Label: Mexican Summer Released: December 2020
In the realm of music that is often largely reliant on clever production techniques, we find this peculiar drop from Brooklyn’s Madison McFerrin.
I personally think of R&B as a form of therapy, a sonic nod of understanding. We crave songs that depict the same highs and lows of love that we are experiencing, and considering the reverie they receive for it, R&B artists ought to be able to enlighten us with their wisdoms, post the battle scars. They are the sages of love in the contemporary sense, and ought not to take the position lightly.
‘Hindsight’ for me is McFerrin’s reflection on a love affair, and she admits that we can develop a tolerance to the age-old remedy of ‘being honest’. We prescribe denial, which may work for a time, only to then find ourselves subscribing to the hit or miss relationship saving technique of staying too long in the vain hope that things will improve. Walking out and inflicting unnecessary emotional violence is equally as daunting a prospect, and all of this is expressed PERFECTLY within just 1 verse and by McFerrin’s well tempered piano playing and Louis Cato’s minimal drum work.
The remainder of the piece is solely composed of glorious harmonies demonstrating genuine vocal excellence, unfettered by editing, repeating the phrase “Coulda said we went for it?” and a synth solo that adds a sweet grinning sigh of ‘C'est la vie.’