"Crush" gave
Yuna a hard-fought commercial breakthrough in the U.S. The feathery
Usher duet almost topped Billboard's Adult R&B Songs chart and sent
Chapters, the singer's second Verve LP, into the Top Ten of the R&B/hip-hop chart. (In her native Malaysia, the single went to number one.) It's probably not coincidental that this follow-up is loaded with featured appearances, possibly to maximize the potential for sustained crossover appeal. Even without the guest verses from
Tyler, The Creator,
G-Eazy, and
Little Simz, "Castaway," "Blank Marquee," and "Pink Youth" would be among
Yuna's most distinct and powerful moments. In "Teenage Heartbreak" and "Amy," singer
Masego and guitarist
Miyavi sensitively assist
Yuna in her struggle to move beyond emotional growing pains and a fractured relationship with a variably cherished and maligned partner. As with the previous album, the primary co-songwriter and producer is
Robin Hannibal. His finely layered fusions of post-disco R&B and dazed pop are still well-suited for
Yuna's tender, increasingly rich voice and nuanced melodicism. The two are at their best when they let loose a bit, as on "Blank Marquee," a sweetly spiteful number faintly echoing
Oliver Cheatham's "Get Down Saturday Night" and
Edwin Birdsong's "Rapper Dapper Snapper." A close second is what comes after it, a sheer ballad with subtle twists and turns written with Alexandra Govere (aka
Shungudzo). "You're not the love of my life" seems at first like a dismissal, but as
Yuna repeats the line over a rhythm that tugs ever so slightly, the matter doesn't sound settled, and by the end she sounds like she's trying to suppress longing and regret. Those whose ears are perked by the MCs will hopefully listen intently enough to notice the detail and depth there and elsewhere. ~ Andy Kellman