In a time and place where hip-hop is still having an emo moment. Socio-cultural discussions regarding the n-word are more relevant than ever. And an auntie or two in your business all the time, whether you’re doing too much or doing way too little. This album is both the band-aid and the mirror you’ll need after you drunk dialed that past mistake again after half a bottle of rosé.
No one wants to be the odd one out
Leave it up to Dev Hynes to give us everything we needed right now. With his fourth album as Blood Orange, he focuses on black depression, being the odd one out and seeing the world through queer-eyed glasses. With a mellow mixture of soft alt-pop, emotional harmonies and a hint of hip-hop it transcends genres and leaves you in a state of “boths”. Both minimalist and raw, both eerie and comforting. The narrative of a Negro Swan finding its way is the perfect analogy to accompany all these different energies.
There has been so much written about black swans, and how some cultures saw them as beautiful and exotic. While colonizers often tended to disregard their beauty and considered them as both evil and ugly. See where this is going? Living at an intersection where the world either loves you or hates you… Fetishized or marginalized. Colored swans and people of color tend to have a thing or two in common throughout history. Negro Swan sheds light on these intersections of the black experience. Hynes has said Negro Swan is about “Black depression and the ongoing anxieties of queer/people of color.” Throughout the interludes, it’s narrated by transgender rights activist Janet Mock, a trans-woman of color. The perfect fit to underline the messages on this album. To quote the album’s most powerful track “Charcoal baby”: “No one wants to be the odd one out.”
