Rating: 6.5/10

Leicester local, Mahalia, is back with her second studio album ‘Love and Compromise‘. The 21 year old released her first project back in 2016, entitled ‘Diary of Me‘, but only in the past year has the R&B singer really gained popularity thanks to a few hit singles. On ‘Love and Compromise‘, the singles we’d already heard are sadly the stand out moments, but the album as a whole is still an impressive project.

The album’s opener, ‘Hide Out‘, starts with a sample from an old interview with Eartha Kitt, as the classic American singer questions why she should have to compromise in a relationship. Over the course of the album, Mahalia delves into this topic, discussing old relationships, new love interests and more, but basically it is all about love.

‘I Wish I Missed My Ex‘, was released back in June of 2018 (and was the first Mahalia track I heard), but it fits perfectly as the second track of ‘Love and Compromise‘. Mahalia defiantly sets out how she feels about a past relationship and I think what sets her apart from a number of other pop-R&B singers, is that on this track and throughout the album, you really feel like you can relate to the words she is saying. Above all though, the song is crazily catchy; I don’t think the chorus has left my head in over a year.

Whilst Mahalia is an R&B aritst, some tracks on the album are probably more aptly classified as pop songs – notably ‘He’s Mine‘. Despite the genre change, the track fits with the album, providing a more upbeat note as the track directly follows a slower son,g ‘Karma‘, which was a bit quiet and forgettable. On ‘He’s Mine‘, the structure is that of a ‘basic pop song’, but the brass and guitar part over the chorus work well, and the lyrics warning off another girl from getting involved with Mahalia’s man are quite different and fun.

My only issue with a fair few of the songs on the album is that it feels as though Mahalia is somewhat holding back in her vocal performance and that the instrumentals are a tad one dimensional and don’t really go anywhere. I just wanted to feel like Mahalia was really putting all her energy into her vocals, but it just seems a bit half-hearted.

If you compare the aforementioned song with ‘Do Not Disturb‘, which was released as a single in the run up to the album’s release, you can see a distinct difference in the production and overall quality of the songs. ‘Do Not Disturb‘ is super catchy, upbeat and features a variety of different instruments, such as a great violin part in the backing of the pre-chorus; it’s a really well produced song, but tracks like this and ‘I Wish I Missed My Ex‘ are really made great by the powerful vocals of Mahalia, which are sadly missing in the majority of the other songs on the album.

Obviously this isn’t to say that the rest of the album isn’t good, but I just feel that if every song was in the same league as the lead singles, then Mahalia would have released something truly fantastic. ‘Good Company‘ for me highlights the real talent of Mahalia, as the lyrical content is both empowering and emotive; listening to Mahalia’s music feels like you’re listening to a person’s real relationship issues, not just another churned out R&B or pop song. That said, despite showing her potential I was sadly left wanting more from ‘Love and Compromise‘, but I have high hopes for whatever comes next.