By Nicholas Kobe, Staff Writer 

[Island Records; 2024]

Rating: 8/10

Key Tracks: “Earth Sign”, “What Now”, “Samson”

Former Alabama Shakes vocalist Brittany Howard returns for her second solo outing What Now. Following up on 2019’s Jamie, Howard’s newest LP is a triumphant showcase of her wide range of musical talents, all firing on all cylinders. 

The most instantly noticeable feature of Howard is, of course, her voice. Like all of the best vocalists, Howard has a distinct style she can adapt to whatever mood the instrumental and lyrics call for, and that’s saying something because this is an extremely diverse album. Some of the highlights vocally are “Samson”, where she leans into heartbreak to give a performance that sounds emotional and exhausted, just like heartache, and “What Now”, where Howard’s anger takes hold and she delivers classic rock grit and power. 

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My compliments towards Howard’s dynamic vocals carry through What Now as a whole. “What Now” not only features rock-like grit in the vocals but with a bass-heavy groove overlaid with buzzing guitars that remind me of house duo Justice’s self-titled debut. There are similar elements in “Power to Undo”, but it’s leaning a lot harder into the rootsy and funky direction, which she leans harder into in “Patience”. 

The opening track “Earth Sign” is another personal favorite of mine, mixing big, grand, belting vocals with the type of psych rock you’d expect from Pink Floyd. “Samson” is a minimal, jazz-inspired ballad complete with a muted trumpet solo, and “Red Flags” is an R&B track with elements of indie thrown in for good measure. 

Genre-bending and hopping have been extremely popular in the 2020s, but many artists, both in the mainstream and underground, fail to fluidly combine just two genres. Howard, on the other hand, makes it look easy, mainly because these songs are all just so good on their own. Howard’s voice, despite its fluidity, and the way she pulls the instrumentation of each song together to retain a flow across the album allows What Now to retain its charm, no matter what left turn is next. 

A lot of the pacing and transitions of the record are handled by ambient transitions tagged onto the end or beginnings of songs, and these song-to-song transitions are where my only nitpick with this album comes in. They feel a little too quiet, and without cranking the volume on my earbuds, I felt like it was just dead silence. As I said, they mostly work, but there were a few moments where I felt them drag the pacing of this record. These are the only moments I would say that What Now comes close to being inefficient with its time. 

The modern streaming dichotomy of “album under 40 minutes” or “album that’s an hour plus” is something I’ve never been a fan of, so I was skeptical when I saw a 38-minute runtime. However, What Now, just like in its genre-melding, succeeds where its peers fail. Besides the aforementioned transitions, all of these songs feel like complete ideas and concepts. I never feel like Howard is rushing us through any of her massive arsenal of ideas, but she stops right when she gets the point across. 

While I’ve referenced it some, the lyrics of this record are also very good. There might not be a lot of instantly memorable one-liners, but the way each song’s lyrics match the music, and the power of Howard’s vocal delivery makes every song feel extremely powerful in the moment. Whether you’re reading along or not, the emotion conveyed in every song will make the point Howard is trying to get across pretty darn clear. 

What Now has a little something for everyone without sacrificing any of its unique flair. It’s a great example of how the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Howard’s vision dominates What Now and makes every decision feel intentional and in place. While I’ve said more than my fair share about what makes this album interesting, none of this would work if the songs weren’t great, and of course, What Now passes that test with flying colors.  
As someone not very familiar with Brittany Howard before What Now, it was a pleasant surprise, and I certainly won’t be caught sleeping on any releases she puts out in the future.

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