Jaime is the debut solo studio album from Brittany Howard, released on September 20, 2019, via ATO Records.[7] It has received acclaim from critics[8] and has been nominated for several awards; it was a moderate sales success, appearing on several charts. The album is a mix of several musical styles that reflects intimate events and perspectives in Howard's life, which she supported with her first solo tour.
Recording
I actually made some music the way I hear it... No-one tells me they don't like it, no-one says they don't like this bass part, or this arrangement's too crazy. It was just up to me to make my own mistakes.
The album is the first solo work from Howard, who has previously recorded with Alabama Shakes. It is dedicated to her sister Jaime,[10] who died of retinoblastoma as a teen.[11] After experiencing writer's block,[12] Howard put Alabama Shakes on hold to pursue side projects and to have complete control over the recording of Jaime in 2018.[13] She reflected on her life as her 30th birthday approached[14] and decided to record an album that explored her personal history and beliefs. In addition to discussing the death of her sister, the album explores growing up poor,[9] the prejudice that her parents faced as an interracial couple, and her struggle with religious faith.[15] She began recording the songs in a greenhouse in Topanga, California before heading to two Los Angeles-based studios to finalize the album.[9]
According to Ann Powers of Slate, the music is a departure from the revivalist rock of Alabama Shakes, instead exploring a cross between jazz, funk, and soul.[25] Writing for Uproxx, Steven Hyden says Howard abandons typical rock-band dynamics in favor of "darker, weirder, groovier, and more psychedelic" sounds, making it difficult to categorize the album simply as rock, R&B, or jazz.[26] On the other hand, Consequence of Sound explicitly classifies Jaime as a synth-rock album.[1]Pitchfork's Sheldon Pearce also observes synth-rock, although in rapid form among other elements, such as experimental psychedelic funk, old school hip hop breakbeats, and tight jazz sounds reminiscent of D'Angelo's 2014 album Black Messiah;[19] his colleague Jillian Mapes also compares the work to D'Angelo as well as Prince and The Roots.[12]
The release was accompanied by three singles: "History Repeats" on June25, 2019;[4] "Stay High" on July 16, 2019;[5] and "He Loves Me" on January20, 2020.[6]
Howard also embarked on her first solo tour in promotion of the album.[10] On the road, she and her backing band eschewed Alabama Shakes songs and only performed works from this album and her other bands.[28]
List of concerts, showing date, city, country and venue[10]
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Jaime received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 88 out of 100 from 19 critic scores.[8] AnyDecentMusic? characterized the critical consensus of 20sources as an 8.2 out of 10[36] and Album of the Year gave it an 83 out of 100, with 20reviews.[46]
Reviewing for Uproxx, Hyden praised the album for its differences from Howard's previous work and genre-bending mix of funk, jazz, and hip-hop.[26] In Rolling Stone, Jon Dolan highlighted the Southern culture elements of the lyrics and summing up that her lyrics in "Georgia" make a "strikingly bold moment on a record that's full of them".[43]Pitchfork awarded Jaime the distinction of "Best New Music", with Pearce describing it as a "thrilling opus that pushes the boundaries of voice, sound, and soul to new extremes".[19]The Guardian's Ben Beaumont-Thomas called it "emotionally as well as musically varied" and concluded that solo projects "are rarely as beautiful as they are here".[39] In Under the Radar, Celine Teo-Blockey found her cross-genre experimentation "stunning".[16] Reviewing for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine believed the album will warrant repeated listening, with "subsequent spins... profound and nourishing".[37] In a year-end essay for Slate, Powers cited as Jaime one of her favorite albums from 2019 and proof that the format is not dead but rather undergoing a "metamorphosis". She added that concept albums had reemerged through the culturally-relevant autobiographical narratives of artists such as Howard, whose "stunning" album "went deep to reveal the joys and pain of her experience as an embodiment of that elusive state: intersectionality".[25]
Brittany Howard– guitar on "History Repeats", "He Loves Me", "Stay High", "Baby", and "Presence"; clavinet on "Georgia"; keyboards on "Georgia" and "Run to Me"; keyboard and string arrangement on "Tomorrow"; vocals; drums on "Tomorrow", "Presence", and "Run to Me"; percussion on "Tomorrow"; bass guitar on "Tomorrow"; production; editing on "13th Century Metal"
Additional musicians
Terry K. Anderson– sermon from Lilly Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Houston, Texas excerpt sampled in "He Loves Me"
Lloyd Buchanan– organ on "Georgia"
Zac Cockrell– bass guitar on "History Repeats", "He Loves Me", "Georgia", "Stay High", "Tomorrow", and "Baby"
Robert Glasper– celesta on "Stay High", keyboards on "13th Century Metal", "Baby", and "Goat Head"
Nate Smith– drums on "History Repeats", "He Loves Me", "Georgia", "Stay High", "13th Century Metal", "Baby", "Goat Head", and "Run to Me"; vibraphone on "Baby"; percussion on "Goat Head"
"Presence (Little Dragon Remix)" Released: June 22, 2021
"Tomorrow (Badbadnotgood Remix)" Released: June 22, 2021
"Stay High (Childish Gambino Remix)" Released: July 21, 2021
Jaime (Reimagined) is the first remix album by American musician Brittany Howard. The album collects remixes of songs from her 2019 debut studio album Jaime. It was released digitally on July 23, 2021, by ATO Records, with vinyl copies shipping in September 2021.[82] Three of the album's remixes appeared on the Jaime (The Remixes) EP released in 2020.
At the 2022 Libera Awards, Jaime (Reimagined) received a nomination for Best R&B Record. Additionally, album track "Stay High again.." was nominated for Best Dance Record.[83]
Radio station KCRW listed the album as the fifth best of 2021, saying "this collection is pretty much an entirely new album where the versions sound totally different, but with a great deal of respect to the original body of work. Sometimes it's good to be challenged, and Jaime (Reimagined) does just that in a very unique and uplifting way."[84]
All songs written by Brittany Howard, except where noted
