Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Jada, Universal Music 2022.
Elements is Danish superstar Jada’s follow-up album to her well received debut album I Cry A Lot (2019) and her two EPs Joel a des Ailes (2020) and Basecamp (2021).
As the title suggests the album’s songs are built around the theme of the four elements, fire, water, air, and earth.
The 16 songs on the album move through the elements while exploring what each brings to life.
To Jada, fire represents transformation, sexuality, passion and pain, while air represents change, surrender and new perspectives.
Earth is grief, one’s roots, and the cycle of life, while water represents enjoyment, strength, and mobility.
Most of the songs are love songs whose issues are approached via the relevant element.
It’s a clever concept that occasionally feels a little artificial but is rarely overly forced.
She uses a broad palette of sounds, musical styles and genres throughout the album, from acoustic ballad to funk and even a little hip-hop, all of which is mashed through the standard filter of pop.
Jada has taken the Danish charts by storm over the last few years and in doing so cleaned up just about every award going.
Her debut Album entered the charts at number one and has clocked up more than 45 million streams.
Her last five singles went top three with Nudes, which is on Elements, holding down top spot for eight weeks.
So far three other songs from Elements have charted in the top three in addition to Nudes; including On Me (#2), Dangerous (#3), and I’m Back which peaked at number one.
As I mentioned Jada has won just about every award there is in Denmark, including both the critics’ awards and importantly those concerning chart success.
I can see no reason why Elements won’t continue the trend.
