Helmed by her light vocals, Rochelle Jordan’s earlier records indulged in frothy, dark R&B, but her 2021 breakthrough Play with the Changes captured a breakbeat vision of club music: frenetic, dizzying, rapturous. Her follow-up, the sleek and luxurious Through The Wall, doubles down and delivers the purest distillation of her vision so far, and on top of that, it’s one of the best pop albums of the year.
Through The Wall bursts with energy; its sly mix of house, R&B and dance-pop demand movement. Her breathy desire on “The Boy” or “Bite The Bait” clash with their pummeling beats – there’s no choice but to submit, and it sounds like she does, too. But elsewhere she drives the beat and commands attention, like rapping on “Around” or “Ladida”. On the pulsating “Doing It Too”, she winks that “boys will be boys but the girls will too…the girls should do,” before kicking off one of the most infectious choruses of the year. It’s as if KAYTRANADA mixed Kelela’s “Contact” while on uppers; any club playing it less than twice an hour would be malpractice. It’s one of those endlessly addictive pop songs, and better yet, Through The Wall has about five more of those.
“TTW” could assist a poolside Ibiza resort or a sweaty club night. “Ladida” flips “Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee)” into a skipping, hip house anthem. The moans on “Close 2 Me” ache against its buzzy, erratic beat. “Eyes Shut” reckons with creative stagnation (“I don’t know who I’m working for”) with broader commentary (“It’s a heartbroken nation / And the money down, inflation”). It doesn’t totally come together, but points are given for singing about bureaucracy against an aqueous, dripping beat. “Get It Off” and “Sweet Sensation” are buzzy odes to early-aughts pop and R&B: breathy, dreamlike. Her command of vibe – across a similar but not homogenous tracklist – probes different areas and impressively never loses momentum. Its hour is weighty but svelte, generous and not bloated.
With beats so vigorous, and, to use a technical term, fierce, Jordan is right to position herself as the queen of the club. She’s in complete charge of the night; catty, sexy, yet still making sure everyone has a good time. This attitude is what makes a title like “I’m Your Muse” work, or an interlude on “Sum” bragging about her power to hypnotize. On that song, which is basically about how hot she is, she cuts the song short to foster for an encore, a crowd chanting “One more time!”, eventually integrated within the beat. But since she storms right after with “The Boy”, a throbbing track about missed connection, it works – one moment she’s liberated and twirling, then desperately lusting on her knees. Such is the politics of the dance floor.Through The Wall’s heavy pleasure borders on indulgence, like eating an entire box of rich chocolates, but its novelty, cheek, and brash commitment to fun buoys likely one of the most fun hours of music since RENAISSANCE. Rochelle Jordan’s second album in her house matriarch makeover is proof she’s found her artistic voice – an alluring vision of deep house superstardom. It has the cadence of a glamorous, unforgettable night out, and better yet, you can relive this one over and over.
