Despite the evidence "Those Things" puts forward, Jodeci is clearly comfortable living amidst the vaulted synths of their prime, and that doesn’t have to be a bad thing. The few guest starts here don't upset the balance: B.o.B ("Nobody Wins") and Mila J ("Body Parts"), deliver lukewarm verses and are outperformed by the bombast of the group vocals. Most of the remaining 11 tracks are closer to "Too Hot", which lifts the thunderous bass line from Dawn Penn’s classic, "You Don't Love Me (No, No, No". It’s all ingenious, brawny R&B that celebrates the past, but there’s not much on this album of midtempo ballads that presents a vision of the future. A wave of sweet oohs breezes through "Stress Reliever", paired with thick drums that give the track the airy whimsy of Jai Paul’s "BTSTU". "Those Things", one of The Past’s best tracks, begins in that classic territory before rapid-fire kick drums and snares and a warped synth offer a genius update: New jack swing for a post-trap world, courtesy of former protégé Timbaland, who produces the track as well as "Incredible". It’s a fans-first album that certainly won’t be played outside of urban radio formats-but then, it's rare to hear anything as assuredly black as Jodeci’s pristine, four-part harmonies and celestial new jack swing outside those formats anymore anyway. So, like the second single "Every Moment" hinted, this is another record of silky, pro-forma bedroom soul a classic, if slightly tame Jodeci record, with no real aesthetic challenges or age-inappropriate shifts in style. In some ways, the 'Bad Boys of R&B' tagline was just a foil: Jodeci, led by producer/singer DeVante Swing, remains a group of soul classicists, thematically inspired by the intimacy and lewdness of sex and buttressed by the aesthetic and energy of hip-hop.
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