Scenery (Emily King album)
Scenery is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Emily King. It was released by ATO Records on February 1, 2019, making it her first on the label. Following 2015's The Switch, King reunited with producer Jeremy Most to work on the album. Scenery peaked at number six on the US Billboard Heatseekers Albums. The song "Look at Me Now" gained a nomination for Best R&B Song and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical at the 2020 Grammy Awards.
Composition[edit]
Scenery is a pop,[1] R&B,[1][2] neo soul,[3] dream pop,[3] post-disco[1] album with touches of gospel,[1] jazz,[4] and tropical music.[5] King recorded the album in a studio build by her and Jeremy Most in a garage in the Catskill Mountains.[1] The move from her urban life in New York City to the Catskills is reflected in the album's title, as King felt she needed a "change of scenery".[6] The lyrics of album closer "Go Back" also touch on this, with the line "so I lick my wounds, I got nothing to lose, I’m heading out on my own".[7]
Much of the album is about King getting over an ex while finding new love.[1] "Look at Me Now" shows King taunting her lover with "joy and spite reinforced with lively xylophone" and Queen-inspired funk guitar.[1] "Running" is a gospel-inspired ballad where King "yearns to forgive and accept herself."[1][4] "Can't Hold Me" features South Asian percussion, guitar licks and "velvety" synths[4] The quiet storm song "Blue Light" sees King "surrounded by waves of backing vocals" and "swelling Disney-like strings"[3] "Forgiveness" is an electro-ballad that "glides with the same restraint and class as Sade’s most rewarding songs".[3] "Remind Me" is an electro-R&B song that "recalls classic era Madonna or Whitney Houston."[7][2] "Teach You" is a retro-soul[3] and calypso[7] song that is "playful and tender at once" as King gives her lover lessons on how to treat her better.[5][4] The acoustic jazz of "Caliche" tells "a story about being lost in life, paired with Most’s exotic production: complex rhythms, hushed vocals and whoops and hollers in the distance, like the sombre flip side to Lionel Richie’s All Night Long."[5][4] "2nd Guess" evokes Parade-era Prince as King sings about being "free, lost in a sudden romantic diversion, attesting before sheets of noise evoking blinding sunlight that 'Life is always sweeter when there's no regrets.'"[1][4][3]