This review was first published in September 2025 (RIDDIM 04/2025).
Label: Easy Star Records
Text: Jürgen Schickinger
One in seven people in Germany claim to have experienced ”life-changing sex” – sex that completely turned their lives around. Jesse Royal, however, knows that ”a single moment can change everything!” His, though, was not ecstatic but painful: a serious traffic accident. After the initial shock, Jesse transformed the relief of having survived into a positive impulse, releasing ”No Place Like Home” just a week later. By his own admission, he had already tinkered with the album for far too long. One person’s ordeal… another’s cause for celebration. The release features ten tracks, half of which Jesse handles solo.
Two of the five collaborations – ”Hope” with Romain Virgo and ”Blessing” with Yohan Marley – have been out for some time. On the new, militant ”Jungle Justice,” Jesse and Kabaka Pyramid imagine drastic punishments for pedophiles and femicide perpetrators: dousing them in gasoline, setting them on fire, and rolling them down the hill! The very catchy – but never saccharine – ”Too Late” rolls in more gently. Here, Jesse duets with Melanie Fiona over a failed relationship, before closing the album with Perfect Giddimani on the delightfully relaxed ”Kinda Like Me,” declaring that a little (self-)contentment makes life much easier. Without any guest vocals, Jesse shines on the strong opener ”Trod On,” which flows seamlessly into the more melodic ”Art of Love” – ”Trod Rastafari way!” At the rhythmic heart of this beautiful album, reggae always pulses, yet Jesse refreshingly stretches it in many directions – hip-hop, trap, Latin, Afrobeats, and pop. ”No Place Like Home” grooves fully in step with the times and has undoubtedly earned its Grammy nomination – Jesse Royal’s second.
