
  • Hans Elder – executive production
  • Isabel Evans – A&R
  • Paul Grosso – creative direction
  • David Henderson – drums
  • Davy Henderson – drums
  • James Hunt – engineering
  • Russell L. Johnson – executive production
  • Kimbra – vocals
  • Kendrick Lamar – vocals
  • George Littlejohn – executive production
  • Andrew Lojero – associate production
  • Sean Marlowe – art direction, design
  • Kawai Mathews – photography
  • John McDonald – production management
  • Angelbert Metoyer – cover art
  • Victor Morante – production direction
  • Ali Shaheed Muhammad – Fender Rhodes, Mellotron
  • Loren Oden – background vocals, vocoder
  • Clinton Patterson – trumpet
  • Julia Sutowski – production coordination
  • Jack Waterson – electric guitar, electric sitar, rhythm guitar, slide guitar
  • Noah Wolf – violin
  • Saudia Yasmein – vocals
  • Adrian Younge – acoustic guitar, alto saxophone, baritone flute, baritone saxophone, clavinet, drums, electric bass, electric guitar, electric sitar, engineering, executive production, Fender Rhodes, flute, glockenspiel, Hammond organ, harmonica, mastering, mixing, percussion, piano, piccolo, production, slide guitar, synthesizer, tenor saxophone, vibraphone, vocoder

Charts

Chart (2015) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[12] 179
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[13] 13
US Independent Albums (Billboard)[14] 8

References

  1. 1 2 3 Paul, John (July 16, 2015). "Bilal: In Another Life". PopMatters. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  2. 1 2 "Reviews for In Another Life by Bilal". Metacritic. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 Kellman, Andy (n.d.). "In Another Life - Bilal". AllMusic. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  4. 1 2 Lenz, Kristofer (June 30, 2015). "Bilal – In Another Life". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  5. ↑ Jones, Kevin (June 26, 2015). "Bilal In Another Life". Exclaim!. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  6. ↑ Johnsen, Homer (July 10, 2015). "Bilal - In Another Life". HipHopDX. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  7. ↑ Moore, Marcus J. (June 29, 2015). "Bilal: In Another Life". Pitchfork. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  8. ↑ Weiss, Dan (September 18, 2015). "SPIN Overlooked Albums Report: Tenement's Sprawling Half-Time Punk, Matana Roberts' Free Sax Collages". Spin. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Pompor, Paris (August 1, 2015). "Album reviews: Chemical Brothers, Bilal, Wolf Alice, Vienna Musikverein Quartet". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  10. ↑ "Review". Uncut. October 2015. p. 73.
  11. ↑ "20 Best R&B Albums of 2015". Rolling Stone. December 16, 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2016.
  12. ↑ "Bilal – Chart history" Billboard 200 for Bilal. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Bilal – Chart history" Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums for Bilal. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
  14. ↑ "Bilal – Chart history" Billboard Independent Albums for Bilal. Retrieved July 22, 2015.

External links

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