Contemporary R&B has been stuck at a creative bottleneck for a while now, and Nic Soze’s Lost isn’t doing much to help. Following a string of singles throughout 2021, Soze’s latest 4-track project includes the previously released “Honest” and “Left To Say”. Its influences are clear from the start; submerged vocal samples, crooning sing-rap vocals, lyrics about a nondescript romance with a nondescript partner. 

The creatively primitive project seeks to set a reflective mood with its tone addressed directly to a lover, beckoning for a significant other to be more honest, assertive, and receptive Soze’s use of conventional R&B and trap instrumentals are competent and musically sound while the lyrics beckon for a significant other to be more honest, assertive, and receptive. These basic attributes of any healthy relationship are passed off in this project as a complicated, insightful love story, aligning Soze’s thematic ambitions with modern R&B giants such as Drake.

However, the balance of vulnerability and sincerity is a difficult one, especially in a genre associated with machismo, which means that Soze has big shoes to fill. These giants have managed to build their success off capturing the zeitgeist of a generation plagued by relationship woes and changing cultural norms about commitment. 

It is difficult to pinpoint what Lost is actually about, other than something that is soon to be a relic in a promising artist’s discography. 

This EP proves not to be his best attempt, as the story Soze seeks to tell has little to no stakes, and a distinct lack of any coherent narrative makes the story experience unrelatable and its artistic impact shallow. On “Honest”, he sings about his motivations and struggles in staying true to himself. Lyrics like "Why they judging my decisions, like they even got a right to say" raises more questions than answers as they never get elaborated on. Who are they? What is Nic struggling with? Most importantly, are these struggles real? While it is unclear whether Soze has to attempt to write more honestly or gather more life experiences, it is clear that there will be more work to be done. This is what you might find in the bio of a Tinder match who is way too eager to tell you he’s a rapper. 

Soze does write good melodies, playing well within the confines of the “type beats” he has chosen for himself, and as a result, make these tracks reasonably enjoyable – that being said, largely when diluted within a vibey playlist. Remarkably, his singing may remind you a little of Frank Ocean’s hypnotic and conversational style, which I have a soft spot for, which helps me overlook the many loosely-strung together platitudes about love – for example on "Eyes Closed (Interlude)", where he very plainly talks about having his mind preoccupied or wishing someone could stay over. These definitely sound better sung than rapped, and Soze is a much more competent singer than he is a rapper. 

It almost appears as if Soze is self-aware that rapping is its weakest link: on this project, the rapped verses are consistently parked near the end of songs, and as a result come across like afterthoughts. With writing and delivery that lacks the kind of confidence that has carried many of his influences to success, the verses arrive jarringly, undoing much of the production’s mellow vibes and souring its overall lull. He raps twice over the EP’s 8 minute runtime and neither verses tell us much about who he is, or why rapping, other than its arbitrary rewards, is the medium he chooses to tell his stories through.

We look forward to Soze’s next release and hope that he can grow beyond the fixation of capturing a mood and sound that he might not have realised is already well on its way out.

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