HNDRXX Review

The interesting half of the experiment. Freed from having to sound dangerous, he made a genuine pop and soul record, all bright synth pads and mid tempo drums, and the vocal processing that usually reads as armour starts reading as damage instead. Solo is the best of it, a slow admission of loneliness with no boast anywhere in it. Use Me and Testify are properly written songs with verses that develop.

Comin Out Strong is the standout collaboration and it is gorgeous. Even the tracks aimed at radio have a sadness underneath the gloss. Where it loses ground is the length, seventeen tracks when twelve would have been devastating, and the last stretch repeats the same regret with diminishing force. But this is the record that shows what he can actually do when the persona is set aside, and it is the one that has aged best out of everything after 2015.