NEW MUSIC REVIEW: October London - Love Me For Me.

October London steps beyond the comparisons and asks to be heard on his own terms

By DJTen | RadioActive1 WBOB | August 25, 2025

My daughter introduced me to October London’s music a couple of years ago, and I have been a fan ever since. What first caught my attention was obvious: the warmth in his voice, the classic-soul arrangements and a style that recalls an era when a singer could build an entire song around feeling. But what has kept me listening is something deeper. October London does not simply imitate the music that shaped him. He understands its language.

On his new album, Love Me For Me, London uses that language to make a simple but increasingly uncommon request: accept the whole person—not the image, the expectations or the performance.

Released August 14 through Death Row Records/gamma., Love Me For Me is a compact ten-song, 31-minute collection produced by Snoop Dogg and Soopafly. The album remains rooted in the lush, romantic soul that listeners have come to expect from London, but its focus is less on nostalgia than on the realities of adult relationships: attraction, temptation, communication, commitment, family and the need to be seen honestly.

That distinction matters. Since the arrival of The Rebirth of Marvin, London has often been discussed through comparisons to Marvin Gaye. The resemblance is impossible to miss, especially in his phrasing and vocal tone. But Love Me For Me works best when London is not trying to remind us of anybody. The strongest moments are the ones in which the storytelling, humor and grown-man perspective sound unmistakably his own.

“Your Girl” opens the album with temptation at the door. Chimes, piano, flute, bass and a touch of smoky saxophone create a seductive setting, but the story is really about boundaries and loyalty. It establishes one of the album’s recurring strengths: these are songs about desire, but desire comes with choices and consequences.

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“Silent Treatment” turns relationship tension into a smooth, piano-led groove, while “My Favorite Song” lets London settle comfortably into the romantic croon that has become his signature. Neither track overcomplicates the message. The arrangements leave room for the voice, and London knows how to use that space.

The title track is the album’s emotional center. “Love Me For Me” is not merely another romantic plea; it carries the vulnerability of someone asking to be accepted without having to continually prove his worth. That idea also gives the project its unity. Across the album, love is presented not only as chemistry but as recognition—the willingness to see the person standing in front of you as they really are.

“Family Ties” broadens that definition of love by connecting London’s music to the people closest to him. “Hooked (A Cougar’s Anthem)” adds a playful change of pace, and “Dance and Mingle” gives the album one of its more upbeat, social moments. Together, they keep the record from settling too deeply into one slow-burning mood.

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A clever, mature portrait of courtship between people with real responsibilities and full lives. It is warm, specific and unmistakably grown-folks R&B.

“Body Talk” supplies the late-night sensuality, but “Pencil Me In” may be the album’s most distinctive piece of storytelling. London approaches a woman whose life is already full—work, children, goals and plans for her own business—and asks for a little space on her calendar. It is romantic without pretending that grown people have unlimited time or uncomplicated lives. Coffee, conversation and the possibility of rescheduling become the language of courtship. That is adult R&B in the most literal and refreshing sense.

If the album has a limitation, it is that London and his producers occasionally lean so comfortably into familiar soul textures that the music can feel safer than the emotions being described. Listeners hoping for a dramatic reinvention will not find one here. What they will find is a focused artist refining his lane, allowing more of his own personality to emerge inside the classic-soul framework.

That may be the real achievement of Love Me For Me. October London honors the tradition without treating it like a museum piece. He brings it into the present, where love is still complicated, schedules are crowded, communication breaks down and people still want to know whether they can be accepted as they are.

My daughter may have introduced me to October London, but Love Me For Me is another reminder of why I stayed with the music. He has the voice of another era, but the stories belong to people living—and loving—right now.