JESSE MCCARTNEY’S follow-up to 2021’s New Stage, All’s Well is a fun, supple and fascinating step on the multi-talented multi-hyphenate’s journey of expressing a true self beyond the expectations and demands — equal parts vintage Hall and Oates, postmodern swag, and honeymoon sincerity packaged in that undeniable McCartney charm.
The five tracks on All’s Well carry through McCartney’s instantly recognisable voice but reach new soulful, swanky depths unlike anything he has released to date. Lead single Faux Fur is a prime example of that evolved perspective, a track equally in tune with the retro R&B majesty of DeBarge and Bruno Mars’ glow.
“Some things can’t buy. Your heart your time. Your hand in mine,” McCartney sings over the echoey whistles, choppy acoustic strums, deliciously wah’ed guitar and luscious bass.
The song’s evolution to that tender, bewitching groove is emblematic of the entire EP. McCartney teamed with producer Morgan Taylor Reid for three of the tracks, taking the initial sketches and pushing them to their horn, string, and synth-laden glory via live band.
“It just felt like how music used to be done and was very refreshing for me. It was a big breakthrough, and it set the tone for the rest of the project,” McCartney says.
That lived-in 70s feel provokes little surprising tickles when counterpointed with McCartney’s clever modern wordplay.
No track embodies that delectable incongruity better than the EP’s cheeky second single The Eleven-produced Make a Baby. A pitch-perfect blend of 2000s Timbaland beat-making and modern pop R&B flow, the song is the most seductive McCartney has ever sounded, with pop rap sensation Yung Gravy opening the track and adding a verse.
Gravy, meanwhile, offers the more youthful pop star perspective of needing to be convinced that literal baby-making is a good idea.
“Yung Gravy and I talked for several months about doing something together, but it never seemed to come together for scheduling reasons. Then, one day during a writing session I had in LA, out came this chorus that I thought had Gravy’s name all over it. I sent it to him and he immediately loved it. He recorded his verses for Make a Baby very soon after.”
Make a Baby hits home for its honesty, as starting a family is something McCartney and wife Katie are building towards.
“Sometimes the actual process is not the sexiest thing. There’s a lot of scheduling involved,” he laughs. Make A Baby, released over a month ago, has surpassed 1 million streams.
At the other end of the emotional spectrum, The Well finds McCartney exploring the feeling of being stuck in some dark hole and trying to keep the darkness down there. The song came to McCartney in a jolt of poetry in the middle of the night, and he and Morgan Taylor Reid paired those lines with a Beatles-esque chord progression and lithe strings.
The EP’s fourth track Silver Spoon, meanwhile, operates like Hall and Oates’ Rich Girl dissected to its base tracks and turned into a modern pop-soul jam. Over rich bass backing vocals, burnished horns, and smack-pop percussion, McCartney sings about a woman locked in a bubble of privilege.
Throughout, All’s Well finds McCartney relishing the freedom he’s found as an independent artist over his last two records.
“I’m at a place where I can choose songs that I want to release together, to release a project quicker and move onto the next idea instead of sitting and piecing together a full-length album that doesn’t feel natural,” he said.
McCartney has built a solid fan base in Asia, particularly in his top 10 streaming markets worldwide, including seventh in Malaysia.
