A successful debut album is supposed to not only be an accomplished body of work, from a musical standpoint—but also be a great foray and introduction into the artist’s sonic profile and identity. In many ways, it’s supposed to sound distinguished and distinct, doubling down on the elements that make the bedrock for the artist’s music.
So when I say Bnxn sounds all-too familiar on his debut album, one would be moved to be inquisitive as to how that could be a bad thing. You see, as much as every great debut album should indeed double down on the uniqueness of an artist—if there is very little dynamism and range in the manner in which they attack the execution, then it’s going to create a predictable, monotonous experience and that’s not a good thing.
Mr. Money With The Vibe and Boy Alone are very recent examples of debut albums done well. Whilst both body of works double down on the sonic identity and topical narratives that their artists are known for, Asake and Omah Lay are very dynamic on the entire album and vary their delivery multiple times, to bring something different on every track—even if the entirety on the production was built on similar, cohesive elements. Sincerely, Bnxn is also cohesive in that same manner but Bnxn doesn’t vary his delivery or flow patterns. So it creates monotony.
There is a very thin line between sonic cohesion and monotony, and what prevents very cohesive albums that are great projects, from venturing into the murky waters of monotony is the range of delivery and dynamism from the artist. Bnxn is a phenomenal writer who is easily top 3 of his generation at the art of writing alone, but unfortunately this is music not poetry—so delivery would always matter more in the grand scheme of things than just the lyrics. Great lyrics are only truly appreciated when their delivery is great and they strike all the right chords.
Now Sincerely, Benson is in no way a horrible album. It does enough to escape the confines of mediocrity, but for an album that had so much potential with its topical choices of introspection and exploring the fine things of life, alongside the potency of the pen-game of the artist—it’s somewhat a disappointment because the whole LP has the tendency to sound like one song on loop. How? Because just like many of his peers; Fireboy DML, Ayra Starr and Tems, Bnxn is an R&B artist disguising as a popstar.
Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with the concept of R&B superstars or R&B popstars. R&B is this writer’s favorite genre of music and it’s really lovely to see popstars who make great RnB records. However, unlike the other aforementioned popstars—Bnxn really struggles at making pure pop records, without imploring R&B type deliveries. Yes Sability might be a senseless attempt at mainstream Lamba, but it worked because Ayra was able to morph totally into a pop artist and deliver premium lamba with pop flow patterns and rhyme schemes.
Fireboy DML also has numerous pop smash hits in Scatter, Peru, Playboy and Bandana that are very different in structure from his R&B hits like Vibration and Jealous. Bottom line, at their core these artists are RnB artists like Bnxn but they have enough range to deliver pop flows on their pop beats. Bnxn hasn’t displayed that same level of range and usually implores his all-too familiar RnB/Swing type of flow template over pop beats.
It’s why before Gwagwalada, he struggled so much for a hit record of his own, despite creating timeless moments on the tracks of other artists. It’s also why the best songs off his projects are RnB cuts. In My Mind off Bad Since ’97 and Pidgin & English, an emotive record that samples Magic!’s No Regrets. Like every great emotional song, Bnxn is in his feelings and beats himself up for fumbling love so genuine and wholesome. His RnB delivery fits like a glove on here.
Another standout tracks on the LP is Party Don’t Stop, an energetic House record, where Bnxn varies his delivery a bit and Leriq infuses much needed sonic deviation from the familiar soundscape with an immersive dance production. Something he seems to have a very strong knack for, as evidenced his psychedelic EDM production on his collaborative EP with Kaestyle. Right Energy is an Afro-Swing record that works largely thanks to it’s exotic guitar strings and gyrating Dancehall bounce, even though Bnxn is once again predictable with his delivery.
Maximum Damage ft. Headie One is another swing record that excels, with the featured artist doing most of the heavy lifting where dynamism is concerned but when played in the sequence of the opening 4 tracks, it’s underwhelming and quite hard for it to stand out because of the overall monotony. Bnxn’s delivery on them—My Life, Best Of Me, Maximum Damage and Mukulu—can easily be swapped out for each other and nothing much would change and it’s sad, because once again the writing is impressive. It also doesn’t help that all four songs tread the same genre lines of R&B and pop fusion, with bashment influences.
Realize ft. Taves is another RnB record with great potential that it fails to reach because of its dated production. Say My Name and Toxic is more of the same, persisting with the problematic symptoms of the opening sequence. Regret ft. 2Baba is salvaged by the midtempo upbeat production and the guest artist, once again saddled with the burden of bringing a breath of fresh air to execution.
Final Answer is another great song, like Maximum Damage that could have stood out better if it wasn’t sequenced alongside other songs that were so similar to it in execution. Overall, the album feels very laborious in most sequences although the pre-released singles are properly sequenced and do their bits in breaking the album out of it’s one dimensional loop. Nonetheless, it’s not to the compliment of the album that the most ambitious records are its singles (asides Sweet Tea.)
Sincerely, Benson will be enough for most. It has enjoyable songs and great writing that would resonate with many and even connoisseurs in fact. That might be enough for now, as it could indeed go on to be a success. However, in the long run Bnxn would have to step out of his comfort zone one way or another. As an indie artist, mostly calling his own shots creatively it’s hard to envisage when that will happen but for his sake, I hope it does soon.
Final verdict:
Sonic Cohesion: 1.6/2
Unharried Transitions: 1.3/2
Expansive Production:1.5/2
Songwriting: 1.5/2
Topical Progression/Track Sequencing: 1.0/2
Total: 6.9/10
–This review is written by T.J. Martins, an avid lover of music.
