Album Review: Jon Bellion, Glory Sound Prep
Written by BSR Web Staff on November 19, 2018
Title: Glory Sound Prep
Artist: Jon Bellion
Label: Capitol Records
Release Date: November 9, 2018
Rating:
One thing’s for sure, Jon Bellion hasn’t lost his sound. That’d be too hard to do.
After disappearing for two years, Bellion’s sophomore album “Glory Sound Prep” (also introduced to the media before its release as GSP) was released Nov. 9, and it does not disappoint. The record features a seamless blend of hip hop, rap, pop, a New Orleans jazz band, and completely random background sounds of clinking, beeping and children yelling to complete Bellion’s well-known signature style. When listening, it’s impossible to ignore the musical talent of a writer, singer and producer such as Bellion. The synth, trumpets and guitars work together to create beautiful transitions between genres.
While Bellion has always been open about this willingness and excitement to collaborate with other artists and producers, GSP kicked it up a notch. His previous album, “The Human Condition” featured several other artists whom Bellion has worked with before, such as Travis Mendes and Blaque Keyz. This is quite a significant jump to having six other artists credited in GSP’s song titles, including both Mendes and Blaque Keyz, as well as Roc Marciano and the legendary Quincy Jones– not to mention an uncredited Easter Egg from actor and musician Will Smith on the album’s groovy and beat-bumping cautionary tale, “Cautionary Tales”.
Throughout the record, Bellion consistently proves his lyrics are worth every goosebump, every “AHA!” moment, and demand to be seen as what they really are: art. With lyrics such as “If they don’t feel your thoughts, start dreaming in braille”, from the track “Adult Swim”, or the heartbreaking “When she meets God, He’ll tell her all about it/When my mother was a mother to her mom” from the eight minute long “Mah’s Joint”, Bellion easily weaves a large range of topics into GSP.
Overall, the album is a great continuation into the Jon Bellion, Pixar-ish world. As I transported myself into the beginning of this musical experience, I’ll admit I was looking forward to hearing some new experiments and evolving in the way Bellion writes and produces his music, and GSP didn’t give me much of that. But when it boils down to it, the picture painted by Glory Sound Prep is so colorful, so wondrous and explorational that it’s easy to remember that Jon Bellion’s sound is evolution for the music industry itself.
Final faves on Glory Sound Prep:
Track 2: JT
Track 4: Stupid Deep
Track 5: The Internet
Track 10: Mah’s Joint (feat. Quincy Jones)
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david On November 19, 2018 at 10:16 pm
interesting article, aurora