SYRE, an Album Review

By abel berrocal

  Jaden Smith, known for his philosophical tweets and constant stoner thoughts, is a film and television actor, a fashion designer, and water-bottle company entrepreneur. But with the release of SYRE, he is now a rap artist.

  With his great mix of cringey verses, noisy instrumentals, and ridiculous claims, SYRE is an absolute mess of an album. After listening to the entirety of the album, it seems that Jaden Smith published his discovery of music as a whole. Every song displays a different sound or mood. Every verse uses a different flow that is commonly nabbed from much greater artists but, Jaden did manage to create depth in the energy of his unique music.

  The album begins with arguably one of the only two good tracks on SYRE. It introduces the album with a bible verse (Genesis 2:4-3:24) which describes Eve, the first woman created. As Jaden then talks about his relationship, it is speculated that this bible verse is meant to describe his partner, whose hair is so beautiful it inspired God to create breeze. In Jaden’s first verse, which perfectly transitions into the second track, the listener is introduced to a hard trap beat. With Jaden becoming reckless and boasting about his singing, rapping, and money, the beat abruptly calms down and gives Jaden space for his second verse of this album. Jaden continues the album with outrageous claims and references; including Martin Luther King Jr. and Call of Duty. The album progresses with Jaden jumping from one sound to another and consistently nabbing flows.

  s the album progresses we reach track 11, “Icon”. “Icon” is the only track that truly seems unique to Jaden. Jaden cheats on composition by mixing up the standard structure of verse – hook – verse – hook to truly find his own sound. It begins with an abstract feeling;chords that build tension and a closing juicy bass hit. The instrumental fits perfectly with the feeling of Jaden’s lyrics. With a woman’s voice singing eerily in the background, bass hits that fit perfectly with 808’s, and syncopated hi hats, “Icon” punctuates in loud, vibrant energy. This track is almost good enough to make up for the rest of the album.

   In the rest of his album, Jaden continues his tradition of jumping from sound to sound, from electric guitar instrumentals, to acoustic low bpm instrumentals. Overall, SYRE is a messy album, apart from an amazing introduction of “B”, “L”, “U”, “E”, “Icon”, and depth that resonates in a realm of chaos.