Album Review: Lloyd “King of Hearts”
Artist: Lloyd
Album: King of Hearts
Released on: July 5, 2011
Review Written by Toy Taha (see bio below)
Seven years after emerging with his debut solo album, Lloyd is back with his fourth studio effort “King of Hearts”. The album is heavily produced by Polow Da Don with Ester Dean, Maejor and Full Circle-penned tracks. Lloyd, a New Orleans native, is no stranger to the Billboard Music Charts with his first single from the album “Lay it Down” peaking #7 on the R&B/Hip-Hop chart subsequent to his massive hit “Bedrock”, which he featured on alongside Young Money.
The album opens with an Andre 3000 assisted track, entitled “Dedication to my Ex”, which has a retro vibe. With this song, Lloyd seemingly wants to stray from his coy qualities and wants to proclaim that he has grown in maturity since earlier hits such as “Southside” and “Get it Shawty”. “Luv Me Girl” has tremendous potential to be a radio single, the hook is very catchy & the collaboration with Chris Brown was a great addition to the track. Another memorable song is “Bang”. The instrumental is well produced and the way Lloyd graces the track vocally, makes you want to go out and dance.
Other notable mentions include “You II” and “Angel” where there are no features to embellish the tracks, yet they exhibit what Lloyd can really do as a vocalist. Categorically, Lloyd is a tenor and his signature crooning is best displayed on “You II”, which added a nice Pop feel to the album. I completely LOVE this song. For me, I did not want “Angel” to end, it was brief, but at the same time, simply beautiful.
“World Cry” was a conscious creation, where I felt Lloyd’s vocals shined most of all, in fact, I would have preferred the song to be a solo.
Due to the content being more mature than his previous albums, “King of Hearts” is fearless and probably the rawest Lloyd has ever portrayed himself to be. The only downside to “King of Hearts” is that it was not as cohesive as I would have liked it to be. Overall, Lloyd’s talent is undeniable and the album is a solid effort minus a couple of album fillers.
Rating: 3.5 stilettos out of 5
King Of Hearts is an amazing album.
Great Review! King of Hearts is a great addition to anyone’s collection. Album on Repeat!
@Lyte, thank you, we appreciate your comment & I agree. With this being his fourth LP, he showed a great deal of growth…it’s in heavy rotation of here:)
Good review. King Of Hearts is a great album! Have it on repeat! I agree he definitely showed a lot of growth. I think people may feel its not “cohesive” because of the messages & the tracks themselves at first glance dont seem to relate. Lloyd is a person of contrasts. He is a lot. He is way more than the “R&B Artist” category that seems to follow him. He is dangerous, rebellious, fun, caring, & uncensored. With KOH we really get to know WHO Lloyd is. Thinking outside the box, this is genius, Polow did a wonderful job! I just wish people could understand who Lloyd really is and they will see how the tracks are like jigsaw pieces that make the big picture that is the King Of Hearts. 5/5 to me! <3
Thank You! And I agree with your comment as well, it’s funny that you mentioned the fact that he is an artist of contrasts and for that reason I felt the tracks weren’t as cohesive as I would have liked them to be, I thought all of the tracks were a good fit for “KOH”, but with the album sequencing it seems they dropped the ball with some of the tracks because they did not flow in to the next. Good critique:)