Ari Lennox occupies a distinctive lane when considering her R&B peers, favouring classic soul warmth, jazz inflection and grown-up storytelling over shameless trend-chasing. ‘Vacancy’, her third album, largely doubles down on those instincts, delivering a polished, personable listen that plays squarely to her strengths even if it doesn’t quite push her forward.
The production is consistently tasteful: clean, live-sounding and unshowy, with basslines that roll rather than punch. It gives Lennox room to stretch vocally, and her voice sounds terrific throughout – relaxed yet precise.
At its best, the album feels light on its feet and quietly confident. Cool Down floats by on summery ease, its reggae-tinged groove masking a firm lyrical telling-off, while Under the Moon injects a welcome note of danger, pairing werewolf imagery with a sense of romantic self-sabotage that feels dark and honest.
Elsewhere, Lennox’s sharp writing keeps things engaging even when the emotional terrain is familiar.
Horoscope turns repeated romantic disappointment into sly comedy, while 24 Seconds is one of the record’s strongest moments: a countdown song that masquerades as an ultimatum while revealing exhaustion, impatience and vulnerability beneath the bravado. Lennox excels at this kind of emotional specificity, articulating imbalance and frustration with a good degree of wit.
The album’s main weakness is momentum. While ‘Vacancy’ isn’t exactly bloated, the back half does begin to blur together, with similar tempos and themes recurring without enough variation to fully justify the runtime. There’s a sense of circling the same unanswered questions rather than arriving somewhere new.
Still, this is a solid, enjoyable return that showcases her voice, personality and craft. It may not be revelatory, but it’s a reminder of how good she is at what she does, and why she remains one of modern R&B’s more dependable presences.
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