Introduction
World Music Radio is an album of many identities. The 2024 Grammy nominated album was released on August 18th of 2023, through Verve Records and Interscope Records. It is an album that doesn’t follow much direction as a typical album does. It, in face, holds nearly every genre you can imagine, even featuring multilingual tracks. World Music Radio features many notable names including Lil Wayne, Lana Del Rey, and JID. On top of the Album of the Year nomination, “Worship” and “Butterfly” were both nominated, for Record and Song of the Year respectively. The album was announced by the president of Verve Record in March of 2023, with Batiste officially announcing it in June, alongside the lead single, “Calling Your Name.”
Vocal Performance
Jon Batiste of course brings a plethora of styles on World Music Radio. Spanning from Country to Pop to Rock, there is a little bit of everything for everyone. For the country fans, Batiste brings his country voice on “Master Power.” This is arguably the worst vocal performance on the entire album, however. Sticking to his high vocals on tracks like “Running Away” and “White Space” provides much substance to the album. It is these tracks where Batiste is on full display. Much like his voice on songs like “Drink Water,” these tracks display the tremendous carry and control of his voice. There is a point where Batiste is even singing in a different language, which just builds on his diversity as a singer.
Production
As stated prior, World Music Radio is a compilation of tracks of a multitude of genres. With these different genres comes different production techniques, which makes the production value the highlight of the project. Early in the project, it is a very typical pop feel, brought by guitar mixes and synthesizers. This mesh brings quite a tropical sound to songs like “Be Who You Are,” where the influence is seemingly reggae. The following song, “Worship,” features layered vocals, with harsh guitar strumming, constructing a very diverse track. One of the most interesting tracks of the whole project, “Clair de Lune,” is just an instrumental. The instrumental is headlined by Kenny G’s outstanding performance with piano backing him.
“Uneasy” is the perfect example of a song that tries too hard to sound different from the rest. The song is a very electronic mesh of drums and synthesizers. Batiste’s vocals try to salvage this mess, but it ultimately just ends up being a mediocre song on this album. The rest of the album shares a very similar sound. Piano playing is the highlight of nearly the rest of the album, with the exception of “Master Power.” This track is a country song, and it is another perfect example of trying too hard to create diversity on an already very diverse album.
Features
The album is headlined by a plethora of names, many of which that are big names. The features are undoubtably another highlight, as although Batiste brings his all, he is often outplayed by the features. This is not to downplay Batiste, as he was terrific, but many of the features, like that of Rita Payes, was breathe taking. Payes sings her soul out in “My Heart” and makes it one of the more unforgettable vocal performances on World Music Radio. Additionally, Lana Del Rey has a similar addition to the project with her role on “Life Lesson.” Ending the album on quite the high note, “Life Lesson” is a back and forth between Batiste and Lana, where they sound absolutely phenomenal with their ranges in both parts.
Conclusion
World Music Radio was a phenomenal addition to the already Grammy winning musician, Jon Batiste. He perfectly demonstrates his vocal prowess, especially when meshing such with the incredible list of features. His production takes the cake of the album as the highlight, bringing a diverse nature to all 21 tracks.
Song Rankings
- “Worship”
- “Raindance” (feat. Native Soul)
- “Drink Water” (feat. Jon Bellion & Fireboy DML)
- “Running Away” (feat. Leigh-Anne)
- “Life Lesson” (feat. Lana Del Rey)
- “My Heart” (feat. Rita Payes)
- “Butterfly”
- “Clair de Lune” (feat. Kenny G)
- “Be Who You Are” (feat. JID, NewJeans & Camilo)
- “Wherever You Are”
- “Uneasy” (feat. Lil Wayne)
- “White Space”
- “MOVEMENT 18’ (Heroes)”
- “Call Now (504-305-8269)” (feat. Michael Batiste)
- “Calling Your Name”
- “Master Power”
- “BOOM FOR REAL”
- “Chassol”
- “Hello, Billy Bob”
- “Goodbye, Billy Bob”
- “17th Ward Prelude”
Final Notes
As always, take the reviews as opinion pieces. Not everyone will share the same views. As for these opinions, leave them below to share your thoughts. We also suggest subscribing to our emails to keep up to date with posts. To do so, go under the tab “Contact” and fill out the contact form. This will allow you to receive weekly emails of recaps. Finally, go give World Music Radio a listen for yourself.