Few things are as satisfactory as watching an artist that you have a vested interest in grow from their initial single release that generated major buzz, to EP releases, and then to a stellar album release. NAO has been an artist we have followed from the beginning, starting with her shadowy, left-field collaboration with A. K. Paul called "So Good". Each track she has released since has been better than the one that preceded it, and, for an artist leading the charge across the genres of R&B, pop, dance, and soul, following up her previous body of work with a full-length release was likely not an easy task to take on. On her debut LP, For All We Know, NAO proves she is something special indeed—an artist that will have true staying power in an industry packed with expiration dates. For All We Know is laden with familiar work and collaborators. "Inhale Exhale" and "Adore You" are selections from previous EPs, but the choice is fitting, as those are two of the strongest songs released pre-album. GRADES, Stint, and, of course, A.K. Paul, have contributed their talents to the LP, but the focus here is solely on NAO, herself (as it should be). The smash singles from the album that were released beforehand, "Bad Blood", "Fool To Love", and "Girlfriend", fit beautifully between the new songs and add an opportunity to vibe out to something familiar. While the entire work is impressive, "Give Me A Little" is a true standout, adorned with the signature synths that seem to make their way into most of her songs and the lower register in her voice as a focal point, and "Blue Wine" is her one ballad, a piano-led showcase of her vocal talents. The songs most true to her style are "Trophy" with A.K. Paul and "We Don't Give A", which call to mind '90s R&B hits but serve as some of NAO's best examples of her contemporary soul-pop. One of the most delightful elements to this work is NAO's inclusion of voice memos taken from early stages in the recording process as interludes between tracks. They give listeners a look into her creative process, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, there is little difference in the purity of NAO's remarkable voice between the mastered tracks and those. All in all, the album is an experiment in the crossroads between an unparalleled vocal ability, expert production, harmony, collaboration, whimsy, and nostalgia. It is hard to put such a well-crafted album into words (take our review here as evidence of that), so you will need to listen from start to finish to fully grasp the journey NAO has set forth for her listeners here. As always, you can start by catching our favorites below, and also feel free to visit the entire thing on Spotify and/or iTunes now.
NAO