The one-liners steal the show here, which is a good job because the sonic direction of Everything I Thought It Was is all over the place, veering between a steamy, brooding rip-off of The Weeknd’s signature sound, to high-pass filter laden nu-disco (No Angel) and clumsy attempts at harnessing Afrobeats (Flame) to the overwrought orchestral balladry of Alone, and the simpering croon of its quite procedural closer Conditions. “Sometimes you gotta put the car in reverse to go forward,” he explains, sounding slightly too much like a driving instructor.
