5/10
Kings of Leon have made their musical return. Their last album, 2024’s Can We Please Have Fun, was a commercial success, debuting at the number three spot on the Billboard Album Sales Chart. It was proof that Kings of Leon, a four-member alternative rock band, was hitting their stride. Their cover of Robyn’s “Dancing On My Own,” which is going viral on Tiktok, proves that too. But O My Beloved is a derivation from their usual sound. It also isn’t the revolutionary comeback one would hope for. With 13 stripped down tracks, O My Beloved tries to create a tear-jerking album when in reality, originality is lacking throughout.
The record opens up with “My Whole World,” a short intro that quickly sets up the mood of the album. It teases at the idea of a gentle romance from the past. “I’m grateful, he’s there for / My whole world,” Caleb Followill, the band’s lead singer, sings. The idea is paired along with smooth guitars and a calm acoustic instrumental. While this track helps to establish the warm romantic spirit prominent in the rest of the album, it’s dull and forgettable when lined up with the other tracks.
“The Rose” and “Pretty Thing” are the highlights of the album. Both songs focus on melancholic yearning for a past relationship that will never return. In “Pretty Thing,” Followill sings “Your new man seems alright to me / He sure won himself a lottery.” The same topic is touched on in “The Rose.” “When we kissed our first kiss / Who could have known / It would last two lifetimes.” King of Leon’s mainstream hits all have something in common: a reflective longing and a profound sense of loneliness. These factors are clear in these songs, which feel like Kings of Leon classics. In O My Beloved, they get there by using the bittersweet nature of romantic longing and nostalgia.
“Blue Jeans and Diamonds” shares similar themes to the album’s highlights, but its execution is far poorer than the others. “When I got all tore up in the photograph / I think that we’re timeless,” Followill sings, illustrating the same vulnerability as in “The Rose.” The issue is the instrumental and baseline are so weak, it’s hard to relisten. When compared to the more compelling interpretations, it just blends into the broad mellowness of the record.
“Get You Down,” the album’s closing track, sums up the album into just one song. The song depicts a sense of resilience that he has to grow on his own to gain a steady presence that Followill aspires to have in his future relationships. While one may expect that in such a cohesive album, Kings of Leon would at least want to end on a standout note. Instead, “Get You Down” is the exact opposite with a slow generic progression.
The album’s fixation on nostalgia extends to the ideas of childhood and the past, which are explored on “Cold Blue Dawn” and “Make It Count.” Both tracks focus on the complexity of becoming an adult and reflecting back on what has shaped you. These songs introduce a slight nuance to the nostalgia motif, helping the record’s overarching emotional sentiments even if they don’t ease the tracklist’s flow issues.
One of O My Beloved’s major struggles is its lack of originality. Most of the songs have a relatively predictable country rock sound to them, flowing together in a monotonous way. The songs will slip away after the first listen. This deviation from their usual gritty sound could be seen as an attempt at artistic growth, but the switch lands as a half baked attempt at something more classic.
When talking about the album’s faults, it is important to acknowledge the album’s meaning and backstory. The subjects of loss and memory in “Blue Jeans and Diamonds” and “My Whole World” are based on Followill’s experiences after the loss of his mother. Followill decided that he wanted to focus on his childhood and how it shaped him as a way to reflect on his grief and his mothers impact.
O My Beloved isn’t particularly offensive or unpleasant. It’s a run-of-the-mill country album filled with warm instrumentals and honeyed nostalgic lyrics. Yet, its greatest shortcoming is how little the record gives for the listeners to remember once the final song ends.
