搬運自：微信公眾號【評論搬一堆】（在原文基礎(chǔ)上添加了英語原文與排版調(diào)整）

翻譯：Ryan-Chopin

審譯：Lynn Liu

推送：Lynn Liu

作者：?Jackson Howard

After an auspicious debut in 2016, the young R&B enigma looks for ways outside of the sound that has become her trademark—and gets lost in the process.

在2016年首次亮相之后，這位年輕的R&B 神秘女子一直在開發(fā)自己標志性樂聲以外的音樂，卻在這個過程中迷失了方向。

At the age of 19, Gabi Wilson seemed to arrive fully formed as?H.E.R., an emotive but guarded R&B artist with songs that keyed in on supernatural perspective, profound vulnerability, and what felt like decades of experience. Upon arrival in 2016, the songs on?H.E.R. Volume 1?were instantly familiar, and not just because they were so indebted to the likes of?the Weeknd.?They felt lived-in—intimate, personal, infectious, so much so that you began to internalize the words with one spin. During?Volume 1’s glittering opener, “Losing,” H.E.R. sings as if she were mid-sentence, and we just happened to overhear: “My ambition is attractive/My aggression isn’t passive/I promise with you/The butterflies in my stomach are active,” she tells a lover with the ease of rare self-assurance.

Gabi Wilson在19歲時，似乎就已完全浸入以H.E.R.為名的身份之中，成為一位感性但謹慎的R&B歌手，她的歌曲基調(diào)甚廣，有著超自然的視角、引人深思的脆弱性，甚至讓人感覺她已歷經(jīng)了數(shù)十年。2016年，H.E.R.推出了《Volume 1》，即刻引起大范圍共鳴，這不僅僅是因為她的歌曲和the Weeknd的作品風格極為相似，并且這些歌給人飽經(jīng)風霜之感，非常私密且富有感染力，以至于你會反復(fù)地細細品味這些歌詞?！癓osing”作為《Volume 1》的開場曲就已風光無限，歌中的H.E.R.仿佛只唱到一半，而我們也只是碰巧聽到了她的聲音:“My ambition is attractive我的想法很完美/My aggression isn't passive我向你保證/I promise with you我都是主動出擊的/The butterflies in my stomach are active我腦子里有很多好主意?！保ǜ柙~翻譯摘自網(wǎng)易云音樂）她以世人不常有的自信心，輕松地對她的一位愛人訴說。

In 2017, both?Volume 2?and a?handful of assorted tracks?confirmed that H.E.R. wasn’t a fluke, but those songs didn’t hint at much growth or many next steps, either. August’s?I Used to Know Her: The Prelude?offered a serviceable retread of old ideas that likewise failed to produce a grand statement. But if that EP’s lack of urgency suggested H.E.R. was starting to tire of her trademark sound, this month’s?I Used to Know Her: Part 2?feels like a complete existential crisis. Uneven and occasionally confounding, this is the work of an artist trying to slip from her pigeonhole style but struggling to find a viable exit. Remember how it took trial and error for the Weeknd to learn how to translate what made his 2011?trilogy?of mixtapes into something with broad appeal? H.E.R., it seems, is stuck in a similar moment of creative transition.

H.E.R.于2017年發(fā)行的《Volume 2》和幾首獨立單曲都證實了她并非曇花一現(xiàn)，但這些作品也并沒有透露她的作品成長與否，或是發(fā)展方向如何。她在8月發(fā)行的《I Used to Know Her: The Prelude》中對過去的想法進行了有益的重述，但依舊未能使其變得宏大起來。但是如果那張缺乏緊迫感的EP暗示著H.E.R.已經(jīng)開始厭倦她標志性的樂聲，那么11月發(fā)行的《I Used to Know Her: Part 2》就是一場徹徹底底的生存危機。這位藝術(shù)家在創(chuàng)作時，定是在試圖擺脫自己的那套傳統(tǒng)風格，但又很難找到一條可行的出路。還記得the Weeknd是怎么做的嗎？他通過反復(fù)試驗才將2011年的混音帶三部曲變成了廣受歡迎的作品。H.E.R.似乎也陷入了類似的缺乏創(chuàng)新的轉(zhuǎn)型時期。

Quiet-storm drums, melancholic synths, and magnetic R&B hooks defined?Volume 1?and?Volume 2, recalling the best of?SWV?and?Toni Braxton. H.E.R. was also?convincing?over uptempo instrumentals that ferried along bits of nostalgia and melodrama.?I Used to Know Her: Part 2?trades much of that for acoustic guitar. Yes, she sounded radiant on last year’s “Best Part,” her breakout acoustic collaboration with?Daniel Caesar, but the arrangements here aren’t morning strums of glory. Instead, these guitars conjure?Florida Georgia Line?and an open-mic night in a college town. They warp the dynamism and depth of H.E.R.’s voice into an adult-contemporary mess.

如寧靜風暴般的鼓聲，憂郁動人的合成器音，和富有磁性的節(jié)奏布魯斯曲調(diào)定義了《Volume 1》和《Volume 2》，能讓人回想到組合SWV和Toni Braxton。H.E.R.也很熟悉快節(jié)奏的樂器，它們都有懷舊與音樂劇的味道。《I Used to Know Her: Part 2》中更多地換成了原聲吉他音。是的，她在與Daniel Caesar的合作歌曲“Best Part”中光芒四射，取得了巨大的突破，但這樣的合作并不是迎著光輝在清晨撥動琴弦，相反，這些吉他聲讓人聯(lián)想到Florida Georgia Line的曲調(diào)和大學城里的那些即興live現(xiàn)場。這些歌曲將H.E.R.活力和深邃的聲音融匯成了成人時代樂，可謂一團亂。

During “Carried Away,” H.E.R. sings blandly about loneliness over perky, hoedown-ready licks and handclaps. It is a beat better suited for?Natasha Bedingfield, and it yields the worst H.E.R. song yet. This carries over to “Can’t Help Me,” which at least shows some mercy with the help of 808s and more evocative songwriting. “Sorry that I’ve been yelling at your face/I know you hate when I speak to you this way,” she sings. The guitar comes closest to sounding natural and conducive to H.E.R.’s voice during “Hard Place,” produced by?legendary R&B architect Darkchild.?It threatens to soundtrack some finding-myself montage in an upcoming rom-com, but there’s at least a measure of tension and an enormous chorus.

H.E.R.在歌曲“Carried Away”里歡快而活潑的樂句片段和鼓掌聲之間，溫和地唱著“孤獨”。這種節(jié)奏更適合Natasha Bedingfield，也是迄今為止H.E.R.最糟糕的歌曲?！癈an 't Help Me”中也出現(xiàn)了這種情況，歌中有了些許808鼓聲，至少表現(xiàn)出了一絲仁慈之情，其歌詞也更富有感染力。她唱道：“Sorry that I've been yelling at your face對不起，我對你大吵大鬧/I know you hate when I speak to you this way我知道你討厭這種說話方式。”（歌詞翻譯摘自網(wǎng)易云音樂）“Hard Place”里面的吉他聲聽起來最自然，對H.E.R.的歌唱錦上添花，該曲由R&B音樂制作大神Darkchild制作而成。這首歌可能會成為某一部即將上映的浪漫喜劇中蒙太奇（譯者注：電影的基本結(jié)構(gòu)手段和敘述方式）橋段的原聲背景樂，但至少會搭上一定程度的緊張感和一曲宏大的合唱。

Questionable sequencing otherwise plagues?I Used to Know Her. The 15 collected songs of?Volume 1?and?Volume 2?bled into one another, a collage of intimate snapshots inside the H.E.R. orbit. But these eight tracks have no business being in the same room. When she’s not trying to honor?Sheryl Crow, H.E.R. returns to her roots on “I’m Not OK” and “Take You There,” sharing narratives that remind you what a special lyricist she can be: “Feel a little guilty/I feel like it’s written all over me/Tryna find a balance/Trusting you, trusting me,” she sings on “I’m Not OK,” examining the effects of a decaying relationship with audible desperation. Alongside the bland guitar?of “Can’t Help Me,” though, such throwbacks are so out of place they grate.

《I Used to Know Her》作為姊妹唱片也備受質(zhì)疑?！禫olume 1》和《Volume 2》共收錄了15首歌曲，它們?nèi)诤显谝黄鸨闶荋.E.R.最貼近生活的快照拼貼。但這里的8首歌曲就不該放一起。H.E.R.并不是想致敬Sheryl Crow, 她終于在歌曲“I’m Not OK”和“Take You There”中歸根溯源，分享著她的故事,讓我們看到一個抒情詩人H.E.R.：“Feel a little guilty,感到內(nèi)疚/I feel like it's written all over me被內(nèi)疚包圍/Tryna find a balance, trusting you, trusting me嘗試尋找平衡，去相信你，相信自己，”她在“I’m Not OK”中這樣唱到，她用聲音表達絕望，從而審視著這段腐朽關(guān)系帶來的影響。不過，“Can’t Help Me”這首歌的吉他伴奏平淡無奇，這樣的復(fù)古歌曲放這兒實在太不合時宜了。

I Used to Know Her: Part Two?ends with the jumbled “Lord Is Coming,” where Wilson, now 21, ponders social ills from war and religious persecution to economic anxiety and inequality in a miserable spoken-word preamble. “It’s a World War III, corruption versus greed/Not you versus me/But do we ever think of the need for inner peace?” she asks before talking about the price of one’s soul. It’s cringeworthy. The growing pains are evident. But at least H.E.R. is venturing into new subject matter. Despite the major-label contract and the devoted fanbase, she isn’t afraid to take some kind of stand or chance, even if the result is her first full flop.

《I Used to Know Her: Part Two》以“Lord Is Coming”結(jié)尾，顯得莫名其妙，現(xiàn)年21歲的Wilson仿佛在這篇苦不堪言的演講開場白中，帶來對戰(zhàn)爭、宗教迫害、不平等和經(jīng)濟焦慮等各種社會弊病的思考。“這是第三次世界大戰(zhàn)，一場腐敗與貪婪的對抗/不是你與我之間的對抗/但我們是否考慮過追尋內(nèi)心的平靜?”她在談?wù)摗叭祟愳`魂的定價”（譯者注：歌詞中隨后便出現(xiàn)了“They can't put a price on your soul/他們沒法給你的靈魂定價”）之前如此發(fā)問道。這可真就有點尷尬了。關(guān)于成長的痛苦誰都有話語權(quán)，但至少H.E.R.正在探索一個新的主題。盡管她與著名唱片公司簽了合同，并且擁有忠實的粉絲群，但她并不害怕表明自己的立場亦或孤注一擲，即使其結(jié)果會是她頭一回經(jīng)歷徹頭徹尾的滑鐵盧。