Mahalia – IRL
Co-written and produced by Raye, Mahalia's IRL is satiny and consistent, but sonically and lyrically we're eager for bigger swings
Ideating about the ups and downs of a relationship, Mahalia’s sophomore album IRL saunters across fault lines. Through honeyed vocals across its 13 neat entries, she admits devotion, exposes gamified communication, and asserts her worth.
In My Bag delightfully sways and somersaults with self-assurance, while Terms and Conditions – entertainingly unyielding with its prerequisites (‘If you look at her, consider bridges burned’) – taps 90s R’n’B intonation. Co-written with and produced by Raye, it’s destined for totemic radio presence. The at-ease November is a beatific highlight, with the warm, sandy embrace of 2000s Corinne Bailey Rae and Norah Jones temporarily making room for some doting. It’s Not Me, It’s You charmingly calls bullshit and points the vector’s head of blame away from herself, and Goodbyes locomotes with purpose and vigour, with a slick undercurrent that upends the somewhat one-note production up until that point.
While IRL is satiny and consistent, sonically and lyrically you’re eager for some bigger swings. At times operating in truisms, you await unspooling of edgier insight. IRL is like a path reflecting dappled sunlight: we can see patches of brightness but its full light is obscured.
Listen to: November, Goodbyes, In My Bag