TobyMac's Tonight: Album Review

With his fourth original studio album titled Tonight, Toby seems desperate to even closer align himself to cutting edge pop. The results are uneven, and, as usual, often campy. Songs like "Get Back Up," "Hold On," and the title track are mostly harmless pop ventures, enjoyably breezy and catchy. And each track tends to transcend the norms of genre convention at least slightly, such as the orchestral undertones of the bridge in "Get Back Up."

TobyMac is arguably most known for his hyper-caffeinated arena-ready R&B/Dance hip-hop oriented tracks. "Funky Jesus Music" pretty much sums up the equation. Bizarrely constructed, lyrically embarrassing ("Gimme dat soulfo' gumbo!"), contradictory in tone, yet somehow strangely appealing as dance-floor ready camp. The problem is that the artist seems unaware that the track is in fact camp, making the effect even better or way worse depending on the listener's perspective. It's like the Black Eyed Peas in "My Humps" or "Imma Be" mode. "Showstopper" is a particularly brazen example as it seems to take itself even more seriously than the aforementioned track. Listeners not easily embarrassed will find them selves quickly bopping their heads and humming the hooks, feeling pangs of guilt as they do.

The rest of the album is a grab-bag of ideas that most of the time work better than they should. Take the dance-rock driven "Change Forever" that infuses the beats with an Eastern pop sensibility alongside the abrasive guitar riffs and thumping beats, punctuated by background diva yells ("Then I saw your face! Ooh-ohh!"). Letting Tobymac alone in a studio is a bit like leaving a kid alone in a toy store. Yet somehow, Tobymac's above-average ear for melodic structure serves to (nearly) cancel out the ridiculousness of it all. Sometimes it doesn't work quite as well. For "City on Our Knees," I have in my notes that it sounds like the lovechild of Justin Timberlake and Bono. I tried to construct a more articulate way to describe it and failed.

In the end, Tonight is confusing to discuss. Immature yet underhandedly astute, preachy but mainstream, listeners would do best to just let it spin and respond viscerally for maximum enjoyment. And that level of enjoyment will shift drastically between listeners as, really, it's all a matter of perspective.

GPA: 2.76

(Album GPA is an average grade assigned by the aggregate of every track.)

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