SHIFTER’s Kevin Bourne says this may be the most vulnerable version of Haviah Mighty yet in his Crying Crystals album review.
Haviah Mighty, one of Canada’s more consistent artists, recently returned with her first full length project in two years titled Crying Crystals. The 13-track album is a follow up to her Juno-winning album Stock Exchange and her Polaris-winning debut album13th Floor.
Since her last album, she has won a Juno Award, graced the red carpet at the 2022 BET Hip Hop Awards after being nominated for Best International Flow, and appears to be more comfortable in her own skin than ever before. She stayed busy in 2023 with a steady string of singles, including “Honey Bun”, “Zoom Zoom” featuring her sister Omega Mighty, “Huh” where it sounds like we’re getting four versions of Haviah Mighty on one song, and “Room Service”, which all appear on the album.
In looking at her previous projects, Mighty is an artist who picks her opening tracks well and it’s no different with the new album. The project opens with “Snowfall” featuring Montreal artist and songwriter, Zach Zoya, where we hear majestic vocals, both from Zoya and the background vocalists. On the track, Mighty recalls how her once promising relationship went wrong. They then switch places on “Lil Baby” where Zoya gets back into his rapping bag while Mighty is heard singing (at least for a part of the song).
“I always knew that you would let go first
When you mad I’m left on read like you cell don’t work.”
Throughout the album, Mighty gives us poetry and bars on “Stress Free”, dance music on “Huh”, “Sensational” and again on “All The Time”, and island vibes on the aforementioned “Zoom Zoom” featuring Omega Mighty. The name of the game right now in Black music is “versatility” and few Canadian artists do it at the level of Haviah Mighty.
Continuing through the album, you get the sense that the album is good, but something might be missing. We know Mighty can give us a high level of artistry while exploring a variety of styles, as she does throughout the project, but is she going to give us one of the “those” tracks? “Main Character” is one of those. She brings the vibes on the song as she floats on a stink face-inducing trap beat and shows her potential for mainstream success.
The challenge for an artist like Haviah Mighty, who consistently puts out award-winning albums and has received a lot of accolades, is how to outdo your previous projects and elevate even further? Mighty is in the enviable yet difficult position where her only competition is herself and her last accolade, and often that’s the hardest competition to overcome.
‘Bout to move to the left now
Want you out of my head now
I don’t want to be left out
I don’t want to think about you
Crying Crystals may, or may not, continue Mighty’s string of award-winning albums, but that doesn’t matter. Although this project may be sonically similar to her previous releases, when you look deeper it appears to be her most vulnerable project yet, as though she gave us a closer look into her world. Where on previous albums, Mighty delved into social commentary on the Black experience on songs like “Thirteen” and “Protest”, this album feels like therapy where she had some personal things to get off her chest about her own life. And ultimately that’s what fans want―relatable content that speaks to their lives while letting them into yours as an artist, and Haviah Mighty gave her fans exactly that.
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