Buy Now
- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Aug 18, 2023World Music Radio proves that Jon Batiste is capable of coming up with [new ideas]. They seem to arrive when he sounds most like himself: an artist with jazz background, a deep knowledge of musical history and an iconoclastic streak. It also proves he is capable of sublimating his own individuality to fit in; when it tries too hard, it simply adds to the slush pile of nondescript pop.
-
Aug 18, 2023Lyrically Batiste plays it middle of the road, not to offend, and at times that hollowness can seem like a bad parody. ... That title, World Music Radio, pledges a larger scope of sound which Batiste is certainly capable of incorporating, but too often different genres get a quick cameo before Batiste goes back to the dance-ready pop tracks.
-
Aug 18, 2023Barring a few notable exceptions, World Music Radio is so beholden to its premise—so enfeebled by Batiste’s insistence on universality—that it offers up few opportunities to get to know Batiste himself: his stories, his struggles, his euphoric victories and devastating losses. That absence leaves the record feeling hollow, like a pretty house where no one lives.
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 2 out of 4
-
Mixed: 0 out of 4
-
Negative: 2 out of 4
-
Aug 21, 2023Just a terrible drop in quality from his last album. This is complete garbage.