Album Review: Majid Jordan by Majid Jordan

Majid Jordan have always been somewhat secretive. Discovered by Drake's producer and right-hand man Noah "40" Shebib in 2011, the Toronto electronic-R&B pair — singer Majid Al Maskati and producer Jordan Ullman — have spent the five last years in the studio under OVO's wing. In 2013, they demonstrated their superstar quality by co-writing Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home"; the smash was a modern dance/R&B fusion, more in line with Majid Jordan's sound than Drake's.

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It’s October 2011. Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman meet for the first time at Majid’s 21st birthday. Majid, a Bahraini vocalist and student at the University of Toronto studying at the Rotman School of Management, immediately finds common musical ground with Jordan, a local and producer who was studying economics also at the University of Toronto.

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Early success has its perks and its drawbacks. Since the Toronto duo Majid Jordan wrote and and co-produced Drake's "Hold On, We're Going Home," they've seen every new song and video of theirs given the same treatment as if it were new material from the 6 God himself. The co-sign led to a major-label signing and an eager, supportive audience for their self-titled debut album.

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There was nothing surprising about the crossover success of Drake’s Nothing Was the Same ballad “Hold On, We’re Going Home”, but the appearance of the song’s feature, Majid Jordan, led millions of Drizzy fans to scratch their heads in unison. While some background info about the Toronto duo formerly known as Good People was eventually uncovered, singer Majid Al Maskati and producer Jordan Ullman’s lack of music under the Majid Jordan moniker, combined with their sporadic social media activity, meant there wasn’t a lot to find. In fact, Drake’s rendition of “Hold On, We’re Going Home” on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in September 2013 marked the pair’s first-ever live performance.

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Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman are merchants of mood. Performing together as Majid Jordan – Al Maskati sings, Ullman produces – the Toronto duo helped write and produce Drake's 2013 hit "Hold On, We're Going Home," a pop confection that was really a deep house track at its core. That song lingered in listeners' ears (and radio programmers' playlists) thanks to its deft use of negative space, careful never to crowd out the song's hooks.

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Toronto-based duo Majid Al Maskati and Jordan Ullman landed a deal with Drake’s OVO Sound label after they co-wrote and co-produced (and featured on) his addictive pop hit Hold On, We’re Going Home. The music they’ve produced since has so far failed to live up to the catchiness of that tune, including much of this snoozy self-titled debut LP. Not that the pair aren’t trying – the dancey ballad Something About You, the Prince-referencing lyrics and falsetto of King City and the bouncy Shake Shake Shake show a clear affinity for simple, direct hooks and melodies, but the songs never rise above pop-factory genericness.

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