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5.0/10
Canadian R&B sensation Daniel Caesar returns after a three-year drought with his new album 'NEVER ENOUGH', a project that touches on lovesickness and relationship over his signature slow-paced and groovy sound. After the underwhelming 2019 release that was 'CASE STUDY 01', I expected Daniel to bounce back. Turns out, I was wrong.
"Let Me Go" was my favorite single from the four that dropped. It contains a great bassline, catchy chorus, laid-back percussion, and consistently good vocals the whole way through. "Do You Like Me?" was unfortunately the exact opposite, with it just sounding dragged out and snoozy, containing nothing outstanding. "Valentina" was disappointing too, with its hypnotic synth that opens the track that is sadly cut off by a generic drum beat that becomes snoozy as the track goes on. Finally "Unstoppable", the final single to release before the album, was incredibly forgettable. Again, it opens up with a cool synth but becomes so soulless and bland.
This theme of tracks starting off promising but then tapering off was fairly consistent on this album. The opening track "Ocho Rios" had me excited when it opened with a hard-hitting beat drop, but it dragged out into a boring and unexciting beat. "Toronto 2014" contains decent moments of harmony and groovy production, but there are also moments during Daniel's verses where I want to fall asleep. "Always" was just ok as well, with pretty harmonies on the chorus and a solid dreamy outro. I also enjoyed the minimal percussion, but the lyrics on this track were such an eye-roll to me.
"Cool" finally got me up on my feet again, with gorgeous lulling vocals on the chorus and the slightly raw-sounding piano. Although the verses are a bit underwritten, this track is solid production-wise. "Disillusioned" had me excited at first when I saw that experimental R&B artist serpentwithfeet was featured, but his verse was underwhelming. The only good I got from this track was how well they both meshed on the chorus. "Buyer's Remorse" was also sleepy. I would have loved to see more of Omar Apollo on here.
"Shot My Baby" was finally a track that contained some character! Daniel comes through with groovy vocals and hard-hitting drums on this track, and the subtle electric guitar is a great rocky touch. Again, the album takes a dive into more mediocre tracks, most notably "Superpowers" and "Vince Van Gogh". "Superpowers" is incredibly uneventful, and "Vince Van Gogh" is only two minutes but somehow manages to feel like five; it's just so bland. "Pain Is Inevitable" is an ok track with nice strings and a pretty outro, but nothing special.
I had high hopes for this album, and I came out of it so confused and disappointed. It's undoubtedly true that Daniel has a beautiful voice, and I'd love to see him utilize his vocals over more outgoing production. It's obvious that he's making music to perhaps go trending on TikTok or climb the Billboard charts with generic R&B beats that sound like they've been done a thousand times already. Daniel Caesar needs to pull a Lil Yachty on us. I want to see him switch things up a bit!
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