To a real R&B artist, a roof is always an enemy – an obstacle to overcome. Sly and the Family Stone wanted to take you higher, and higher, and blow straight through it. Lionel Richie led that dance on the ceiling in order to transcend it. The Rock Master Three just wanted to watch that M.F. burn. Evan Michael Green, too, respects no vertical limitations. The exuberant singer-songwriter is determined to bring you skyward. “No Ceiling,” his newest single, is an exhilarating leap into the stratosphere from a musician well acquainted with dizzy emotional heights.
He can get down, too. No matter how ambitious his songwriting gets – and Evan Michael Green is no stranger to ambition – he always makes sure his funk is in place. That impeccable balance between the ethereal and the earthy, the sensual and the celestial, the super-cool and the sensationally steamy, marks Green as an artist of uncommon depth. He’s demonstrated that poise on a run of remarkable singles that has culminated in “No Ceiling,” the fullest realization of his style. In it, a taut, slinky chorus blossoms into a brilliant, captivating chorus. The song takes a few brave, unexpected turns, but Green is a sure-handed and generous guide.
“No Ceiling” comes on the heels of the Growing Pains EP, an autobiographical set that foregrounded the artist’s struggle for self-determination. The project also exhibited his range, incorporating elements from classic soul, moody modern hip-hop, scratchy party-starting funk-rock, sultry Caribbean music, and even a little smooth jazz. “New Identity,” the single from the set, earned Green airplay on MTV and Ebro In The Morning and won him opening slots for 21 Savage, 2 Chainz, and Young Thug.
Evan Michael Green cuts a dashing figure onscreen, and so compelling is his stage show that he could surely hold his audience’s attention with simple performance clips. But he’s a born storyteller, too – and the “No Ceiling” video covers a startling amount of narrative territory in just under four minutes. Green leads the viewer on a trip through time: we see a romance from its origins until the present day. But the pivotal scene takes place at a party in the mid-1980s, and the star sets the scene with the sort of attention to detail and style that characterizes his work.
