Tiana Major9 made a major splash in the mainstream when she collaborated with EARTHGANG on the Queen & Slim single "Collide" back in 2019. Since then, the young singer-songwriter has constantly been on our radar thanks to projects like 2020's At Sixes And Sevens and her many collaborations. While Tiana is still at work on her debut album, she helps quell the clamor of fans with her new EP Fool Me Once.
The EP consists of four tracks but only three of the four are full songs (the final entry and title track is a spoken word outro that lasts only 30 seconds). The three full songs do offer a glimpse into what we can expect from Tiana in the future. Each is mellow R&B offering different flavors of the same theme.
Opener "2 Seater" features rapper/singer Smino and plays as a duet between the two over a warm acoustic guitar set against a heavy kick drum and snap. It also gives us a taste of Tiana's versatility as the beat switches and she tries her hand at rhyming over the harder-edged switch-up. That leads us to "On God!" and its hopelessly romantic lyrics and melody (which, once again, is based on acoustic guitar and hip-hop-influenced drums).
"Try Peace..." is the track that hews closest to traditional R&B, setting the singer's vocal against lush guitar, piano and slight finger snaps as she figures out her feelings. It continues the theme of falling in love while keeping a bit of skepticism about how much the feeling can be trusted.
Fool Me Once is short enough to be considered more of a maxi-single than an EP. But as an amuse-bouche before the musical meal she's sure to serve on her proper debut, these love songs are more than enough to tide us over until the main course is ready.
Tiana Major9 Fool Me Once [Amazon][Apple Music][TIDAL]