Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
With acts pulling on hip-hop, R&B, dance music and more, All Points East’s array of harmonious and soul-nourishing sounds was the perfect warm-up for Jungle’s headline set. Their latest album ‘Volcano’ is just as eclectic; inspired by soul-sampling hip-hop producer legends Madlib and J Dilla, the band’s new music champions a feel-good hedonistic nature — and we get lashing of it at this year’s Saturday festivities.
By the time Jungle hit the main stage, most are still revelling in the euphoric experience provided by the queen of neo-soul Erykah Badu, whose mind-whirling high notes and brief alien seances headlined Main Stage West. Gabriels’ frontman Jacob Lusk recreates the exalted yells heard on their debut ‘Angels & Queens’. Other acts like R&B innovators Dylan Sinclair, Ragz Originale and Mercury Prize-nominated RAYE also shared their woozy, catchy tracks, sending us out of space.
Posed behind their respective instruments, Jungle’s leading men – Josh Lloyd-Watson and Tom McFarland – bring out an ecstatic jam session. The set design isn’t extravagant, even Nia Archives’ Cupra Tent set, with her lurid and futuristic animation, was more aesthetically pleasing. Flicking between burning amber and bright white, the stage lights are the only pizzazz in terms of Jungle’s set-up, though Dreamville rapper Bas virtually appears when they play the uplifting and jubilant ‘Romeo’.
Each song is able to recreate the magic on record, and often takes it to even higher levels even better. The added flair to their live show, including sirens, wobbling echoed notes and static, is an elevated touch between the tracks. The best segue of them all is before ‘Cherry’ where they drop a gem from the 2006 film Rocky Balboa: “Then the time comes for you to be your own man and take on the world, and you did. But somewhere along the line, you changed.” Then the party resumes at full force.
Earlier this month, Josh Lloyd-Watson told NME, “People come to Jungle because they want to have a good time.” Mission accomplished, then. Ending on an encore of their super hits, you’re in awe of the sheer musical talents of the band.
‘Candle Flame’
‘Dominoes’
‘The Heat’
‘Heavy, California’
‘Beat 54 (All Good Now)’
‘PROBLEMZ’
‘I’ve Been in Love’
‘Back on 74’
‘Casio’
‘Romeo’
‘Bonnie Hill’
‘Cherry’
‘Happy Man’
‘You Ain’t No Celebrity’
‘Coming Back’
‘Don’t Play’
‘All of the Time’
‘Holding On’
‘GOOD TIMES’
‘Keep Moving’
‘Fire’
‘What D’You Know About Me’
‘Time’
‘Busy Earnin’
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Less than two months after the surprise release of his seventh album , Swag, Canadian pop star Justin Bieber has returned once again, announcing the follow-up , Swag II , with less than a day’s warning. Though the record was promised for a midnight release, it arrived three hours late, with Bieber admitting to fans that he, too, was “clicking refresh” and waiting for it to appear on streaming platforms.
While Swag was filled with questionable lyrical moments (the low point being Go Baby and its clumsy shoutout to Hailey Bieber’s phone-mounted lip gloss holders), its successor is more straightforward, which works to its advantage. Swag II also tones down the overt sensuality of the first installment, which had Bieber making promises to “make your sheets hot” with all the allure of an appliance manual.
This time around, the mood is lighter and often more tender. On Mother In You, an acoustic-driven reflection on fatherhood, Bieber recalls meeting his son for the first time. “It’s half past seven, I had somewhere to be,” he sings. “I guess I’m late, but I got a reason; you’re a beautiful world that’s countin’ on me.” The infamous paparazzi sample, first heard on "Standing On Business ," returns on "Speed Demon," but here it is used more playfully. “Is it clocking to you?” he asks, over breezy guitar lines and a hip-hop-inspired beat.
Love Song, the album’s standout and Mk.Gee’s only contribution leaves space for jazzy piano flourishes to shine. Tems delivers a strong feature on I Think You’re Special, while Bad Honey is another highlight, with Bieber leaning into funk-tinged vocals and layering in falsetto for added flair.
Still, not everything works. The nearly eight-minute closer Story Of God, in which Bieber retells the Biblical tale of Adam and Eve, comes across as unnecessarily indulgent. Lyrically, the album also repeats itself, circling the same two themes: devotion to God and love for his wife.
One improvement is the absence of Druski’s wandering interludes, which weighed down the first record. Yet overall, Swag II does little to set itself apart from its predecessor. Much of the sound remains the same, with returning collaborators Dijon and Mk.Gee, Carter Lang, and Eddie Benjamin are helping Bieber shape a similar R&B-infused palette. There are no obvious singles, and the project reportedly underwent last-minute changes right up until its release.
Like Taylor Swift’s unexpected addition to The Tortured Poet’s Department, SZA’s extended SOS deluxe, or Drake’s lengthy Scary Hours update to For All The Dogs, Swag II feels like a streaming-era project stretched too far. Across both parts, there are strong ideas, but together they run for more than two hours, making the experience bloated and repetitive. There is plenty of good music scattered throughout, but as a double album, it feels excessive. The real question lingers: Did it genuinely need to be released this way?
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