''Free Nationals'' is the debut album by American R&B band

Free Nationals Free Nationals are an American contemporary R&B, R&B band formed in Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California. The group consists of Jose Rios (lead guitar, backing vocals), Ron "T.Nava" Avant (keyboard, rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Kelsey Gonzale ...

. It was released on December 13, 2019, through OBE and

Empire Distribution EMPIRE Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. (marketed as EMPIRE) is an American distribution company and record label founded in by Ghazi Shami with offices in New York City, London, Nashville, and Atlanta. It has released albums in vario ...

. The album features guest appearances from

Mac Miller Malcolm James McCormick (January 19, 1992 – September 7, 2018), known professionally as Mac Miller, was an American rapper and record producer. Miller began his career in Pittsburgh's hip hop scene in 2007, at the age of fifteen. In 2010, h ...

Kali Uchis Karly-Marina Loaiza (born July 17, 1994), known professionally as Kali Uchis ( ), is an American singer. She released her debut mixtape, ''Drunken Babble'', in 2012, which was followed by her debut EP, ''Por Vida'', released in 2015. In 2018, Uc ...

Daniel Caesar Ashton Dumar Norwill Simmonds (born April 5, 1995), known professionally as Daniel Caesar, is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After independently building a following through the release of two critically acclaimed EPs, ''Praise Break'' (201 ...

, Anderson .Paak, T.I.,

JID Destin Choice Route (born October 31, 1990), better known by his stage name JID (also stylized J.I.D), is an American rapper. He is a part of the musical collective Spillage Village, founded by EarthGang in 2010, with Hollywood JB, JordxnBryant ...

, and MIKNNA among others. It was nominated for Best Progressive R&B Album at the

63rd Annual Grammy Awards The 63rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held in and around the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles on March 14, 2021. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from September 1, 201 ...

Musical style

''Free Nationals'' has been described as classic R&B, funk and soul with a modern twist, nodding to legends like

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

and

Parliament-Funkadelic Parliament-Funkadelic (abbreviated as P-Funk) is an American music collective of rotating musicians headed by George Clinton, primarily consisting of the funk bands Parliament and Funkadelic, both active since the 1960s. Their distinctive fu ...

Recording and production

The album was produced by the four Free Nationals band members. The songs were run through a

tape recorder An audio tape recorder, also known as a tape deck, tape player or tape machine or simply a tape recorder, is a sound recording and reproduction device that records and plays back sounds usually using magnetic tape for storage. In its present- ...

to add analogue distortion and warmth, adding to the retro feel of the album. It was mixed by Callum Connor and Andrew Wuepper at The Crying Panther Studio, Los Angeles and

mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

by Dave Kutch at The Mastering Palace, New York City.

Release and promotion

Background

Free Nationals announced the album in early 2018 and it was expected to be released before 2019 however the release was delayed until December 2019. The band stated in a tweet: “The real reason it was delayed was because of our rigorous touring schedule”, referring to touring with fellow musician Anderson .Paak. In the same tweet, the band confirmed that the release date would be December 13, 2019.

Singles

A total of five singles were released for the album throughout 2018 and 2019. The first single, 'Beauty & Essex' was released on October 9, 2018. '

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

' featuring Mac Miller and Kali Uchis was released on June 12, 2019. It was the first posthumous release from Mac Miller and reached number 22 on the

Official New Zealand Music Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Musi ...

. 'On Sight' was released on September 20, 2019, Eternal Light on October 15, 2019, and Shibuya on November 8, 2019.

Music videos

The music video for "Beauty & Essex", directed by Scott Lazer, was released on November 8, 2018. The music video for "

" was released on August 1, 2019. The colorful video was animated by BABEKÜHL, a

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

-based creative studio.

Artwork

The album's

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

airbrush An airbrush is a small, air-operated tool that atomizes and sprays various media, most often paint but also ink and dye, and foundation. Spray painting developed from the airbrush and is considered to employ a type of airbrush. History U ...

style artwork was created by Lexington based artist and musician

Robert Beatty Robert Rutherford Beatty (19 October 1909 – 3 March 1992) was a Canadian actor who worked in film, television and radio for most of his career and was especially known in the UK. Early years Beatty was born in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, O ...

Critical reception

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 uses a

weighted average The weighted arithmetic mean is similar to an ordinary arithmetic mean (the most common type of average), except that instead of each of the data points contributing equally to the final average, some data points contribute more than others. The ...

, assigned a score of 74 out of 100 based on 7 critic's reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".

Q Magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...

stated "Free Nationals say less about the band's identity than it does their taste, skill and curatorial clout--but that's still more than plenty".

Mojo Mojo may refer to: * Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * ' ...

said "Free Nationals' blissed-out, woozy slow-jams make for a low-key triumph".

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 ...

also reviewed the album, stating "The Free Nationals’ supreme musicianship is unquestionable, but they more often than not seem to require an outside presence leading from the front to really bring it all home".

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from the album's liner notes and online sources. Free Nationals * Jose Rios * Callum Connor * Kelsey Gonzales * Ron "T.Nava" Avant Featured artists *

* Anderson .Paak *

* MIKNNA * Syd *

Chronixx Jamar Rolando McNaughton (born 10 October 1992), popularly known as Chronixx, is a Jamaican reggae artist. His stage name replaced the name "Little Chronicle" which he was given because of his father, the singer "Chronicle".Jackson, Kevin (2014) ...

Benny Sings Tim van Berkestijn, better known by his stage name Benny Sings, is a Dutch pop musician, songwriter, and producer from the Netherlands. Since 2003, he has released ten studio albums, including his most recent album, 2023's ''Young Hearts'' on ...

Unknown Mortal Orchestra Unknown Mortal Orchestra (UMO) is a New Zealand psychedelic rock band formed in Auckland, primarily composed of singer, guitarist, and songwriter Ruban Nielson, and bassist Jake Portrait. The band is currently based in Portland, Oregon, United ...

* T.I. * Shafiq Husayn *

Westside Gunn Alvin Lamar Worthy (born July 27, 1982), known professionally as Westside Gunn, is an American rapper. He is a co-founder of independent hip-hop label Griselda Records. He is the brother of rapper Conway The Machine and cousin of rapper Benny the ...

Conway the Machine Demond Price (born February 16, 1982), known professionally as Conway the Machine (or simply Conway), is an American rapper. Alongside his paternal half-brother Westside Gunn and cousin Benny the Butcher, Conway was a member of Griselda Record ...

* Joyce Wrice Other musicians * Maurice Brown - Trumpet (track 13) * Omar Dominick - Bass (track 7) * Jonah Levine - Trombone (tracks 4 & 5) * Chris Lowery - Trumpet (track 8) * Wes Lowery - Trombone (track 8) * Emil Martinez - Trumpet (tracks 4 & 5) * Danny McKinnon - Guitar (tracks 2 & 10) * Vicky Farewell Nguyen - Keyboards (track 10) * Erwin Pierce - Saxophone (track 13) * David Pimentel - Drum Programming, Keyboards (tracks 2, 10, 13) *Aaron Shaw - Flute (track 8) Production * Dave Kutch - Mastering * Andrew Wuepper - Mixing Design *

- Cover Art * Anna-Marie Lopez - Photography

References

{{Authority control 2019 debut albums Empire Distribution albums Contemporary R&B albums by American artists