Sfera had two choices for this new album. The first was to make a compilation cauldron with many of the hits that he has generated and participated in over the years, an easy and comfort zone choice, or to risk, dare and do something totally new, straight forward, without too many frills and useless special effects .
The risk for Sfera to fall from “15 floors” is high.
The trap audience is known to take you high in a few minutes but then also make you sink even faster into hell. Sfera knows this and if it has been among the number one in the genre for almost a decade there must be a reason.
The album then arrives almost as a surprise even though it had been talked about insistently for some time. Few clues, few spoilers other than those that came out of the presentation show done at the beginning of the week. No promotion, no conference to present it, no interviews. The puck arrives and that’s it.
Sfera once again lets his music do the talking. Point.
To have a possible interpretation just listen to the first song of this album, Fragile.
He wanted to make an introspective journey within himself, almost returning to Gionata Boschetti from Cinisello and returning to his origins, to his roots.
He wanted to tell his monsters, his difficulties, his suffering, his cries in his bedroom. An intense narrative that continually has the metropolis, Milan, in the background, with its glittering charm and its thousand contradictions in the suburbs.
In the initial speak of Fragile he launches his message, his edict.
People very often hate me, criticize me, but basically I think they haven’t understood mine, my way of life, they think that I flaunt what I have, I flaunt my results because I want to look cool, but in reality, I hope just to motivate all those kids like me who have never had anything and who by working hard know they can achieve something…
And his story continues with anger, with life in high-rise buildings, with slaps and street life. Friends who didn’t make it, friends who threw their lives away, friends who disappeared.
To make this narrative he calls his respected friends and colleagues. And for him the best comes. Pop, urban, rap, trap… a bit of everyone from Anna to Lazza, from Elodie to Tedua, from Shiva to Paky, from Baby Gang, Geolier & Simba La Rue to thasup & Tony Effe and Guè.
The best!
Everyone put their own spin on it, their own style, their own stylistic signature, for the conceptuality of Sfera and to tell their world, their reality as mentioned in VDLC (the piece with a sample of “Vida loca” by Club Dogo).
From a musical point of view, the album is entirely co-produced by Charlie Charles and Drillionaire. Beats that rock, beats that work and fit perfectly with his style. On the other hand Charlie knows Sfera perfectly and the continuity of this album with the 2015 debut “XDVR” is evident.
In the end, Sfera’s choice was neither the simple one, the disco-compilation, nor the difficult one, that is, the stylistic evolution, the growth towards something else.
Sfera has chosen his own path, his own interpretation of the future of his music. A not abandoning the simple hit with the feat. pompous and not daring to make a change. A “not” that perhaps leaves Sfera at the starting point and not at a point of arrival.
But in the end the music will do the talking and his fans will surely be satisfied.
There is time to evolve… the mutation will happen sooner or later, now start from the origins!
SCORE: 6.50
TO LISTEN NOW
Hi Bella (Ft. ANNA) Anna rocks badly and Sfera couldn’t have her at his court.
No Moments (Ft. Tedua) Tedua once again makes a masterpiece with his bars that combine with Sfera’s no moments.
15 Floors (Ft. Marracash) Intense and reflective. The perfect closing of the album!
TO BE SKIPPED IMMEDIATELY
Nothing! Absolutely nothing. It is full of Sphere and her world.
TRACKLIST
Fragile
Ciao Bella (Ft. ANNA)
G63 (Ft. Lazza & Shiva)
VDLC
Even Tonight (Ft. Elodie)
No Moments (Ft. Tedua)
Milan Good
3uphon (Ft. thasup & Tony Effe)
Complicated (Ft. Paky)
Goal (Ft. Guè)
Calculators (Ft. Baby Gang, Geolier & Simba La Rue)
15 Floors (Ft. Marracash)
