Review: The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story — Jaden Smith
The third 2018 release from Jaden Smith continues a trend of uninspiring releases from the young ‘icon’.
Kicking off 2018 with the fluid and provocative SYRE album, Jaden Smith made his mark as more than the result of inherited wealth and ambition. While the mixtape wasn’t to everyone’s taste, it flaunted Jaden’s eagerness to brand himself as a unique and genuine artist, independent from his fathers legacy. It was a noble effort. SYRE is one of my favourite albums of the year but as time progressed the flaws of the album were exasperated in Jaden’s further releases.
The Sunset Tapes: A Cool Tape Story (TST) is like SYRE without the highlights. All the elements that miss the mark in SYRE are present here. TST is muddied by washed out tracks and a lack of thematic progression. Most tracks involve some type of synth soaked beat underneath Jaden’s autotuned voice. The voice itself says very few interesting things, serving mainly as another instrument rather than an artist with a message.
While there are a few moments of inspiration, they struggle to reach the heights we know Jaden is capable of. However, we’ve come to expect an emotional ride from his work, and he doesn’t entirely disappoint here. It’s tracks like SYRE In Abbey Road, Fallen Part 2 and SOHO that hold the tape up. They carry that profound feeling we were introduced to on songs like Fallen, L and U but with less artistic growth. Plastic is less emotional but might be the best song on the album.
If you’re looking for profound experience or just a set of bangers, this album is neither. If anything, it is a filler album to reach a hat-trick of releases within a year. I think it’s time for Jaden to depart from his sunset trilogy and turn a new page. There are big things ahead for him, and he’s already surpassed expectations. Let hope SYRE wasn’t his peak.
