Last year I practically said that Boots should stay in the producers seat permanently. The producer behind Beyonce’s eponymous surprise release and “Early” off of Run the Jewels 2 began to make a huge name for himself over the past two years. During this time, he also had a single, “Dreams,” an EP called Motorcycle Jesus, and now a full release in AQUARIA. Though having ranked up around over 45.2 million Google searches along the lines of “Who Is Boots?” since that Beyonce album, I haven’t been a huge fan of Boots’ work since – the price of kicking off your career under the shadow of a female pop icon singing your best songs.
On AQUARIA, the production is still great, reminiscent of Beyonce and “Early,” but lacking in one major department; there’s no Beyonce. I’m not one of the hive mind that thinks “Queen B” is impeccable and devoid of flaw, but unlike Boots, she’s not still trying to find her voice. It may be unfair to compare the experienced Beyonce to Jordan Asher, a.k.a. Boots, but when it sounds like someone is singing over a song that someone else could have done better, like Miley Cyrus over Flaming Lips produced songs from Miley & Her Dead Petz, we would just rather have Wayne Coyne. We’d just rather have Beyonce. And that’s pretty much it.