J.E. Heartbreak

the take

Truthfully speaking, this was the album that introduced me to Jagged Edge. Shout out to my mother for playing this around me. I've yet to discover which album by the group is considered the best, but this is definitely my favorite, due to nostalgia being attached to it. For an album that's twelve tracks long, it neither goes by too quickly or too slow. Every song on here is at least good, and all of them are enjoyable. The production on here is stuck in the late-90's/early 2000's R&B sound, but still sounds fresh to where it doesn't sound dated at times. Plus, it made the album consistent. The vocals and songwriting by the members of Jagged Edge were also incredible. They gave of a slightly edgy style somewhat similar to Jodeci while also maintaining their clean soulful image and weaves between both lanes with ease. The ballads on here are certified R&B classics (I'm looking at you, "Promise", "Let's Get Married", and "True Man" to an extent). On the other side, the more uptempo/danceable tracks like "Did She Say" and "Keys to the Range" aren't as good as the ballads, but still are so damn enjoyable. (Even with the typical-for-the-era Ja Rule feature, which is forgettable but whatever.) Long story short, "J.E. Heartbreak" still hits for me, especially since I've been able to relate to this more recently than before.