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Jaden Smith was once the composer of mind-boggling tweets. Attracting the attention of the entire twitter sphere, Aristotle spun in his grave at the faux philosopher. However, now it seems that the 21-year-old has channelled his out-of-this-world thoughts into music, somewhat successfully. ERYS is the latest addition to his catalogue of work (which should include his cryptic tweets, really!) and it has moments of melodic excellence that are unfortunately drowned out by forced tough boy rap.

        

The concept album tells the tale of Erys, a leader in dystopian Los Angeles who creates minions by feeding them pink liquid. Jaden starts strong on the 17-track record. ‘P’, ‘I’, ‘N’ and ‘K’ deliver a dramatic beginning and Jaden flexes his rap skills. He introduces the trap, rap and rock elements as well as his sad boy croons which are mixed and matched in a truly Jaden way, being bizarre and conflicting.

       

The vision for this record becomes blurry as trap heavy tracks are cut with tender singing. Instead of anthems, these songs are aimless and show Jaden for the young and inexperienced musician he really is. ‘Mission’ and ‘Pain’ feel disjointed. They have harsh rap fighting against mellow, heartbroken, warped vocals that feel misplaced. ‘Blackout’ shoots for a sad indie vibe but misses, finding itself being too ‘try hard’ like a lot of the other tracks found on this concept album that lacks a true arc.

        

 

Collaborations are sprinkled in, including an appearance from boyfriend Tyler the Creator. Whilst these verses lift tracks like ‘NOIZE’ and ‘Chateau’ from empty rap songs to salvageable listening, they eventually fall flat.  This adds to the frustration, as the album never finds its rhythm. On the flip side, sister Willow on ‘Summertime in Paris’ offers a break from Jaden’s naïve rap persona. Kid Cudi on ‘On My Own’ delivers one of the more stable and well-rounded tracks. Willow and Kid Cudi’s voices act as linchpins, stopping the tracks from drifting away into sonic overload.

        

On ERYS, Jaden’s youth screams at you with jagged rap verses and sad boy vibes which are wrapped in an air of arrogance and naivety. Going forward, Jaden needs to nurture his true sound, which is a mix of indie and rap, instead of relying on those who are already considered gods in hip hop and rap spheres.