Oakland, California singer/songwriter Jane Handcock releasing a sophomore effort after teasing it with a few singles. A member of MacArthur Maze, she introduced herself in the beginning of 2016 off her debut EP Truth Be Told followed by Where’s Jane? as well as Where’s Jane 1.5 & Summer Type Flow. Making her way onto the radar of WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg through Fa Real, she joined Death Row Records for her debut album W.o.W. (World of Women) & is returning almost 2 years since Blvck Saturday with It’s Not Me, It’s You.
After the intro, the first song “Use Me” opens with a boom bap/neo soul crossover feel like she has a genuine connection with this man instead of gold digging whereas “Sorry” swaps out the boom bap elements to throw a hint of rock in the picture apologizing for saying shit she didn’t mean. “Same Ol’ Love” colorfully sings about needing her lover from beginning to end while “You” featuring BJ the Chicago Kid gets together for a jazzy & soulful duet glad to be surrounding each other.
“For the Views” goes for a tenser direction in terms of sound singing about seeing truth & lies just before the funky “Stare at Me” featuring Anderson .Paak finds the pair taking it uptown & running it back downtown. “Stingy” produced by Soopafly smoothly asks for her lover to save all his love for her wanting him all to herself leading into “Can’t Let Go” after an interlude slickly add singing about being unable to get this man off her mind.
As for “Niraj”, we have Jane over some guitars suggesting that this heartbreaker she knows plausibly needing love while “Smile” serves as a 90 second ode to happiness. “Good ta Me” puts her versatility on the forefront rapping & singing about her desires to give this man everything he wants, but then “That’s All I Need” talks about only requiring love over a guitar & finger snaps. “Blowing Wind Around” closes the LP by favoring of rising in love rather than falling in it.
Jane uses It’s Not Me, It’s You as an opportunity to look at herself in all attributes to get the good, bad & ugly parts of her story out there in addition to strengthening Tha Row’s revived R&B division. Unlike the recent October London album October Nights basing itself around soul & contemporary R&B or Charlie Bereal’s debut for the label Walk with the Father throwing it back to the days of 70s smooth soul, MacArthur Maze’s biggest member diversifies from them shifting towards neo-soul mostly.
Score: 8/10
