Blood Orange, Cupid Deluxe. Electronica / RnB / indie pop. Blood Orange is one alias of singer-songwriter, producer, and author Devonte Hynes. Cupid Deluxe is his second release as Blood Orange. I liked the album, though the internet was only lukewarm to it. Not sure how. Some of the songs have multiple change-ups, meaning they transition to a completely different song midway through or to end the song. In terms of contemporary influences you can hear how to dress well, destroyer, dirty projectors, cibo matto, etc and it’s fantastic. At other times you can hear early 90’s hip hop beats and boyz 2 men-esque soul. The album also features guest appearances from the members of the Dirty Projectors, Chairlift, Despot, and Skepta. Hynes is quoted as saying the album is about personal life transitions in New York City. There are no FCC violations. RIYL: How to Dress Well, The Range, Kelela. - Matthew

1. (4:20) **Eerie tribal xylophone. Airy distant vocals. Epic backup choir. Soulful. Sexy saxophone.
2. (4:21) ***80’s pop funk. Prince guitar. “I never was in love, you know that you were never good enough.”
3. (4:17) ***Soulful and funky. In the lyrics the man knows what is and what he wants. Awesomely creepy. Rocks out at 3 minutes, cool guitar. Builds. Synthy. Killin it.
4. (4:11) ****Sounds like dirty projectors and how to dress well wrote a song together. Song changes up twice, once with a duet and the second time with a funky guitar rhythm to conclude the song. Play me.
5. (5:07) ***Reverby xylophone on industrial dance beat. Great song. Play me.
6. (6:45) **Cibo matto-esque 90’s pop re-done with heavy funky electronica. Spoken lyrics with French accent. Destroyer-esque saxophone. Choir. Then transitions into completely different song, and it’s great.
7. (3:11) ** Intro chorus, early 90’s hip hop beat. Then rap by Despot.
8. (5:14) *80’s pop song. “Always let you down”. Gets better as song goes, fades out with piano solo at ~3:40. Percussion comes back in and builds in volume relative to the piano, then vocals enter, grand finale.
9. (5:07) ** Slow intro, then picks up with bass jam and electronica beat. “Is our love on the line”
10. (2:58) **Darker melody, english rapper.
11. (5:39) **Upbeat and sexy. Heavy percussion beat and piano. “Come into my bedroom”