Dijon Album Reviews

Dijon’s music sounds like Prince, if the Purple One were forced out of Paisley Park and into his bedroom. His music is succinct and emotive, like a carefully curated stream of consciousness.

But Dijon is skilled and in demand as a producer and performer. He appears on big releases from Bon Iver, Charli XCX, and Justin Bieber. He’s closely linked with guitarist Mk.gee – the pair appear on each other’s records.

I refuse for my music to be viable as a background thing. I want it to be embarrassing. I wanted, initially, for the volumes to fluctuate pretty intensely, so that you would have to constantly turn it up or turn it down.

Dijon, Pitchfork

Dijon Album Reviews

Absolutely

2021, 8/10
Of Guamanian descent on his father’s side, Dijon follows the tradition of R&B mavericks like Frank Ocean and Miguel. He began his music career as one half of the duo Abhi//Dijon, formed while he studied literature at college in Maryland.

Dijon’s music is always heartfelt and unfiltered – my favourite track, ‘Dress’, is a hundred-fold improvement on Clapton’s ‘Wonderful Tonight’, a dialogue with his wife about dressing for a night out. It’s unified by Dijon’s distinctive sonic touch, but it’s subtly diverse, from the gentle ‘God in Wilson’ to the rhythmic, driving ‘God in Wilson’.

My only interests are to write affecting songs. They have to fit within some sort of parameter —even just the simplest phrase. Is it memorable? Is it singable? Does it hook you? I have no interest in just flexing around. I’m obsessed with [Whitney Houston’s] “I Wanna Dance with Somebody.” I wanna make that affecting of an arrangement. I don’t also want it to be necessarily fixed all the time on some sort of historical sonic template. 

Ssense

Absolutely is an accomplished debut – Dijon’s sophomore album would build on it.

Baby

2025, 9/10
Producer Dijon has popped up on a few recent albums in this column – he has credits on recent releases by Mk.gee, Bon Iver, and Justin Bieber. But Baby is his second solo album, following 2021’s Absolutely. Baby followed a time of writer’s block. He’d made an entire other album, which still sits languishing on a hard drive. He describes his mental state as “psychosis-level shit” – a friend staged a mini-intervention to stop him repeatedly reading Thomas Pynchon’s Gravity’s Rainbow.

His R&B is deconstructed – pretty melodies and hooks jostle with aqueous production and emotive vocals. Dijon’s raw and emotive vocals were often recorded late at night. But the songwriting shines through on pretty songs like ‘Yamaha’ and ‘Kindalove’, and more energetic workouts like ‘Higher!’ and ‘Fire!’

I would love to engage in the pop world with some of the more messy, far out sonic choices.

,Dijon, The Fader

You may not have heard of him, but Dijon’s currently an influential figure in popular music, and his second solo album is often wondrous.

10 Best Dijon Songs

• Yamaha
• The Dress
• Fire!
• Rodeo Clown
• Higher!
• Big Mike’s