''Souldier'' is the second studio album by French singer-songwriter

Jain Jainism ( ), also known as Jain Dharma, is an Indian religion. Jainism traces its spiritual ideas and history through the succession of twenty-four tirthankaras (supreme preachers of ''Dharma''), with the first in the current time cycle being ...

. It was released on 24 August 2018 through Spookland,

Columbia Columbia may refer to: * Columbia (personification), the historical female national personification of the United States, and a poetic name for America Places North America Natural features * Columbia Plateau, a geologic and geographic region in ...

and

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainmen ...

. Its release was preceded by the lead single "Alright". The album's title is a play-on-words between 'soldier' and 'soul'. The album debuted at number one in France and the French-speaking part of Switzerland (Romandie), number two in Switzerland and at number three in Wallonia. Jain toured North America in support of the album, beginning in October 2018, followed by dates in western Europe in November and December 2018. The tour will continue in France in spring 2019.

Release and promotion

The album's title, cover and track listing were announced on 29 June 2018 and it was made available for

pre-order A pre-order is an order placed for an item that has not yet been released. The idea for pre-orders came because people found it hard to get popular items in stores because of their popularity. Companies then had the idea to allow customers to r ...

. On 25 May 2018, "Alright" was released as the album's lead single. A music video for the song was released on 25 June 2018. The song achieved considerable success in France, reaching number one on the downloads chart and number six on the overall singles chart. In December 2018, it was certified platinum in France for sales exceeding 200,000 copies. "Alright" was also highly successful in

Walloon Walloon may refer to: * Walloons, a French-speaking population of Belgium * Walloon language * Walloon Region or Wallonia in Belgium ** Walloon Government * Walloon Lake * Walloon, Queensland See also * ''The Walloons'', a 1782 play by Richard C ...

, where it peaked at number two on the singles chart. On 8 October 2018, "Oh Man" was released as the album's second single. A music video for the song was released on 21 December 2018. It was filmed at the

Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya The Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya (, English: "National Art Museum of Catalonia"), abbreviated as MNAC, is a museum of Catalan visual art located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Situated on Montjuïc hill at the end of Avinguda de la Reina ...

. The song peaked at number 23 in France and was certified gold for sales exceeding 100,000 copies. In Walloon, it peaked at number 9, becoming Jain's third single to reach the top 10 in the region.

Themes

The title track was inspired by the

Orlando nightclub shooting On , 2016, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old man, killed 49 people and wounded 53 more in a mass shooting at Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, United States. Orlando Police officers shot and killed him after a three-hour standoff. In a 9 ...

, while the song "Star" is about the position of young women in the music industry.

Critical reception

Reviewing the album for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', Thomas Smith awarded the album four out of five stars and complimented its "diverse palette of influences" and "endearing moments", including "Inspecta", with Smith naming it "one of the most exhilarating songs of 2018" that is "basically just the ''

Inspector Gadget ''Inspector Gadget'' is a media franchise that began in 1983 with the DIC Entertainment animated television series '' Inspector Gadget''. Since the original series, there have been many spin-offs based on the show, including additional animated ...

'' theme tune given a trendy trap makeover". Smith also acclaimed "Alright" for its "

drum'n'bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-bas ...

with an

Afrobeat Afrobeat is a Nigerian music genre that involves the combination of West African musical styles (such as traditional Yoruba music and highlife) and American funk, jazz, and soul influences, with a focus on chanted vocals, complex intersecti ...

flair". He also singled out "Dream", calling it "stripped-back Euro-tinged pop that's hinged on Jain's piercing vocals." In conclusion, he stated "Fortune favours the ones with love in their hearts, and Jain's ''Souldier'' shows bagfuls." Will Hermes, writing for ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'', noted Jain's "flow jump-cutting between pan-African

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Ro ...

chat and

Europop Europop (also spelled Euro pop) is a style of pop music that originated in Europe during the mid-to-late 1960s and developed to today's form throughout the late 1970s. Europop topped the charts throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with revivals and ...

chirp with matter-of-fact fluency — think M.I.A. as ingénue". He called the album "another sly charmer, sung in English but stylistically

polyglot Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all Eu ...

Release and promotion

Themes

Critical reception

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References