''Before Love Came to Kill Us'' is the debut studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter

Jessie Reyez Jessica Reyez (born June 12, 1991) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. Her 2016 single "Figures" peaked at number 58 on the Canadian Hot 100 in 2017 and was certified triple Platinum by Music Canada and Platinum by the RIAA. Her 2017 EP, ''K ...

. It was released on March 27, 2020, by FMLY and

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. The record was prefaced with the singles "

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", "

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" with

6lack Ricardo Archibald Valentine Jr. (born June 24, 1992), known professionally as 6lack (stylized as 6LACK, pronounced "black"), is an American singer and rapper. He initially gained notable recognition following the release of his single, "Prblms" ...

, and "Love in the Dark", and the promotional single "Ankles". A deluxe edition with three additional songs was made available digitally on April 9, 2020. A super deluxe edition of the album was released on September 25, 2020.

Critical reception

''Before Love Came to Kill Us'' was met with widespread critical acclaim. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 82, based on nine reviews. For

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Andy Kellman wrote that "Although it's all over the place, ''Before Love Came to Kill Us'' radiates conviction from front to back, and is without doubt a true representation of its creator." ''

Exclaim! ''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features in-depth coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly Exclaim! print magazine publishes 7 ...

'' Ryan B. Patrick affirms that the album "has been built to last" and is "one of the better albums in an already interesting 2020." Rhian Daly of ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' called it "heart-stoppingly good" and a "beautiful, heart-wrenching debut that sees its creator come good on her early promise." Writing for '' Clash'', Narzra Ahmed complimented Reyez's versatility and adjectived the album "an excellent debut". Kathryn St. Asaph of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' pointed out that the album's genre range works in a "satisfying" way "not because she whizzes across multiple genres, but because of the skill she displays at each". The singer's uniqueness was praised by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' Kitty Empire, who labeled the tracks as "largely excellent". The album was shortlisted for the

2020 Polaris Music Prize The 2020 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on October 19, 2020. The longlist was announced on June 15, 2020, with the shortlist following on July 15, 2020 and the winner announced on October 19, 2020. Due to the COVID-19 ...

, and for the

Juno Award for Contemporary R&B/Soul Recording of the Year The Juno Award for Contemporary R&B/Soul Recording of the Year is an annual Canadian music award, presented as part of the Juno Awards to honour the year's best Canadian recordings in contemporary rhythm and blues and soul music. The award was prese ...

at the

Juno Awards of 2021 The Juno Awards of 2021, honouring Canadian music achievements, were presented on 6 June 2021, observing the 50th anniversary of these awards. The main ceremonies were televised on CBC. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place in Ma ...

. For the Polaris Music Prize, which followed a unique format of commissioning filmmakers to make short films inspired by the shortlisted albums due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

preventing the staging of a traditional gala, the album's film was directed by Alicia K. Harris.Richard Trapunski
"Polaris Music Prize 2020: Backxwash’s victory is for the unapologetic"
''

Now Now most commonly refers to the present time. Now, NOW, or The Now may also refer to: Organizations * Natal Organisation of Women, a South African women's organization * National Organization for Women, an American feminist organization * Now ...

'', October 20, 2020.

Track listing

;Notes * indicates an additional producer * indicates a co-producer * indicates a vocal producer * The track's titles are stylized in

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Charts

Release history

Notelist

References