Joel Vaughn ‘Control, Vol. 2’ Review

Joel Vaughn
Control, Vol. 2
(DREAM Records)

Joel Vaughn is on this Earth for one reason—to make pop music that glorifies God and leads people to worship Him. After a successful run with Control Vol. 1, including the hit “Pray It Up,” Vaughn is back with the second and final entry in the series. Control Vo1. 2 is a five song EP full of electronic beats and soaring vocals that are designed to get the listener up and moving. On “More Than Good Enough,” the beats are particularly fierce. The production is first-rate on Control Vol. 2, even to the point of being too slick in places. If this album has a fault, it’s that the production sometimes steals the thunder of the message. So in “Something New,” when Vaughn sings “It’s time to get honest/ stop pretending that our lives are not a mess” without a hint of vulnerability in the vocals or presentation, it feels hollow.

That being said, the five songs of this EP are pop goodness. With tight vocals and danceable beats, Vaughn sings about the goodness of a God that wants and loves us for who we are, not for what we could be.

–John Barber