Detailing the replayability of Anderson .Paak's classic album.
It was a wet and rainy Fall morning and I’d stumbled into the campus library cold as hell. The place was packed. I patrolled the whole second floor of the building twice before finally finding an empty seat. Noisily unlayering my bulky raincoat and sprinkling the desk with my used umbrella, I took a seat and pondered which album to run through as I “studied.” I had (have) a habit of telling myself I could listen to music as I worked before inevitably getting swept up by the sounds in my headphones. That day, Malibu by Anderson Paak took its turn distracting me.
This was the moment that album clicked with me. I’d always heard it regarded as an incredible record but it just hadn’t left a lasting impression on me in the few listens I’d given it. Maybe I was just a naive teenager at the time (about a month later I developed a nearly unhealthy appreciation for BROCKHAMPTON) or maybe I just needed the juxtaposition of the muggy day I was in with the warm, LA-beach-vibes of the album to truly understand it. In the silence of that library, a cartoon light bulb must’ve materialized over my head as I picked apart lyrics and instrumentals between classes.
Malibu went on to become the anthem of my freshman year of college and I included this memory because, 3 years later, it’s repeating its role as I get set to graduate. The replayability of this record is just absurd. It fits several different moods for me (generally it’s a morning album but occasionally it’s a long-car-ride album as well) and I just know it’ll be a mainstay in my rotation for years to come. So what elements of this album give it such high replay value? I’ll break it down into a few of my favorites.
Paak’s Voice
If this question is a dart board, Paak’s voice is the bullseye. It’s just so wonderfully him and glides perfectly along with the funk and R&B sounds of the album. The way it bursts onto the opening of Heart Don’t Stand a Chance always reminds me how unique it is. While a lot of those raspy, high pitched voices can outstay their welcome, becoming abrasive or obnoxious, Paak’s voice is routinely interesting and welcomed. I think his voice is the perfect accent to his music; it’s what separates him from other vocalists. It’s a bit hard to explain but the way I think of it is this: if someone like Bruno Mars (who I’ve always seen as a less funky version of Paak) made Malibu, it would be great, sure, but it wouldn’t be as special as it is. The voice is what charges the whole record up just a bit past 100%.
Transitions
An underrated part of what makes a good coherent album is the way each song flows into the next. It’s easier to appreciate a record as a whole this way instead of as a mish mash of songs that ends up feeling like a playlist instead (a disheartening trend that’s become more popular in the streaming era of music). Paak utilizes transitions as a way to fit each song hand in hand with one another though.He does this in two ways: through your traditional “this song sounds cool when you play it after this song” kind of flow (Put Me Thru into Am I Wrong) and with the skits that tie into the following song (Heart Don’t Stand a Chance into The Waters). Occasionally, these skits bleed between tracks as well, adapting one sound into another and giving the album the feel of a complete work of art meant to be digested as a whole. Like a pizza. That makes sense right?
Versatility
I tend to classify Malibu as a funk album, though I could absolutely be wrong. The beautiful thing about music is how subjective it is. Everyone interprets it differently. I only lean towards funk because it’s the most ambiguous genre I know (also because the two, admittedly outdated, words I would use to describe Paak would be “funky” and “groovy) and Paak delivers an auditory smorgasbord of sounds on the album. Elements of R&B, rap, gospel, soul, jazz, and rock all poke their head up through the album’s 16 tracks. Am I Wrong best displays Malibu’s flexibility to me because it’s just pure infectious dance music. As soon as the beat kicks in it’s impossible not to move. Then, just two tracks later, we get Parking Lot, which sees Paak adjust into a more introspective space as the rhythm is carried by his drumming. Just a few tracks later the mood shifts again on the overtly sexual Water Fall, and then again with the radio-centric sound of Come Down. I say all this without even mentioning songs like The Bird and The Season which feature Paak telling the story of his tumultuous upbringing, granting the album more of a narrative feel. I’m sure this is all a lot but this is all to say that you can’t really put Malibu in a box and label it as one thing. It just shifts around too much and ends up as this incredibly dynamic piece of music.
Features
Speaking further to the versatility of the album, the features on this thing give us a ton of different sounds. Whether it’s the bouncy background vocals of the choirs, Talib Kweli’s repeated refrain on The Dreamer, or Rapsody’s imposing verse on Without You, each feature is memorable and unique in it’s own way. My personal favorite is ScHoolboy Q’s rhythmic inclusion on Am I Wrong. It’s not by any means a typical Q song (who’s “Groovy Q” nickname is especially apt here) but he blends into the beat with such a relaxed and bouncy swagger that I always initially mistake him for Andre 3000. His unorthodox feature here showcases just how carefully curated each of these artist’s appearances on the record must have been.
Instrumentals/Background Vocals
I probably listen to Malibu at least once a month, with certain songs earning more playtime from me as I fall back in love with them. Although I’ve trekked through this album countless times, I still find myself surprised by instruments and voices that I’d never noticed before. Even as I write this, I’ve only just picked up on how Paak’s voice is superimposed over his own vocals near the end of The Dreamer (a song I’ve easily played hundreds of times by now). The way that these tracks continue to surprise me like this speaks to how truly special the production on this record is as well as the consistent brilliance of the band backing Paak’s vocals.
Parking Lot
Parking Lot. Parking Lot Parking Lot Parking Lot. I really love Parking Lot. It’s definitely my favorite Paak song and it sits comfortably somewhere within my top 10 all-time favorites. I love the way it opens with that low-to-high droning that cuts out just short of being obnoxious. I love how that sound denotes the arrival of the drum beat along with the clapping. I love the way that each part of the beat enters one after another, as if the song were an AA meeting where each part of it had to introduce itself to the group before getting underway. How Paak flows over all these sounds just feels so effortlessly graceful too. The beat seems to take a backseat out of respect as he tells his story of a drunken night with a woman in a parking lot, before he suddenly takes control of the sound through the hook. “1, 2, 3, come on you feel me.” The way he shifts from storyteller to composer like that really highlights one of his greatest strengths: his ability to remain comfortable singing and rapping his verses while also doing his own hook.
Personality
My favorite thing about Paak is just how out there he is while still maintaining an air of coolness about himself. The guy’s colorful and vibrant, with a style you’d expect more from a Malibu street performer rather than a hip-hop superstar. But hey, it works for him and just as he oozes personality, so does this album. Maybe it’s the iconic raspy-smooth voice he’s become known for or the tangible rhythm of the album but it’s never hard to visualize Paak as he sings, raps and harmonizes across the records 61 minutes.
The Come Down Bass Line
If someone were to ask me “Hey, what five hip-hop songs do you think best represent the past five years?” I’d probably need about 2-4 business weeks to mull the question over, because it’s a real tough one (I think Redbone by Childish Gambino and Alright by Kendrick Lamar are both guaranteed a spot at that table though). But what I would be immediately sure of is that Come Down would absolutely and unequivocally, all-caps HAVE to be a part of that discussion solely due to the iconic bass line that it features. Even if you’ve never heard the whole song, you’d recognize it from this instrumental, one that’s been featured in TV commercials for years. It’s a rare and special thing when an instrument outhsines a vocalist on a song but that’s exactly what we see on this song. The way the bass just bounces perfectly through the track assures me that I’ll be coming back to it regularly even when I’m twice my age. Shoutout to Brain Cockerman who’s accredited as the bass player for the song.
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