An interesting thing happened when I first sat down to listen to Oscar nominated actor Terrence Howard’s debut CD, Shine Through It. Having preferred to play it via iTunes, I accidentally listened to the disc in the reverse track order. Then when I began making notes on certain songs with my instant reactions by “track number,” I realized my mistake and listened again and again — this time in the correct order. Honestly, I think I preferred it the other way around.
There’s an awful lot to like about Howard’s album — such as his sheer love of music and passion for arranging, weaving textures through a song one wouldn’t expect by layering on near Broadway styled intros until it grows into something much more delicate. However, there’s an awful lot involved that just doesn’t feel that right about it either.
While, thankfully it couldn’t be further away from the rap sounds of his Oscar nominated character DJay from Hustle and Flow, whom he “hated,” even Howard admits that he’s not sure how it will reach what he calls “my own people, black people.” Further continuing in The New York Times that since he believes “they’ve become accustomed to this hip-hop sound,” he admits he may “have to go to a different crowd first,” and even the publicity department at Columbia has seconded his concern, noting that as “it’s definitely not about first week sales,” Shine Through It may instead be a “music critics’ album.”
Yet, overall, some of the critics have been less than kind. It's been dubbed “often goofy,” by Blender and the subject of a scathing piece and some pretentious YouTube footage in New York Magazine online titled, “How Bad Is Terrence Howard’s Album Anyway?” As both a listener and fan of Mr. Howard who has enjoyed his work for many years as a film critic, I am relieved to say that it isn’t the disaster that some online news outlets have been labeling it.
Experimental is probably the best word to use when trying to describe it. Or, perhaps more pointedly, the album doesn’t quite flow the way most records do, which is probably why I didn’t notice the album order the first time around. Moving from Spanish flamenco to R&B, to 70’s style soft-rock by singer/songwriters (or musical storytellers as I like to call them) to something completely different one minute later, it seems as though Howard was so excited to finally be fulfilling his original passion to become a musician he wanted to work in a little bit of everything including every kitchen sink he’s ever owned. And throughout the course of Shine Through It, that he does which both hinders and helps the uneven album.
Article comments
1 - Delreco Harris
First I want to say I really appreciated this review. So many other reviews have been so harsh and one sided/ close minded. Honestly when I first listened to the cd, I did not like it, but it was not because it sounded bad, but it was because I had others with me that were pointing out the differences as if they were negatives, as a result clouding my artistic judgement. As a matter of fact I am finishing up listening to the cd as I type this comment. This time I'm alone. You truly captured every critique I had down to the comment about "No.1 Fan" having too many words forced into the track. As an artist, i love the album. Sure there are some things that could be worked on, and the solution only comes from finishing the first project. The second project will be more paced. This one as many first albums reflects his passion for music, and his excitement with finishing a project. The arrangements are amazing. I personally love the fact that the tracks are so different from one to another. The album is all over the place, and that is exactly what makes it beautiful to me. I sometimes do the exact same, as a matter of fact, I've released a Gospel album, R&B album, and a Rap album lol. Sometimes we need to be out of order in order to get in order. All in all, this probably the realest review I've ever read about anything. The negatives were stated and explained, the positives were stated and explained, and I feel that if more reviews were constructed in this manor, more artists would accept and learn more from them. Well done.
2 - Jen
Hi Delreco,
Thank you so much first for reading the piece and for your amazingly kind and thoughtful feedback. I'm incredibly humbled and flattered. Having been a film critic and scholar for more than a decade, this is the first year I started reviewing music and I tried to bring the same approach to music writing. My reviews can be pretty lengthy and they're not for everyone (lol!) but I love the arts so much and have a tremendous respect for the craftsmanship involved in releasing something that I like to try to evaluate things objectively and using a storytelling approach (if/when possible). It's only fair to the artist who puts their work out there for us to be respectful and complete in return. So this being said, it's incredibly gratifying to read your comments and you make some really valid points about Mr. Howard's beautiful experimentation which you're right-- cannot be summed up in just 300 words or something like that.
Good luck with your own musical endeavors and kudos on trying out different genres-- it shows great ambition and talent and that's wonderful to try and discover what you truly enjoy! Just like, I'm starting to learn it's equally fun to write about other topics aside from film and I'm very happy there's an audience who takes the time to read and consider them.
Thanks again and take care.
- Jen