New Release: Jahméne - Is This The Time?

July 22, 2016 Critic Jonni 0 Comments



Jahméne is back! With this new fire track that compliments his soulful voice perfectly. However with little promotion, and radio not really picking this up, he doesn't really stand a chance of charting next Friday. This X Factor runner-up has such a perfect voice, but it seems he's holding back on this track and the performance side of the video. Jahméne performs statically in this video for "Is This The Time", whilst the narrative excites and entertains by pausing a snapshot of life.

Let's be honest Jahméne Douglas should've won The X Factor series nine, and his vocals on this track just proves how much he deserves to do well in the music industry, yet his style and songs seem stuck in the past. This is not a current track, it's something that would've been released in the 90's or early 00's where this genre was popular. This is his first single from his upcoming second album, his first album hit number one on the UK albums chart, yet the singles from that album didn't fair well, with only his debut single charting titled "Titanium", a cover version of David Guetta & Sia's song "Titanium".

Directed by Mike Baldwin, the video has both a performance side and a narrative, as I mentioned earlier.

You would think his time on The X Factor would've boosted Jahméne's on-stage presence, and yet he is standing there like a statue. He has a slight confidence which he exposes during the big notes, but he goes back into his shy little self during the chorus and other parts of the verses. This is not what I'd like to see on stage. He needs to send out those all important performance vibes, but he doesn't seem to have any.

The narrative is detailed, taking a moment on the escalators where a man and woman cross paths, and there's an instant connection between the two. The escalators stop and he walks down them. A daydream state ensues where we watch his unsurety of whether to go after her, is it the right time or not?

I think it's clever, we've all passed a total stranger and considered them to be our future lover or a little bit of fun, but are they worth humiliation of rejection for? Confidence has always been a good thing in my book, and if you don't live for the moment, it'll never be the right time.

Personally, I think we pass many people who could potentially be 'The One', you just have to take the risk and find out. This  music video, however, does the complete opposite, encouraging people to carry on with their lives, and the right person will finally come along. Yet if we all did that, then it means they'll never come along, because someone needs the confidence to take the first step.

Overall, this video is a high quality visual, yet it fails to entertain, questions whether confidence is good or not, and totally makes Jahméne static. Although the basic idea behind this video sounds good, it just fails in the visual aspect of things.
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