Album Review: Koffee, 'Gifted'
At the end of the disastrous year known as 2020, I named Koffee's "Lockdown" one of the best songs of the year. The sun-bleached ode to life beyond quarantine and love outside of lockdown signaled a prioritization of joy and escapism for Koffee. It's a conscious shift from the overtly political bent of her last project, Rapture. Her debut EP, Rapture earned Koffee the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album, making her the youngest artist and first woman in history to receive the honor. Although the beloved "Toast" was the runaway hit from the project, songs like "Raggamuffin" find Koffee taking on the Jamaican government and their complicity in the structural inequities that make way for violent crime in the country. There are remnants of that brazen conviction for justice on Gifted, her debut full-length album, but this time around, Koffee is primarily concerned with sharing the riches of hope, optimism, and light.
Led by singles like "Pull Up," "Lockdown," and "West Indies," Gifted actually leans more towards roots reggae than those tastes of afro-pop-tinged dancehall. Album opener "X10" immediately establishes the primary thematic and musical identities of Gifted. Built around a sample of Bob Marley's seminal "Redemption Song," Koffee basks in the greatness of gratitude. "Just as I woke up, I said, yeah / Couple prayers fi mi family, my friends, ah whoa yeah / Thank you, Father, for blessing me times ten, yeah ayy, mm yeah," she croons. The song meets Koffee at a new place. A couple of years wiser and markedly more successful, she delivers her lyrics with an undercurrent of peace that anchors the lofty themes of blessings. Koffee strikes a balance of celebrating the gifts of both spiritual and material wealth throughout Gifted. The title track is a hearty dose of self-affirmation that perfectly bleeds into "Lonely," one of the album's standout tracks. "Lonely," with its gorgeous amalgamation of organ, drums, and piano, pulls from the tradition of John McLean in the way that the energy of the instruments takes the lead. It's easy to hide a weak song behind words like "vibes" or "energy," but that's not what's happening here. The ever-changing instrumental ebbs and flows around Koffee's lyrics and swaddles her voice; "I know it's hard to trust sometimes / But it's harder to be lonely," she sings.
The loneliness Koffee sings of melts away through escapism and introspection. The self-explanatory "Run Away" earns a newfound deftness in the face of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the references to quarantine in the album's opening and closing tracks. "Where I'm From," however, finds Koffee planting the seeds of her self-love and serenity by going back to where it all started. A heartfelt dedication to her childhood, "Where I'm From" combines punchy vocal arrangements and evocative imagery to center the love of one's roots above anything else. Of course, it wouldn't be a Koffee record without some jabs at the state of the world. "Defend" takes on inflation and violent crime with the proclamation that "Koffee nuh haffi be the government favorite." It's a stern rebuttal of the flattening that occurs when people recount Koffee's path to mainstream success. There's also "Shine," an honest look at the role of the artist, and a conscious effort to impart positive energy through music instead of glorifying the violence that destroys so many lives.
Gifted isn't exactly a victory lap, it's more of a homecoming. Koffee uses the album as a pathway back to positivity and gratitude after a couple of years that threatened to cast the world in darkness for the foreseeable future.
Key Tracks: "Defend" | "X10" | "Pull Up" | "Lonely"
Score: 77
