Review: Colours2 (PARTYNEXTDOOR)
PARTYNEXTDOOR, real name Jahron Anthony Brathwaite, has only truly begun to take his first deep steps into most people's musical spheres this year, despite being two albums into his discography. In 2017 alone he was featured as a songwriter, producer and vocalist on numerous tracks on Drakes "More Life" playlist, he appeared on a track alongside Zayn Malik (despite rumours of the pair falling out prior to the songs release) and has now released a 4-track EP entitled 'Colours2'.This EP, with a total running time of 18 minutes, is a follow-up to PARTYNEXTDOOR's previous EP, "PNDColours," which was released in 2014. This writers only previous knowledge of this artist was the fact that he was the first artist signed to Drake's label OVO Sound in 2013, and after listening to this EP it would be almost impossible not to see the similarities between artist and his label's founder.There is very much a Drake -circa 2013 feel about this EP, from its silky, synth heavy instrumentation to its emotionally vulnerable lyrical content. From the opening track "Peace of Mind", a song in which PARTYNEXTDOOR professes his adoration for a female friend, to "Low Battery" in which he pleads with a girl to be honest about her feelings towards him, rather than hiding the affair he knows she's been having - you can feel emotion seeping from PND's voice, where pain seems to be the permanent order of the day. After repeated listens, however, you begin to hear this for what it very conceivably could be: a batch of songs Drake rejected that PND put his own spin on and released on a whim.The songs are, however, not bad in any way, shape or form. Upon repeat listens they stick with you, you begin to do things like humming the Jenny-from-the-block chorus to "Rendezvous" to yourself while out walking, but with the very close affiliations to pop's greatest trendsetter, you could begin to question if this is just PND's attempt to jump on the bandwagon of success. This EP is, overall, very enjoyable and sets a high bar in terms of musicality, slightly lower in regards to originality, but it's conceivable that this could see PND's name shine brighter than any this year. To really make his mark he needs to change, aim for a sound that hasn't already been monopolised and take a step outside of the OVO world.
4/5