NF - "Hope"

This album has feathers

This is my first outing with NF, so I can’t speak to where this sits in the rest of his discography.

But damn.

There are many differences between them, but this album does remind me pretty strongly of last year’s Kendrick Lamar album in terms of the strength of the writing and attention given to all aspects - melody as well as rhymes. Further, there are many introspective and self-critical moments of raw honesty that I always love to hear.

I’m a millennial, after all. Self-loathing is our generation’s sport of choice.

Jokes aside, this dude has something to say. The self-expression is sometimes poetic, sometimes raw attitude, but always sincere. There’s some humble-brag and memery sprinkled throughout, but the album is largely about the speaker addressing his worst aspects and embracing hope (thus, the title of the album, “Hope”). It’s about growth and moving forward and embracing the positives while leaving the doubts and fears behind. I think this album is ultimately successful in what it sets out to do, though it’s more loosely tied than, say, Martinez’s “Portals”.

There’s not a bad track on this album. They run the gamut, stylistically, from heartfelt prayers to aggressive rap attacks. Three tracks really stood out from the rest, though: “Happy”, “Running”, and “Gone”, which is a duet featuring Julia Michaels (how many features is she gonna be in this year???).

This is an excellent album. I’m happy to rate this one blue.

Rating: Blue