James Reid - Palm Dreams Album Review

Palm Dreams is the third studio album by actor/singer, James Reid. The man is known for appearing in numerous movies, tv shows, and being in a loveteam with real life girlfriend, Nadine Lustre. The album is over 37-minutes long, and it has 9 tracks. The man’s name alone is the selling point in this album. Once you hear his name, *snap*, the charts go apeshit. Now I’m not gonna go in this album studying the statistics in James’ whole career as one of the country’s most admired showbiz superstars. Instead, I’ll be removing the whole context of his stardom and focus primarily on the music that is crafted in this record. I’m not a fan of the dude’s music but I actually have a soft spot for one of his singles (Hanap-Hanap, Randomantic, and Huwag Ka Nang Humirit) that were released under the commercial record label he is signed in.

Now let’s start this review by doing a little commentary and provide a little insight about our local pop culture before we dive in James’ Palm Dreams. It’s 2017, we are in the digital age and people are becoming more open to expand their music tastes. The Philippine music scene is stepping forward and at the same time stepping backwards. For instance, there are scenes where opposite music cultures don’t seem to get along with each other, some scenes become exclusive, they even banish music discourse or music criticism. And at the same time, there are most music groups today that are becoming more progressive; slowly accepting suggestions and discourse, and they start to indulge in other scenes they didn’t grow up in which is good news for us since the 90’s used to have a huge division with hip-hop and rock music.

Speaking of which, ‘Showbiz’ has been in our pop culture for decades. We totally get the 5-day afternoon specials, the formulaic films that are released monthly, the Sunday variety shows, etc. etc. We’re on the edge of the cliff and we’re almost going to the point of losing it. We have no point of listening to music that are processed (not produced) by ‘artistas’ for ‘masa’ consumption. I can only count on my fingertips on who are decent enough to create a coherent record. Oh believe me, my five fingers does not include Anne Curtis.

I am not surprised that this album sounds “different” as others claimed it to be but I am surprised for how decent this record is. I guess people call it “different” because they never heard anything like this before. Probably they are stuck in limbo for hearing the same material over and over again in the radio and on public television. I might come across as a complete snob but I completely get the hype this album is getting from fans and non-fans claiming that this album is a “game-changer” for commercial music here in the Philippines. As an avid fan of r&b and contemporary pop music, i’d like to point out that THIS album isn’t “groundbreaking” or any adjective that is sticking up to the word “monumental”. Let me say this loud and clear to most casual music fans: Palm Dreams is a great start for you to appreciate production and musical style as long as you guys already know the difference between a track by Ella Cruz and a track by Maduming Kwarto. But the claims of calling this album “groundbreaking” is subjective. It’s not objectively groundbreaking. Everyone’s opinion in this album becomes valid because it’s an album made by James Reid. But I wouldn’t blame the majority of the listeners because they have limited references on their music knowledge.

I just wish that listeners in our age should have their own thoughts in a bigger context and completely be open to other music and be open to music discourse. Because we’ve heard this type of music being passed around for the last couple of years now (Some samples include Zayn’s Mind of Mine, Miguel’s Kaleidoscope Dream, and most especially Justin Timberlake’s The 20/20 Experience). Just to get the point across, Palm Dreams is what it needs to be in terms of evolving sound in the commercial music industry.

Most reviews in this album that I’ve read online are met with so much overwhelming positive reception. And some of them are missing the point (I’m looking at you Esquire) but I can commend FHM for at least putting some light on the issues in the current showbiz industry but that’s not what we’re gonna tackle in this review. We’re here to talk about the music.

~*FINALLY THE ALBUM REVIEW*~

The album kicks off with the album’s collaborator, Fil-Am producer Paulo Tiongson aka Poor Taste’s lush production style, similar to most producers today incorporating the futuristic trap flavor in their tracks. The first track titled “Turning Up” shows James’ attitude in the limelight. Pretty good track to open the album. The second track, “The Life”, continues the beautiful paradise themes. A great follow-up to the first track.

So far, the album has no signs of slowing down as it speeds up around 50 on the highway. From top to bottom, Poor Taste’s production clears James’ road to being a solid artist. The third track and the lead single of the album, “Cool Down”, is tuneful, confident serenading and James sounds rather ambitious here. James’ still has something more for his fans as he services them with songs that are less of a novelty but more of a tribute to artists (that he obviously listened to for inspiration in the making of this album) that came before him.

The fourth track “On Top”, features Sam Concepcion’s assisted hook which reminds me of Justin Timberlake’s suave vocal performance in Futuresex/Lovesounds. His 3 minutes of fame was worth more than James’ own ability to make a track catchy. The rapping part that I thought was cut off in the last section of the song really caught me off guard and it was a little bit of a turn off in the track (but I still liked 3/4 of it). To be completely honest, that was one of the oddest introductions from a rapper who calls himself “King WAW”, aname that is mildly cringey as he is the weakest link in “On Top”.

The fifth track, “Down Low”, has tropical textures all over it. James Reid uses his strength to fit through the gaps of Poor Taste’s production flaws (We’ll get to that later on). The sixth track and possibly my least favorite out of all the 9 tracks, “IL2LU”, features James’ real life partner, Nadine Lustre. The chemistry here in this track didn’t work out for me. It’s just that Nadine’s voice didn’t seem to go through the mood the track. Their back-and-forth effort here in “IL2LU” didn’t have the magic these two used to have back in the Diary Ng Pangit soundtrack days. This track is again, an attempt to appease James’ longtime fans.

The seventh track and possibly my favorite track in the album, “Forever”, travels further to James’ wishes on being with the person he loves forever. I mean, it did hit me when James was showing his softer side. I just wish James can be more open to his emotions other than talking about the cameras that are flashing right in front of him.

The last two tracks, “Dangerous”, and, “Mean 2 U”, are the weakest closers I’ve heard in an album in a long time. Those two tracks didn’t punctuate the album as I expected it to be. Most pop records tend to end their album by showing their confessional side. I wish “Forever” could’ve been the track to close the album.

I like the album, I just wish the sound shouldn’t stick on being safe to other listeners who are looking for a little bit of experimentation. A challenge is what the dude’s next album needs from the packaging to its body. I hope Poor Taste can learn a thing or two from here on.

Overall, James Reid lets his listeners savor the exuberant, attractive production as Poor Taste does most of the work. But at the same time, PT’s musical scope doesn’t make up anything unique or functional in a contemporary point of view. As the album’s sound stands on the pinnacle of contemporary Pinoy pop music, this album Is a successful attempt from James Reid to get away from his record executives bickering on his “new-but-not-so-new”direction though the album feels too late to be fresh in the ears of followers of the genre. Nevertheless, local pop music is finally standing on its two feet and now doing baby steps, all thanks to James Reid’s Palm Dreams.