''Saturn'' is the second studio album by British R&B recording artist Nao, released on 26 October 2018 through Little Tokyo Recordings and

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 was supported by the singles "Another Lifetime" and "Make It Out Alive". "If You Ever" was also released prior to the album in a version featuring American singer

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" ...

, but he does not feature on the album version. Nao will tour in support of the album across late 2018 and early 2019. ''Saturn'' received nominations for Album of the Year at the

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...

in 2019 and

Best Urban Contemporary 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

62nd Grammy Awards The 62nd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held on January 26, 2020, at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year, running from October 1, 2018, to August 31, 2019. Ali ...

in 2020.

Background

Nao named the album after being told by her friends about the astrological concept of

Saturn return In horoscopic astrology, a Saturn return is an astrological transit that occurs when the planet Saturn returns to the same ecliptic longitude that it occupied at the moment of a person's birth. While the planet may not first reach the exact loc ...

, when the planet

Saturn Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun and the second-largest in the Solar System, after Jupiter. It is a gas giant with an average radius of about nine and a half times that of Earth. It has only one-eighth the average density of Earth; h ...

returns to the same place in the sky that it was when a person was born. This typically takes 29 years, but the reported "influence" can begin at the age of 27. Nao said: "It's like waking up and coming of age, like: 'I've been going through my twenties and what have I been doing in this relationship?' What have I been doing in this job?' You start to rethink everything – old stuff that your parents taught you or ideas that you believed in. It's like a complete shedding of skin and it can be painful."

Critical reception

On 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 ...

, ''Saturn'' has received a score of 83 out of 100 based on reviews from 14 critics, indicating "universal acclaim". Kyann-Sian Williams 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 ...

'' rated the album four out of five stars and said that Nao's "honest, cinematic exploration of love, lust, and hardship makes for a compelling adventure – and one you'll happily join eron". Williams concluded the review by saying that "''Saturn'' is full of beautiful, intricately unique songs that could never be imitated. Like her, it's simply one of a kind." Writing for ''

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 ...

'', Natty Kasambala said that on the album, "although ao'ssugary vocals have remained intact, her artistic and personal growth is evident". Kasambala further judged that "It's hard to distinguish any obvious commercial hits. ''Saturn'' falls somewhere between the dance hits of producer DJs with big-name features, and earnest, heart-tugging balladry." Kasmbala acknowledged that along with the "rise of R&B classicists" like

Jorja Smith Jorja Alice Smith (born 11 June 1997) is an English singer-songwriter. Born and raised in Walsall, West Midlands, she has been writing songs since the age of 11. In 2012, Smith's friend uploaded her cover of Labrinth's "Earthquake" to YouTube, ...

Ella Mai Ella Mai Howell (born 3 November 1994) is an English singer-songwriter. Her musical career began at London's British and Irish Modern Music Institute in 2014, during which time she auditioned as part of a trio on the 11th season of ''The X Fa ...

and Mahalia, "Nao presents a compelling alternative to the mainstream".

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2018 albums Nao (singer) albums Albums produced by Grades Albums produced by Joel Little Albums produced by Mura Masa