''Gemini Rights'' is the second studio album by American musician Steve Lacy. It was released on July 15, 2022, by

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

. It follows Lacy's debut album '' Apollo XXI'' (2019), and was preceded by the singles "Mercury", " Bad Habit" and "Sunshine". "Bad Habit" became Lacy's first song to enter the

Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

and later became his first number one single. The album includes guest appearances from

Fousheé Britanny Fousheé (born August 1, 1992), known professionally as Fousheé, is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist from New Jersey. She came to wide notice when the vocals for her song "Deep End" were used on a hit song by rapper Sleepy H ...

, and Lacy's

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

bandmate, keyboardist

Matt Martians Matthew Martin (born September 12, 1988), better known by his stage name Matt Martians, is an American record producer, illustrator, singer, and songwriter from Atlanta, Georgia. Aside from his solo career, Martians was a founding member of Los ...

. Incorporating a variety of genres, the album has been described as an amalgamation of

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the mu ...

and

alternative R&B Alternative R&B (also referred to as alt-R&B, indie R&B, hipster R&B, dark R&B, emo R&B and left-field R&B) is a term used by music journalists to describe a stylistic alternative to contemporary R&B that began in the mid 2000s and came to pro ...

, with elements of

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

, and psychedelia. ''Gemini Rights'' received positive reception from music critics upon its release. The album reached the top ten of the ''Billboard'' 200 chart, and topped the Top Rock Albums chart. The album is nominated for

Best Progressive R&B Album The Grammy Award for Best Progressive R&B Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards to recording artists for quality works on albums in the urban contemporary subgenre within the R&B field. Honors in several categories are presented at t ...

at the 65th Annual Grammy Awards.

Background

Lacy produced "about 90% of the record" and came up with the title while "tipsy" at a bar, also telling

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...

that he wanted ''Gemini Rights'' to be concise so listeners could "make a decision to want to keep playing it again". Lacy shared that the album is a collective story of him “coming into imselfafter a breakup.” He hoped the album is left to be interpreted by people “ oweverthey want to.” ''Gemini Rights'' is an album that amplifies the artist’s “majestic mystique” discography, leading Lacy to hit #1 on

for three weeks straight, months following the summer release date in 2022. ''Gemini Rights'' is an album that Lacy hopes “will make people feel more unconditional love for one another.”

Critical reception

''Gemini Rights'' received a score of 80 out of 100, based on eight critics' reviews, at review aggregator

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 ...

, indicating "generally positive reviews”. Mankaprr Conteh of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' wrote that the album "feels like the product of a grand jam session" and a "tight collection of rock and R&B, funk and jazz, psych and hip-hop that's as warm and airy as the cusp of summer, when Geminis are born". Reviewing the album for ''

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 ...

'', Thomas Smith found Lacy's "musical palette is more refined and vibrant than ever", describing the album as a "fearlessly funky" and "seriously steamy" follow-up with "bold leaps forward and artistic flourishes" that is a "more polished and assured work than his debut". Shahzaib Hussain stated that Lacy "taps into the legacy of '' The Love Below''-era André 3000" as he "channels the musical touchstones of yesteryear into something reachable for a generation exploring more than ever before concepts of personal autonomy and identity", although "the heady high of hedonism" offered by the album "is only ever fleeting and it never really fills the void". Luke Cartledge of ''

Loud and Quiet ''Loud and Quiet'' is a British bi-monthly music magazine that focuses on new music from underground indie, alternative, electronic and hip hop artists. History and profile The magazine was founded in January 2005 by Stuart Stubbs as a home-print ...

'' acknowledged that the album is "not without flaws: occasionally, the lozenge-smooth nature of the production allows some tracks to drift into coffee-table politeness" and "easygoing groove or pseudo-improv ..But such shortcomings are easily forgiven; the self-assurance of Steve Lacy is far from unearned".

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians * Steve Lacy – vocals (all tracks), bass (3, 5), guitar (3) * Ely Rise – keyboards (1), piano (2), synthesizer (3, 4) * Asia Lacy – background vocals (2, 8, 10) * Vage Webb – background vocals (2, 8, 10) * Valerie Lacy – background vocals (2, 8, 10) * Valyn Spottsville – background vocals (2, 8, 10) * Crystal Torres – horn (3) *

John Carroll Kirby John Carroll Kirby is an American pianist, record producer and composer based in Los Angeles, California, United States. As a musician, Kirby has collaborated with artists including Solange, Frank Ocean, Miley Cyrus, Norah Jones, Bat for Lashes, ...

– organ (3), synthesizer (5–10) *

Karriem Riggins Karriem Riggins is an American jazz drummer, hip hop producer, DJ and songwriter. Biography Riggins was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States, son of keyboardist Emmanuel Riggins. As a child, he would often watch his father perform with G ...

– drums (9) * Denise Stoudmire – background vocals (10) Technical * Steve Lacy –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

(1–5, 7–10) *

– production (6), miscellaneous production (3, 4) *

DJ Dahi Dacoury Dahi Natche (born March 10, 1983), professionally known as DJ Dahi, is an American DJ, songwriter, record producer and singer from Inglewood, California. Dahi is perhaps best known for producing " Money Trees" by American rapper Kendric ...

– co-production (4, 10), miscellaneous production (3) *

Mike Bozzi Mike Bozzi is an American mastering engineer at Bernie Grundman Mastering in Hollywood, Los Angeles, Hollywood, California. He won a Grammy Award for Record of the Year for mastering Donald Glover, Childish Gambino's "This Is America (song), This ...

– mastering *

Neal Pogue Neal H Pogue is an American producer, audio engineer and mixer originally from Roselle, New Jersey, and based in Los Angeles. Pogue is a multi-time Grammy Award winner, having first won for his engineering and mixing work on Outkast's ''Speake ...

– mixing * Karl Wingate –

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Steve Lacy (guitarist) 2022 albums Albums produced by Steve Lacy Steve Lacy (guitarist) albums