Through The Wall

In the 2020s, dance music has resurged as a prominent influence within pop and R&B. Beyoncé’s Renaissance embraced Black culture’s connection to house music, and longtime electronic artists such as Kelela and FKA twigs sought to integrate dance inspiration into their music. While other artists take detours into the club, on Through The Wall, Rochelle Jordan finds herself right at home. Comfortably over a decade into her career, with 5 albums under her belt, Rochelle’s commitment to dance R&B reaches its apex. Polished, sleek, and confident, Through The Wall is an example of a master at work, and for an hour, you are left at her will.

Chronically underappreciated could be an apt description of Rochelle Jordan’s career. Rochelle Jordan has spent years toiling away, perfecting her craft, largely without any breakthrough success. In a review for her previous project, 2021’s Play With The Changes, Pitchfork describes how her music was “all lost amid a flood of similarly moody Torontonian R&B.” Play With The Changes was raucous, claustrophobic, and gritty; while well-received, it in no way represented a breakout, perhaps because it was released during COVID. The muted reception gave Rochelle and executive producer KLSH the green light to start on her next project right away. Out of these sessions came Through The Wall, a departure from the grime of Play With The Changes into a new world of polish that is both refined and expensive. In a press release for the album, Rochelle stated that Through The Wall is “one of those albums I once only wished I could make,” a sentiment the music makes obvious. It’s a project that is only possible through years of experience and learning.

Dance music can often be marked by extravagance. A tacky, showman DJ will attempt to excite with dramatic drops and oversensitization at the expense of the fundamental groove. Rochelle Jordan refuses to fall for theatrics and instead opts for subtlety. The tracks glide along and sway, with Rochelle opting for relaxed, velvet-like vocals that soothe and subdue. Through The Wall doesn’t want to shock you. It’s seductive in how it wants to bring you into its world and onto the dance floor. This is never more apparent than on the house track “TTW.” The song has a constant, propulsive thrust as Rochelle assures, “You can breathe now / When you really wanna push through, okay / Let them say what they want to.” The track reassures that it is okay to dance and let the music’s rhythm carry you through the night. Whether you’ve come to mingle, to forget, to celebrate, Through The Wall wants you to dance.

At the heart of Through The Wall is a deep reverence for all of the music that has come before it. In an interview with LISTEN Magazine, Rochelle expressed that “at the forefront of my mind was definitely pulling out the quality of voice and sound in which the ones that came before you did.” Rochelle flirts with pop, R&B, house, UK garage, UK bass, and more throughout the album, both separately and all at once. Beyond KLSH, the album’s production credits reflect its diversity, with contributions from the likes of Machinedrum, Terry Hunter, Jimmy Edgar, and Kaytranada. Rochelle Jordan posits herself as a queen of the dance floor, capable of switching styles at will. Thus, it’s no surprise that the album is indebted in no small part to the Queen of the dance floor Janet Jackson. Her legacy towers over the LP, yet at no point does it overshadow it. On the hip house track “Ladida” and the UK garage-inspired “Doing it Too”, Rochelle perfectly captures the attitude that distinguished Janet as the foremost pop diva, embracing both the sassiness as well as the soft, gentle delivery that marked tracks like “Control” and “What Have You Done For Me Lately”. Meanwhile, the album's more soulful R&B cuts, such as the romantic “Words 2 Say” and the seductive “Bite the Bait,” are aligned with the forward-thinking R&B that was spread throughout . and . She and other influences (Aaliyah, Brandy, the Neptunes) all combine and provide reference points that propel the album to its own identity. Rochelle proves herself to be a singular, distinct voice in both house and R&B.

What is the dance floor? Is it an escape? Is it a place of sensuality? Can it be a tool for revenge? Is it a pure form of self-expression? On Through The Wall, Rochelle answers with an emphatic all of the above. Lyrical themes alternate between self-affirmations, love and lust, heartbreak, and the urge to get out and be free. The solution to all of it is always to go and dance. The funk-inspired track “Sweet Sensation” lays out the thesis for the whole project: “There ain’t a thing / That can keep me staying home tonight.” Through The Wall believes in the unrelenting human need to get down. It’s a call to action, a prescription for each and every one of us to go and hit the club, to go and rave, to at least get up and move. And no matter how you try and refuse the call, Through The Wall will compel you to bust a move. Perhaps you’ll find that it is not the solution to everything, but you might as well try and see.