Since 2012, PJ Morton has served as one of the keyboardists for pop/rock band Maroon 5. However, he also has a successful solo discography that includes seven solo albums, four live albums, two EP’S, and one mixtape. Morton is currently working hard on his eighth solo album and recently released the first single, “Please Don’t Walk Away.”
A beautiful ballad that harkens back to the sound of seventies soul, opens with beautiful piano sounds before Morton starts to croon. One of Morton’s vocal strengths is that he never over sings his material, choosing instead to stay in his natural register while highlighting his musicianship skills.
“Please Don’t Walk Away” is a song about a man begging his love not to leave, and Morton easily sells the song with honest lyrics such as:
“It’s never gone this far
It’s never been this bad
But I won’t let it erase the memories
Of good times; we’ve had”.
The song’s strength is in Morton’s vocals and something that we can all relate to when things go south in a relationship. I can easily see this song featured in a romantic comedy or dramedy set to a scene where our hero reflects on what he did wrong and attempts to get his lady back. “Please Don’t Walk Away” is Morton at his best and may garner the singer another Grammy award.
Final Grade: A
“Please Don’t Walk Away” is available on all streaming platforms.
This week’s Second Listen Sunday pick takes us back to 2006 to revisit “So Amazin’,” the third album from Christina Milian. Arriving in stores on April 19 of that year, the project was produced largely by Cool & Dre, sans one song, and saw the singer earn writing credits on nine of the album’s songs.
For this week’s Slow Jam Saturday, I want to showcase love for Rahsaan Patterson and his album track “Can We Wait a Minute” from his self-titled debut album, released in 1997.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I wanted to take a trip back to 2000 and show some love to the R&B duo K-Ci & JoJo and their third album, “X,” which was released in stores on December 5, just in time for a holiday stocking stuffer. Arguably, the group suffered from the sophomore slump with their second album, as only two singles were successful.