Last year, Detroit artist Illa J paired up with L.A. producer Calvin Valentine to drop an album in Home that was a bit of a departure for him, pushing him much further in the soul direction than he had gone at any point in his career. It worked so well for him, he and Valentine teamed up for round two, John Yancey.

While Valentine helped Illa J find his inner soul artist on Home, leaving his tough rapper persona behind, on John Yancey, they try to split the difference. What this means in practice is that you get a really pop-friendly album, with great hooks and a great bounce to the production, as J and Valentine put a modern twist on the R&B/hip hop style. Valentine certainly makes the case for his talent and versatility as a producer, with his final project of the year, which also saw him drop a solo album, Keep Summer Safe, amongst things. All of this makes John Yancey a very intriguing project on paper, something that could potentially cross over to a lot of new listeners. Unfortunately, Illa J is all over the place when it comes to the lyrics on this album, and not in a good way. The main theme of the album is women, and J’s relationship with women is complicated and contradictory, and it often feels like he doesn’t know what he wants to say, or worse, that he forgot what he just said in the last song. You don’t have to look farther than the first two songs on the album to get a sense of this. The album opens with the wonderful gospel-tinged “Shine On,” which promises a fun party album for the grown folks. He then turns around, however, with a song titled “James Said,” which you might think would be a touching tribute to what he learned from his late brother. Unfortunately, it’s song in which he talks about how he can’t commit to one woman, and how he learned how to be a player from his brother. It’s oddly celebratory in tone, and an even odder invocation of his brother’s legacy. As the album progresses, you keep getting this back and forth, where one minute J sounds like a 32-year-old man whose figured things out and is making his own path, and then the next minute sounds like an immature 21-year-old who’s balling out of control. Ultimately, it feels like a step back for Illa J.

John Yancey held a lot of promise, and there are good moments on the album, but it ultimately falls short. Illa J proves once again to be his own worst enemy, taking a step backward each time he steps forward.