| Water Made Us | |
| Type: | studio |
| Artist: | Jamila Woods |
| Cover: | Jamila Woods - Water Made Us.png |
| Genre: | R&B, neo soul |
| Length: | 45:01 |
| Label: | Jagjaguwar |
| Producer: | |
| Prev Title: | Legacy! Legacy! |
| Prev Year: | 2019 |
Water Made Us is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter and poet Jamila Woods. It was released on October 13, 2023, through Jagjaguwar.
Water Made Us was born out of a period of "intense self-reflection and creative expression" during the COVID-19 pandemic.[1] As she "sat in the house for 2 years" she became her own "source material", of which she loves to draw inspiration from.[2] In a statement, Woods described the project as "the most personal and vulnerable piece of art" she has ever created. She personally wished for the album to become a playlist that carries one through a "life cycle of a relationship",[3] as she and co-producer Chris McClenney tried to narrow the tracklist down to 17 tracks. McClenney praised her "amazing sense of language and a way with words" that puts "so much weight" on every lyric of the album.
The project was described as her own "search for love". While the first few tracks capture the "fluttery apprehension of a new connection", the ballads "Wreckage Room" and "Thermostat" reflect on motifs such as "conflict" and heartbreak. Finally, the songs concluding the album are seen as "mantra songs" by Woods due to their "expressions of accumulated wisdom".[4]
The lead single "Tiny Garden" was released on July 11 and features New York singer Duendita. A "nourishing, uplifting" track with "hip-hop instrumentation"[5] that sees another chapter of her signature "spirit of benevolence", Pitchfork writer Dylan Green awarded it "Best New Music" upon release.[6] Woods explained that the song is about the way her heart works in "the slow and steady way" she loves. An accompanying music video sees her directorial debut, as she expresses how she oftentimes feels about relationships.[7] On August 16, Woods released the single "Boomerang", co-written by Nao, London producers Grades and George Moore. The singer revealed that the song talks about the kind of relationship "keeps popping back up throughout your life" and the feelings that come with wondering "will we or won't we?"[8] A third single titled "Good News" came out on September 13. The song was integral to the determination of what the album title would be, as it arose from a lyric of the track.[9]
In October 2023, Woods announced The Water Made Us Tour in support of the album. The tour is set to begin on February 1, 2024 in Seattle and end on April 30, 2024 in Copenhagen.[10]
Writing for AllMusic, Andy Kellman praised the album as "unique in the way it examines and reflects on love with its philosophical and patient yet unconcealed perspective." HipHopDXs Alec Siegel praised the album as "bursting with intimate details on a diorama-sized scale that loosely trace the relationship lifecycle: the boundless beginning, the comfortable middle, the abrupt end, and, crucially, the reflective aftermath." Robin Murray of Clash described the album as "lavish in scope but touchingly personal." Writing for Beats Per Minute, Steve Forstneger praised the album as "possibly the most intelligent album about love this decade." Pitchfork's Tarisai Ngangura praised Woods' writing as having "irreverence, flexibility, and discipline." Writing for The Guardian, Rachel Aroesti described the album as "hook-filled" and "restlessly genre-blending." Noah Barker of The Line of Best Fit praised the album's themes as "pair[ing] harmony with righteousness." In his review for PopMatters, Steve Horowitz described Woods' as having "a good sense of humor and engag[ing] in wordplay and childlike melodies to affect a mood or make a point." Slant Magazine