Nathan Feuerstein, known by his initials NF, released his fifth studio album on April 7 titled “Hope” and it might be his best one so far. NF is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer that focuses his songs on the dark aspects of life, such as depression and despair. However, with this new album, he completely changes and has a more positive outlook on life.

His last album, titled “The Search” was released on July 26, 2019, marking three years since his last studio album. His latest project was “Clouds” on March 26, 2021, but was only a mixtape.

His change in outlook could be attributed to his marriage to his wife and the birth of their child. These two events altered his perspective on life for the better and it transitioned into the content of his songs. 

The album has two features, from Julia Michaels and Cordae. The title of Julia Michaels is “Gone” while the title of the song with Cordae featuring is “Careful.” Both songs have different energy within the lyrics, melody and emotions. 

“Gone” was similar to old NF songs such as “How could you leave us?” and “Trauma” with a slow sad theme to the track. “Careful” is a more upbeat track speaking about how they came from impoverished families and are thankful to God for blessing them with success in life. It’s two very different tunes that have meanings that complement the speed and direction of the album.

NF’s music videos for certain songs include a story following the lyrics that are produced incredibly. The song in this album including a story titled “Happy” shows two different perspectives and how each one has lived their life. It depicts a child and an adult coming home and the different acts each one of them does with intricate details that lead to a plot twist at the end. 

There were two singles titled “Motto” and “Hope” released before the entire album that had a music video attached to the lyrics. 

“Motto” was released on March 9 and showed NF crashing a red carpet of an awards ceremony, but also getting forcefully kicked out of the building at the end. “Hope” was released on February 16 and showed NF stranded on an island finding the “map to hope,” a term mentioned in the song “The Search” in the previous album attempting to find his way home.

The entire album reimagined NF with hope for his future, unlike his previous songs that had a darker theme. NF is an incredible hip-hop artist and it showed throughout this album which is why I gave the album an eight out of 10-star review.