SiR isn’t your generic R&B singer. TDE’s latest signee displays a more constricted vocal range than most R&B acts of today – you’ll rarely hear him belt out high notes. However, he makes up for it with carefully crafted and detailed bodies of work, a rarity in today’s R&B game.
The majority of us, including myself, first landed upon SiR after his appearance on “The Ways” with Jay Rock off 90059. A year later came Her and Her Too, an impressive set of EPs that preceded his soon-to-be-released debut album. Collaborations with Anderson .Paak, King Mez, and Masego proved SiR’s future was and still is, bright.
November is an eleven-track journey through various aspects of what can be assumed is SiR’s love life. With help from Etta Bond and labelmate ScHoolboy Q, he details almost every aspect of it, relaying his regrets, temptations, mistakes, and much more. SiR’s journey is quite unique, throughout the album it becomes apparent that he struggles to pinpoint what exactly he wants with love.
On different instances in the album, SiR explains his unwillingness to be tied down. Take “Something Foreign” for example, SiR sings “Hopefully she never kiss and tell/Hopefully we never see the sun/Don’t try keepin’ up, I’m on the run.” Since this isn’t his ideal girl, SiR hopes no one finds out they’re messing around and he’ll be out the door if she tries to hold him down. In other words, he’s not up for the settle down. SiR relays the same message on “I Know,” not wanting to get involved with a stripper because “she got bad-ass kids.”
SiR also details points in his life where he had the “perfect” girl but decided to put music above her. On “Never Home,” SiR seems to again have a girl who’s all about him but, he neglects her by choosing to indulge in his newfound lifestyle, opting to ignore her phone calls rather than to engage in another argument, “I don’t really feel like arguin’, I be out partyin’/Road been good to me, good to me.” On “That’s Alright,” despite expressing his feelings for her, he makes it clear that he’ll trade any love he has for her in return for success in the music industry.
Throughout the album, SiR pretty much avoids true love, dismissing the idea of settling down. Yet on “Something New” and “Summer in November,” we see a completely different side of SiR, one that’s more appreciative and less scornful of love. On “Something New,” SiR and Etta Bond both desire a real relationship built on true love and not a love for materialistic things, singing, ” if everything else falls apart, I still have you.” He continues this same narrative on “Summer in November,” expressing his admiration for the lady in his life, “But you don’t care about the flame, you don’t care about my name/If I didn’t have a dime, you would care for me the same.”
SiR’s journey through love isn’t the typical love story we typically hear on albums, in fact, it’s slightly complicated and indecisive at best. SiR moves back and forth between avoiding and neglecting love to finally appreciate it at the end. Despite it being one of the more unique journeys in music, it’s also one of the more realistic ones. Love isn’t a straight line in any direction, a concept many artists may understand but fail to display in their art. SiR, however, doesn’t fail at this.
Throughout the album, an actual flight is taken by SiR and a computer program named Kate, who repeatedly updates him on their progress. A noticeable feature on the album is its production. The album’s production presents a peaceful mood, ideal for a flight. However, coming in at just over a half-hour, November feels rather short. The album’s full potential could have been reached through either additional or lengthier songs, not to say another 45 57-track album is needed. Altogether, November isn’t completely mind-blowing but, it’s an impressive step forward for the Inglewood-singer.
