Cleveland, Ohio-based artist, producer, and songwriter Will Cherry debuted in 2020 with his first solo album BURGUNDY. The music videos from the project went on to win awards at the Short Sweet Film Fest in Cleveland and London Music Video Festival. He now returns with his sophomore album UTRAVIOLET, a 10-track project that sees him weaving together sounds from neo-soul, boom bap, R&B, bossa nova, trap, and even gospel while sharing his experience as an artist searching for love while trying to grow his career.
The project opens up on a solemn note with the soulful brooding tune titled "all that" which sees Will showcasing his melodic style of rap to the fullest. This is followed by "hold me down', another soul trap combination that exudes 90s R&B sensibilities and explores Will's sensual side with a dose of vulnerability. The guitar-laden "ice" is a brilliant collaboration with sango and is underpinned by a memorable and somewhat off-kilter chorus and uses quite a lot of weird sound design and vocal effects to ramp up the energy levels. The fun continues on the anthemic "brawl" which uses a familiar vocal sample with thick 808 drums which Will flows over easily with a devil-may-care demeanour. He returns to his soul roots on "closer" and calls up MARIAH MARIAH and WesWill to assist him with this quintessential love jam. The trio pour their hearts over the sombre and atmospheric punchy soundscape with soothing melodic runs from Will and MARIAH MARIAH while WesWill drops a solid adulation-filled verse. The project ends with "worst of me" and "monster", 2 tracks that once again show the different styles of the artist. The former is a dance/soul number while the latter is a hard-hitting dark trap jam ripe with autotuned choruses and animated melodic raps.
Overall the project lives up to its central theme, which is being nuanced and also doesn't stick to a particular sound as we get to see Will Cherry wearing different hats at certain points. It's quite engaging, well-crafted and highly recommended if you are into multi-genre projects with a lot of pizzazz.
Connect with Will Cherry: Apple Music | SoundCloud | TikTok | Twitter | Instagram
