FEATURE:
Revisiting…
Ari Lennox - age/sex/location
_________
AN artist that I have…
PHOTO CREDIT: Gizelle Hernandez
a huge amount of respect and love for, Ari Lennox is a Washington-born R&B/Neo Soul sensational whose 2019 debut album, Shea Butter Baby, is one of the best of the past decade. Even though it gained positive reviews, I wanted to revisit her much-desired follow-up age/sex/location. Released in September, I think that some people might have missed it. Lennox is definitely one of the finest artists in the world, and age/sex/location is an album that should be heard by as many people as possible. Perhaps not as well-known in the U.K. as she is in the U.S., I hope that Ari Lennox’s music gets played more on stations in this country. It is a shame that Lennox has had to encounter some disrespectful interviewers. In January last year, Lennox swore off doing any more interviews following an inappropriate comment and question by a male D.J. The Guardian explain more as they spotlighted her in September:
“In January, the outspoken American R&B singer-songwriter Ari Lennox tweeted that she’d never do another interview after being quizzed disrespectfully about her sex life by a smirking male radio DJ. Lennox’s lyrics about good sex with untrustworthy, broke or otherwise unmoored men feel so unmediated and authentic that some people confuse the Ari in the songs with the real person – born Courtney Shanade Salter in Washington DC in 1991 – who sings them.
It’s still depressingly common, it seems, for women – especially black women – who write honestly about relationships, Tinder traumas and “regretful mornings” to be reduced to sexually voracious caricatures. That demeans Lennox and her work, which drifts unhurriedly across the past four musical decades, infusing neo-soul and progressive R&B with a hip-hop attitude. The intoxicating Shea Butter Baby is her signature song, but recent drops Pressure and Queen Space, a duet with Summer Walker about the power of self-worth, are equally strong.
Before signing to J Cole’s Dreamville label, Lennox spent years working in retail, driving Ubers and posting covers online, even on her dating profile. Like Cole, her songs display a lively sense of humour, a sharp eye for a strong image and an ear for an intriguing beat. Despite the tiresome sexism, she has vowed to “continue to sing about dick when I want”. New album age/sex/location is another enlightening tour around her quirky mind”.
There are quite a few video interviews that I would recommend people check out. I have dropped a couple in here. There is no doubt that Ari Lennox’s second studio album, age/sex/location, is a masterful work that ranks alongside the very best of last year. It is one that might have been missed by some people. Rolling Stone were among those who have huge praise to an album by an artist who everybody should know about and embrace:
“WHEN YOU HEAR the hip-hop-styled piano rhythm of “POF,” the opening cut on Ari Lennox’s second album age/sex/location, the first thing you’ll notice is her voice, flowing full and wry like Erykah Badu circa “On & On.” Yes, this is a real, honest-to-God soul singer: no autotune effects, no flattening croon that approximates laptop software, no double-time rhythm meant to approximate a rapper’s inflections. Lennox isn’t a traditionalist, though, and her music feels utterly modern. Much like Summer Walker, Chlöe Bailey — both of whom guest on age/sex/location — Jazmine Sullivan and others, Lennox represents a thriving R&B community, even as the increasingly tired “R&B Is Dead” meme continues to circulate, no thanks to a recent claim by Sean “Puffy” Combs (which he later amended).
Such comments have less to do with the quality of the music than the sense that rap has permanently eclipsed R&B in popularity, leaving musicians and fans to recalibrate their relationship with a beloved and necessary Black artform. Indeed, a subtext of age/sex/location is that none of the Dreamville rappers, particularly label co-founder J Cole, appear on it. Lennox hasn’t always seemed comfortable being a part of the Dreamville boys’ club in the past, and last year she publicly requested to be released from her contract. But give Cole credit for not pulling a, uh, Puffy, and demanding airtime on her latest project. And with age/sex/location, Lennox has delivered her best work to date, one that mostly leaps past her patchy but inspired Shea Butter Baby debut in quality. “Ari Lennox album phenomenal,” wrote Cole on Twitter.
Kicking off with “POF,” which bemoans a dearth of quality men, Lennox settles into a vibe and refuses to relinquish it. “Hoodie” is all supple bass and conga percussion as she switches to seductress: “Tangled up on your waist/Dreaming about how you taste/Underneath your North Face.” She ladles the end of the track with vocal runs and exhortations. The theme continues with “Waste My Time,” but the backing track is brighter, a full-on thumper with shimmering melodies. Then there’s “Pressure,” a 2021 song that became Lennox’s first Billboard Hot 100 hit. It finds her swinging like the Pointer Sisters over a guitar-inflected track that sounds like skipping jump rope.
Lennox has called age/sex/location her version of Elizabeth Gilbert’s memoir Eat Pray Love, emphasis on the love part. The journey is mostly spiritual – no jaunts to Italy and Southeast Asia – but she imbues her tracks with emotional commitment and raw, frank language. (A few minutes of levity arrive with “Boy Bye,” where she playfully pushes back against Lucky Daye’s flirtations. “Those lines belong in 1995,” she lilts.) Yes, it’s drenched in sex – hey, it’s an R&B album – but the tone is remarkably consistent, and only flags in quality with the uneven track “Outside.” Ironically, it’s a number where she diverts from her babymaker formula for a statement of female pride, delivered over a wonky and insistent bounce rhythm. “Make that money honey however it goes/Working hard paying off them student loans,” she sings.
Time will tell whether age/sex/location wins over a mainstream audience or turns into one of those under-appreciated R&B albums that fans hoard decades later, like Amel Larrieux’s Infinite Possibilities and Adriana Evans. Unless TikTok users decide otherwise, there doesn’t seem to be a viral hit on par with the platinum-certified single “Shea Butter Baby,” even as Lennox builds a case for herself as an enthralling artist. No matter: age/sex/location deserves to be more than an overpriced Discogs collectable. She needs her flowers now”.
I am interested wondering what comes next for Ari Lennox. Maybe we will not get another album so soon after age/sex/location, but there will be singles and live dates. It is thrilling to watch Lennox take those steps. I will end with a review from AllMusic. This is what they had to say regarding the brilliant age/sex/location. If you have not heard the album, then spend some time today checking it out:
“Ari Lennox notched some personal firsts when she and fellow Dreamville affiliate Elite connected with R&B legends Jermaine Dupri, Bryan-Michael Cox, and Johntá Austin, and newcomer Jai'Len Josey, to make the lead single off her second album. The singer and songwriter's most cross-generational collaboration, "Pressure" went Top 20 R&B/hip-hop and Top Ten R&B, topped the Adult R&B chart, and crossed into the Hot 100, all milestones. Appealing as it is, teaching, teasing, and inquiring with acerbic wit and sly audacity, "Pressure" is inessential to the excellence of Age/Sex/Location. That's a testament to the strength of what surrounds the hit in the sequence. ASL begins with "POF," an indication of the creative way Lennox consistently stirs together themes of independence, sexual agency, and bullshit detection. It's Badu-ist philosophy with a lithe, neck-swaying groove to match. (The only cut co-produced by Dreamville operator J. Cole, it's one of few not involving Elite, who was key to the preceding Shea Butter Baby.) The Badu influence on Lennox hasn't been clearer, but the song is also a showcase for some of Lennox's most striking vocals and her strongest, pithiest writing -- singular qualities that remain throughout the album.
Most illuminating are the slow jams that, like a few songs off the debut, either repurpose or evoke mellow R&B and jazz grooves from the late '70s. In "Mean Mug," finished off with a gentle trumpet solo, Lennox is enraptured and vulnerable, observing "There's a magic in your eyes," then isn't above being petty or possessive, advising with "Blockin' you, baby, if I can't have you to myself." The burrowing bassline on "Hoodie" neatly complements the way Lennox seeks permission to get closer to her man, yet she makes it known her guard isn't all the way down, issuing a challenge of her own. "Boy Bye," built on a sample of the Crusaders' classic "A Ballad for Joe (Louis)," brings Lennox and Lucky Daye back together again to spar with even greater chemistry than they displayed on "Access Denied." Duet-wise, it's a very close second to the Summer Walker-assisted "Queen Space," a steady-knocking finale so authoritative that the titular appellation can't be disputed”.
Among the absolute best albums of last year, Ari Lennox’s age/sex/location is not exposed and discussed enough. Definitely this is the case in the U.K. It is a remarkable work that I absolutely love! I guarantee that you will play this album and get so much from it. It shows that Lennox is one of the finest voices of her generation. Going forward, who knows what the future holds. Whatever she does and whatever music she releases, you just know that it is going…
TO be world-class.