Hi everyone, Huthony Midtano here, the internet's busiest music nerd, and it's time for a review of this new Ravyn Lenae project, Blue Island.

Yes, here we have a brand new record from songwriter, singer, Chicago native, multi-genre chameleon Miss Ravyn Lenae, who is now on her third full-length album here. Though I have been watching her moves personally since the release of her 2018 Crush EP, if I remember correctly, which had great highlights on it, yes, but also showed a lot of promise too. Included the modern soul bop "Sticky" as well. And there's been great singles and highlights worth noting in pretty much every leg of Ravyn's career so far, be it either "Skin Tight" or "M.I.A." Her last album cycle featured tracks like "Love Me Not" and "Love Is Blind," which really helped launch her into the mainstream.

But as awesome as it has been to see Ravyn undergo this slow and gradual evolution, from an artist who's kind of grinding in the underground to this massive commercial success, netting tens of millions of monthly listeners across all streaming platforms, so far I've always felt at least a little bit underwhelmed by the album experience of listening to Ravyn's stuff, with many of her style and production and song choices leading to track lists that, to me, run a little one-dimensional or have a lot of predictable or underwhelming moments.

But I will say, by contrast, Blue Island here, I think is Ravyn's greatest success yet, at least on the album craft front, which has been aided by an army of producers and co-writers, but primarily industry veteran DJ Dahi, who executive produced this project from what I understand. Which is a good thing, because I feel like his and Ravyn's efforts together lead to these tracks having kind of a consistent tone and vibe to them, even though there are a lot of different kind of chefs in the kitchen on this one.

And again, that consistency is a good thing, especially considering how boldly Ravyn embraces elements of pop, and a little pop-rock too, on this record – a change that was forecast on some of the early singles to this project, and some of Ravyn's longtime fans were sort of questioning this direction, wondering whether or not she was kind of giving up writing R&B and soul-flavored tunes. But after having heard this entire album, I gotta say not only are those fears unfounded, but I think this record features one of Ravyn's strongest batches of songs yet.

I don't think Blue Island is a perfect album by any means, and certainly still has its shortcomings. There are moments, for example, where I think Ravyn's vocals maybe run a bit too mild and breathy, and there are other songs, while I do appreciate them kind of wearing their classic influences on their sleeve, kind of come across like modern, watered-down Spotify playlist mutations of these sounds, meant to appeal to people who got really into alt-pop over the course of the pandemic or something.

Right out of the gate on this record, the song "Handle," for example, just oozes Prince's influence, but simultaneously doesn't really exude any of that kind of freak or eccentric energy that makes Prince such an alluring figure. You can also clearly hear that "Wish You Well" is going for some kind of blend of '80s synth-pop and R&B balladry, but lacks the vintage sheen and artsy razzle-dazzle that maybe somebody like Blood Orange brings to the table when kind of revisiting these sounds and vibes.

Also, sidebar, I kind of expect a certain baseline level of blandness from any album that takes the time to feature Dominic Fike on it ["Reputation"], who in my opinion is the crown prince of bringing alt-vibes while simultaneously making music that is so underwhelming and so under-seasoned.

The overall experience of this album ranges from very enjoyable to very agreeable. There's not a single song that's terrible. In fact, I would say there's numerous deeper cuts on this thing that offer quite a bit on the songwriting and production front, be it either "Never Let Me Go," which is a classic '90s R&B jam through and through. It's blissful, it's feel-good, it's romantic, it's catchy. Ravyn's vocals are silky and lined up to harmonic perfection. There's really not much more you could ask for.

Then there's also "Potential," which is this plucky, string-backed ballad that's got this kind of art-pop flair to it. The production on this track is the perfect accompaniment to Ravyn's vocals, and suddenly, toward the back end of the track, it kind of breaks into this glitchy IDM passage that feels like something out of a Björk record.

Then "Sew Me Back Together," at its core, feels kind of like a classic soul Motown cut, with a groovy, sleek, modern twist, with a lot of its instrumentation being built out of what sounds like loops and one-shots and a really funky bass line. But despite this kind of home-brewed demeanor, it doesn't stop the song from having a really glamorous feel to it. And of course, Ravyn's voice is a key selling point as well.

Then "Babygirl" with Doechii, while it is one of the more low-key songs on the record, it's still a great song, a fantastic crossover, and just some beautifully cerebral perfection. "Barriers" brings kind of low-key Michael Jackson vibes on the vocal front, and while you don't necessarily have the boldness and the pop of MJ, the soul and the catchiness is certainly there. Then on the back end of the record, not only does this thing have a very solid closer ["Let Us In"], but "Find It One Day" is not only one of my favorite Ravyn songs to date but proof of concept that moving into a slightly more pop direction on this record was a great idea.

And while still at this point, I don't think Ravyn and her collaborators have quite hit upon a distinct, trademark, instantly recognizable sound for her, she's undeniably getting better at doing whatever the hell she wants. Which is why I'm feeling a decent to strong 7 on this one.

Anthony Fantano. Ravyn Lenae. Forever.