Dijon
Baby
R&R/WARNER
If you’re a fan of Charli XCX, Mk.gee, or Bon Iver, chances are you’ve already listened to Dijon’s handiwork without realizing it—a spacey, warbling production style that feels a touch ethereal. On the follow-up to his 2021 debut solo bid, Baby, Dijon Duenas blends his familiar take on contemporary R&B with a glitchier, more psychedelic version of those sonic textures in order to evoke a fractured, internet-like aesthetic that’s often mesmerizing. While Absolutely mostly dwelled within the confines of its pop-R&B lane, Baby pushes the genre’s boundaries further, harboring a warped, soulful Afrofuturism that’s a big step up from his debut.
Baby is optimistic in tone and dancey in rhythm, despite its engrossing production style being defined by a uniquely hard edge. Dijon's rich and rugged sound has a captivating, rough, atonal quality that paradoxically works well with his smooth songwriting, creating a pleasing tension between sweet-tasting pop chord progressions and the coarse feel to his sounds that’s conceptually jazzy and totally alluring. Baby also has a postmodern, stitched-together quality between the samples, synths, and beats, unifying itself in an off-beat way that also recalls J Dilla. Alongside opulent reverb, this lo-fi quality ties everything together in an ethereal bow—it’s Baby’s biggest strength, and continues to set Dijon apart from other contemporary R&B artists.
Lyrically, Baby expresses the diverse emotions that rise within a blooming relationship, particularly emphasizing a yearning for connection. When Dijon does hint at the darker aspects of life, his focus is purely on alchemizing it in a positive light—on “My Man,” for example, he explores shame in a way that’s both reassuring and non-judgmental. It’s no surprise he takes this route, as he dedicates Baby to his newborn child and his partner, two major influences on the record’s easy-listening direction. With Prince and Steve Lacy as reference points, you won’t find any bad times here—just languid beats and melodies that melt into your psyche like a hazy summer day turning to dusk.
