{"id":30952,"date":"2022-07-07T06:00:06","date_gmt":"2022-07-07T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000027355"},"modified":"2022-07-07T09:14:31","modified_gmt":"2022-07-07T16:14:31","slug":"album-review-giveon-give-or-take-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/music\/album-review-giveon-give-or-take-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"Album review: Giveon\u2019s &#8216;Give or Take&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p dir=\"ltr\">Giveon went viral recently for all the wrong reasons.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The Long Beach native and Poly High School alum was performing live on national television during the BET Awards as part of the tour promoting his first full-length studio album, &#8220;Give or Take,&#8221; out a few weeks ago from Epic Records. He was singing \u201cHeartbreak Anniversary,\u201d the hit single from his first studio project, when things went wrong.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">OUUUU DONT HIT THAT FCKN NOTE <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/BETAwards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#BETAwards<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/6TPLrgAWnD\">pic.twitter.com\/6TPLrgAWnD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; AMIRAZINE (@youwereoffbeat) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/youwereoffbeat\/status\/1541264533158764544?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The auto-tune effect for the song was in the wrong key, causing Giveon to miss a note in the chorus, with things devolving from there. The video went viral with millions of views, but the young R&amp;B star took it in stride, cracking jokes about a sabotaged mic.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Not <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BET?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@BET<\/a> sabotaging my mic \ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\ud83d\ude02\u2026\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LilNasX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LilNasX<\/a> I get it!!!!<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Giveon (@giveon) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/giveon\/status\/1541270691021877248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 27, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The unfortunate mishap was good online fodder, but fortunately, it hasn\u2019t overshadowed &#8220;Give or Take,&#8221; which debuted last week on the Billboard 100 at No. 11. It\u2019s been a meteoric rise to the top of the R&amp;B world for Giveon, who burst onto the national scene in May 2020 when Drake included him on his hit, \u201cChicago Freestyle.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Shortly after the Drake nod, Giveon released a pair of EPs on Epic, and then a combined LP called &#8220;When It\u2019s All Said and Done\u2026Take Time,&#8221; which came out last year and peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard 100 charts, and No. 2 on the R&amp;B charts.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Giveon\u2019s new album, like his previous projects, is dripping in beauty and pain. Giveon has said in interviews he fell in love with R&amp;B listening to heartbroken ballads his mother would play from Anita Baker and Mary J. Blige.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">He coupled that modern sensibility with a passion for old-school crooning that developed while he was a student at Poly, when he participated in a program at the GRAMMY Museum and fell in love with Frank Sinatra\u2019s vocal style. The old-school singing mixed with modern production and subject matter has become Giveon\u2019s hallmark, and it\u2019s all over his new project as well.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The album opens with his mother telling Giveon how proud she is of him. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of you, I feel sick right now,\u201d she says. \u201cI feel like this is a dream and I\u2019ll tell you about it when I wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">The album\u2019s shape is that of a conversation between the singer and his mother, a young man in his mid-20s catching up with his single mom about the ups and downs of his personal life. Giveon comes across as a simple soul looking for love and connection, but unable to get out of his own way, and unable to keep things simple in a life that\u2019s becoming more complicated by success.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">One of the verses on \u201cGet to You\u201d deals with that conundrum. \u201cI\u2019m on the road each night, need someone to hold me,\u201d he sings. \u201cThat\u2019s what you told me, can\u2019t help it, they wanna know me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Another song, \u201cdec 11th,\u201d details the frustration of a missed connection with a woman at one of his shows, who he noticed in the crowd but couldn\u2019t talk to because he was too busy on stage\u2014singing about wanting to find a woman like her.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">His mother\u2019s voice is a comfort throughout, her caution is a patient and opposite force to his youthful abandon.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">\u201cNo matter how good you think somebody is, always protect your heart,\u201d she tells him. \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as a perfect relationship because there\u2019s no such thing as perfect people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">If there\u2019s any quibble with the album locally, it\u2019s that there\u2019s less of a Long Beach flavor than in his previous projects. His debut EP opened with \u201cTHE BEACH,\u201d and he did the video for an acoustic version of that on Jackrabbit Lane in front of his alma mater.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Giveon - THE BEACH (acoustic)\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OXzPeNrcBVQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Of course, as the young singer\/writer makes his way into the world, his influences and connections are increasingly international\u2014he\u2019s currently on tour in England. That makes it all the more meaningful that he\u2019s still keeping a foot in Long Beach: His album release party and signing were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CfDHjXYrsfo\/?hl=en\">at Long Beach\u2019s Fingerprints<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p dir=\"ltr\"><em>&#8220;Give or Take&#8221; is available to stream on all major services; physical copies can be purchased at <a href=\"https:\/\/fingerprintsmusic.com\">Fingerprints<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/vanndearlyn-vong-cambodian-donut-pipes-in-the-studio-ceramist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Like his previous projects, the new album from Long Beach native and Poly alum Giveon is dripping in beauty and pain.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":72073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1279],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[22204],"class_list":["post-30952","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music","tag-music-review","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30952","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30952"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30952\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30952"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30952"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30952"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=30952"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=30952"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}