Does anybody actually likes Robin Thicke? Even the artist himself seems a little appalled at the uber-douche persona cultivated by his 2013 hit ‘Blurred Lines’, a ditty that came creepily close to advocating sexual assault as seduction technique.
That, at any rate, is the impression created by his new album, a naked attempt to win back wife Paula Patton, after she walked out on him in February. Shamelessly seeking to wangle his way back into her affections, he lays on the gloop via a series of retro soul work-outs. Some feel sparkling and fresh; several suggest he isn’t ready to quit aping Marvin Gaye (resemblances between ‘Blurred Lines’ and Gaye’s ‘Got To Give It Up’ led to an out of court settlement with the soul icon’s estate).
At one level it’s touching that he is so keen to rekindle his marriage: desperation is not an emotion you encounter very often in modern pop. On the other hand, it is hardly gentlemanly to address a private relationship so explicitly in public – especially as his ex-wife is not in a position to relay her side of the story (one gathers it was Thicke’s wandering eye that led her to walk out of the nine year marriage).
What saves the record from being completely unbearable is the sweep of Thicke’s songwriting. He moves from upbeat gospel (‘Forever Love’) to bossanova (‘You’re My Fantasy’) via Justin Timberlake style falsetto pop (the title track). That nothing here is as nastily catchy as ‘Blurred Lines’ is probably good news for Thicke, his wife Paula – and for us too.
OUT NOW.