In 2017 there was an abundance of amazing, new R&B albums. SZA dropped her popular album Ctrl, Khalid had his debut with American Teen, and many more artists such as Syd and Brent Faiyaz also delivered solid projects. However, out of all the R&B artists that released projects in 2017, Daniel Caesar was the only one to hit icon status. His debut studio album, Freudian, was an almost flawless collection of silky smooth R&B ballads that flowed beautifully from front to to back. While most of the songs on Freudian consisted of Daniel utilizing his unbelievable range to discuss topics of love, there were also philosophical themes throughout the album such as the struggles between the id and ego, and the title obviously references Sigmund Freud. The album was instantly deemed a classic by many critics, and when Daniel went on tour most of his shows quickly sold out, exhibiting the dedicated fanbase he had now obtained.

Before Freudian, the last R&B/urban contemporary album to have such an impact for a new artist was Channel Orange, created by none other than the legendary Frank Ocean. While Frank Ocean’s rise to fame was pretty different, as he gained cult-like fans through his time in Odd Future, his solo debut album officially gave him the status of icon. Releasing a critically acclaimed debut album can be a very difficult situation for an artist though, because fans then expect every following project to be at the same quality or better. The pressure for these artists to live up to the reputation of their first album, has led to many second projects failing to be as well-received, and this effect became known as the “sophomore slump.” So what did Frank Ocean do after releasing an album that was instantly recognized as one of the best R&B/urban contemporary releases ever? Well, just like the avatar when the world needed him most…he vanished. Frank went silent for four entire years after the Channel Orange phase, not releasing any songs of his own and only making a handful of guest appearances. Yet, because of the icon status he had reached and his cult fanbase, he didn’t lose any of his hype; in fact, his mysterious disappearance only led to his next project gaining more buildup than almost any album released in the past decade. When Frank finally decided to break the silence, he delivered two incredible albums, Endless and Blonde. Now I’m sure most of you are aware of Frank’s epic comeback, but just in case, I’ll give a brief summary. Endless was a visual album that Frank released on a live stream while building a staircase, and although it was a very raw project with a unique minimalist sound, it never saw an official release with a split tracklist and the usual album formatting. Blonde on the other hand, sounded practically nothing like Channel Orange, but became one of the most experimental albums of modern music, and many believed it even surpassed the high expectations created by Frank’s previous album and a four year hiatus. Now how did Frank Ocean successfully handle the pressure of living up to his freshman project? He did exactly the opposite of what the music industry tells artists to do. He disappeared for four years, created an avant-garde classic with a genre-defying sound, created a second album on a livestream to escape his contract, and used practically no promotion at all because his fanbase had created all the hype he needed. And while all this was happening, Daniel Caesar was taking notes.



Besides his song “Who Hurt You?” and a couple of features here and there, Daniel Caesar was very quiet in the time after the Freudian phase. Now this shouldn’t be unusual for an artist that needs time to plan and perfect his work, but in the current state of music where artists are releasing multiple projects a year and posting on social media multiple times per day, fans can get impatient when an artist decides to stray away from these industry norms. People began to wonder what Daniel Caesar had in store, as he occasionally posted or live streamed on Instagram, but other than the rare social media display, Daniel continued to remain silent (except for an appearance with Dave Chappelle on John Mayer’s show and some remarks about YesJulz). Then, on June 26th, Daniel Caesar suddenly took to Instagram to announce his sophomore album, CASE STUDY 01, that was set to release on June 28th. Much like Frank Ocean, Daniel did not need the promotion tactics of a normal artist due to his loyal fanbase and the extensive amount of hype he still retained from Freudian. Fans had been waiting in anticipation to find out if Daniel Caesar would attempt to make another silky R&B album filled with smooth ballads, but as they would soon find out, Daniel decided to go a different direction. It became pretty clear that Daniel had payed attention to artists like Frank Ocean, who had immense expectations to live up to following the release of a classic. Daniel designed a more experimental, yet also minimalist sound on his sophomore album by combing aspects of R&B, bedroom pop, and alternative rock, mixed with psychedelic, lofi production. Songs such as “TOO DEEP TO TURN BACK,” “SUPERPOSITION,” and “ARE YOU OK?” use hypnotic guitar melodies as Daniel channels his inner poet. The track RESTORE THE FEELING, almost feels like something out of a psychological horror movie with the eerie lofi guitar beat and the high pitch vocals of Sean Leon, Jacob Collier, and Daniel. Furthermore, Daniel utilizes his voice in a more unique way throughout the entire project. He uses voice inflections in OPEN UP to place the listener in a trance and even incorporates some dancehall influence and autotune into songs like CYANIDE. However, the most important aspect of what makes CASE STUDY 01 sound more distinct than Freudian may be the themes and subjects of the music. While Daniel still discusses topics such as love and loneliness, there is a lot more focus on ideas such as life, death, and spirituality on this album. There are also various mentions of Daniel using psychedelic drugs such as LSD, which may have influenced the deeper and more profound themes. Much like CASE STUDY 01, Blonde also contains many deeper themes such as spirituality and the purpose of life, and Frank mentions the use of psychedelics throughout the album as well. Every single song on Blonde has a sound that is very distinct and separate from those on Channel Orange, and the same can be said about the songs of CASE STUDY 01 and Freudian (except for possibly the Brandy accompanied track, “LOVE AGAIN”). Ultimately, Daniel Caesar successfully defeated the sophomore slump pressure and ended up creating a project with a more experimental and original sound than his critically acclaimed debut. While many people may still prefer the classic serene R&B vibes of Freudian, I think Daniel ended up delivering a more creative and enticing sound in his sophomore project. And just as I prefer Blonde over Channel Orange, I also believe that CASE STUDY 01 is a better overall album than Freudian because of the artistic risks that Daniel wasn’t afraid to take.