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Jay Sean's much-awaited new mix-tape album, entitled The Mistress, was made available free to download on his official website on September 6th 2011. Jay recently revealed on his whistle stop tour to London last weekend that his latest album was made for all his hardcore fans who wanted him to go back to making the slow, sexy R&B slow jams that he was originally known for in the beginning. His fanbase in America know him more for his recent pop music tunes such as Down, so this is way of introducing them to the music he really loves most of all – R&B.
 
To start with the album is of course entitled The Mistress which does hint a more mature, edgier and more adult-based listening tracks. However, the title was also chosen to reflect that the album was like a secret project he loved working on and that America was unaware of his real love of R&B – so rather apt! All of the songs on the mix-tape are true R&B and do talk about heavier and controversial topics such as love, lust, promiscuity etc which reflects a far more grown-up Jay Sean.

So how does the album fare? Does it really deliver the best of Jay Sean so far? Personally, we have to say we think this mix-tape is by far some of the best work Jay has ever produced. It has clearly been designed to tell a story right from the first track to the end about the ups and downs of having a secret ‘mistress’ of sorts. There are some fantastic collaborations with artists such as Tyga, Birdman and Lupe Fiasco. The opening track, Rouge a Levres, (‘Lipstick’ in English) is a short R&B intro which sets the stage for the album. If you like easy listening slow jams then this album is definitely one for you. All of tracks on the album have this sort of vibe but there are some that definitely stick out as clear sure-fire hits. The title track The Mistress is one of the best tracks on the album and is where Jay talks about his guilt yet happiness about having a secret ‘mistress’ as such. Love ft Birdman is slightly more up-tempo and on this tracks Jay writes about being with someone but still having a ‘mistress’ so it can’t be ‘love’. Other more up-tempo tracks include Say Yeah, Sex 101 and Message in a bottle.

Same old same old is a short track (47 secs) and features Jay having a disagreement with a lady, supposedly the mistress, who constantly question’s him about how much time he spends alone and she doesn’t seem to believe what he tells her. This type of unique track is something new for Jay and shows his willingness to tell a story behind the mix-tape and intertwine the tracks accordingly. Other highlights include Yesterday, another short track, which features the chorus taken from the Beatles classic song of the same name. She has no time is where Jay talks about the difference between love and lust between the genders. The last track Sealed lips is short track which doesn’t give much away about what he plans to do about the ‘mistress’ (hence ‘sealed lips’) – so a bit of a mystery but perhaps this story will be further explored on his next album, Freeze Time.

Overall, this mix-tape clearly demonstrates his ability as a storyteller and personal and professional growth as a musician. It’s one of those albums which is great to put on when you want to chill back, relax and just listen to some great music. Jay has really outdone himself here and has set the bar very high indeed. Our verdict? 10/10 - and best of all, it’s free for everyone to download through his website www.jayseanworldwide.com. This is one mix-tape you can't afford to miss and should definitely be on your playlist!

By Harvi Kaur