Alone At Prom

The Canadian singer’s third release of 2021 does what it says on the tin: This is music best-heard in a gymnasium beneath streamers and a disco ball (puffy sleeves and Aqua Net hairspray not required but recommended). Lanez pulls no punches when it comes to Alone at Prom’s ’80s theme, crooning ballads of broken hearts and speeding cars over productions that wouldn’t sound out of place in a John Hughes movie soundtrack, with song titles that ought to be written out in neon (“Pink Dolphin Sunset,” “Last Kiss of Nebulon”). The electro pulse and nihilist bent of night-drive anthems like “The Color Violet” may remind you, not so subtly, of a different R&B auteur from the Great White North (hint: it’s not The Weekday…), but hey, it’s just another excuse to wear your sunglasses at night.