Hailing from Detroit, Michigan, singer-songwriter Dion Price has shared stages with artists such Juicy J, K Camp, August Alsina, Tory Lanez, Omarion, Trina, and TK Kirkland. His latest project, the 11 track album, “I Hope You Get This Message”, aims to shine light on personal growth. “IHUGTM is a project to inspire understanding of self. The message is to boldly address your habits in order to grow,” says Price. “Creatively, I took on the challenge of combining everything we used to love with everything we love now. It has an old school vibe mixed with new school content, in a soulful way.” This album expresses who he truly is from a creative and artistic standpoint, as it transitions from slow and easy, to mid-tempo tracks that aim for the romantic and the downright explicitly sexy.
What could’ve arrived as a blue-balled R&B parody with innuendo in triplicate is, instead, sexy and silky as a boutique lubricant. Despite its sometimes explicit themes, “I Hope You Get This Message” is one of the most mature, refined, restrained male R&B projects from an underground artist this year.
Dion Price opens with an expanse of cinematic mood, tapered by percussive snaps to smooth the groove, only to reprise the excitement with extended vocal flourishes. “Too Late” with its tender assistance from Cino, is the album’s first obvious standout ballad, overflowing with chemistry and charisma.
Dion Price’s melodies are predominant, never breaking the spell or blowing his load, as he edges towards climax on “1 Hunnid”. “Love Jones” follows suit, before Price breaks into the explicitly erotic “Gimme”, letting it all hang out: “She said I want you inside of me.”
One imagines this track was recorded in a room with large windows and wind-blown drapes. It sets a very specific sort of foreplay-heavy mood. “I’d Die” is another standout track that makes some serious groove music. It feels like a club anthem recorded in a bedroom, under a duvet. Brilliant!
Feels like Price is trying to reboot the whole romantic franchise with more of a get-down sentiment on “Nobody But You”, which definitely deserves applause. “Hey” gives us an eclectic mixture of thump and bump to keep your head nodding.
The level mix of club-bangers and ballads presented on this album varies in subject matter, from physical lust to true love; Price communicates with his fan base through terms they can relate to. “Conscious” is another seductive ballad dropped over a slow-moving bass and rich harmonies resulting in a multi-layered, organic-sounding gem.
When Dion Price sings around drums and laid back keyboards and strings on “Ambition”. Telling his lover what he can do for her, the lyricism and production allows for his vocals to sink into the groove perfectly. And when Kirah sings back tunefully: “Take me how I am, cause I want you how you are…,” it’s time for the curtain to come down blissfully, on a track that gently mesmerizes the senses.
Price closes the show down with “Affinity”, a show stopping ballad that offers the singer yet another opportunity to showcase a set of pipes that’s a cut above the rest. Dion Price brings a brand new energy to R&B, with a voice that has the unique ability to touch the masses, yet sound totally intimate and personal.
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