Blood Orange’s “Jewelry” Is Kaleidoscopic, Cryptic, And The Best Thing You’ll Hear Today [Click to Listen]

Dev Hynes, the human behind Blood Orange, has always taken the weirder path. His latest album, Negro Swan, is a wall-to-wall amalgam of jazz, R&B and alternative soul music that never feels static. “Jewelry” is the best of all of it – featuring a deadening spoken-word intro by Janet Mock, otherworldly singing, Hynes’ elegant English-accented rapping, and production that leans on blaring synths while taking sharp turns on every possible corner.

You’ll hear parts of all this on Negro Swan, but “Jewelry” encompasses it all beautifully. Hynes sings and raps cryptically – only after a few listens do you start to decipher the song. It’s a treatise on trying to be successful and black. A line here and there reveals more (“nigga I’m feelin’ myself/one time for the help…”). After a while, “Jewelry” starts to come together and the song takes on that deeper meaning, other than simply being gorgeously curated by Hynes. It’s one of many obscure highlights on Negro Swan.