"Keep On Steppin'"
Mike Clark Jr.: 5-Star Rated EP Review!
July 1, 2026:
FEEL GOOD MUSIC Track List:
1. Used Car
2. Don't Play With Me
3. Straddle Me
4. No Chaser (feat. K. Camp)
5. Proud Of Me
6. Don't Stand Next To Me
7. Cups In The Air
For such a small project Mike Clark Jr.'s Feel Good Music packs a hell of a wallop. Coming as it does on the heels of Clark's ground-breaking, career-commencing, long-play masterpiece, Keep On Steppin: Big Stepper Edition, reviewed here less than a year ago and still posted on this page, one might expect a drop-off in quality, but that's not the case. The material and execution are as good if not better.
The opening three tracks alone transpire like a sequence of top ten singles---which they are actually. "Straddle Me" charted at #4 in May, "Used Car" charted at #8 in July, and "Don't Play With Me," ensconced in the low teens in Daddy B. Nice's Top 40 Singles for July and rapidly climbing, is slated for Top 10 Singles in August.
"Used Car" in particular fires me up. Just a beautiful melody, made more enticing by its delicacy and modesty, "Used Car" features a vocal by Mike that not only recalls great soul singers of lore. It's so universal it wouldn't be out of place on an early Beatles album with John Lennon on lead vocal. It's the antithesis of the one-dimensional, faux-blues screaming that "artists" currently streaming in the artificial intelligence industry mistakenly believe is the height of southern soul authenticity. The tender touch has been a staple of soul music since the heyday of Berry Gordy, Smokey Robinson and Motown, where artists were coached to hold back a little, making the records (paradoxically) even more powerful and effective. The deft touch is something "Used Car" shares with "Don't Play With Me". Only beginning to gain airplay as I write, this duet with an uncredited female co-vocalist showcases Clark Jr.'s vocal skills and range, which are maturing with astonishing proficiency.
The climax of the EP comes, fittingly, at the end with "Cups In The Air," an HBCU-sounding anthem that will undoubtedly provide the soundtrack for countless football games this fall. It was the first single release from Feel Good Music and another top ten-charter in January, ample time for it to have accrued over a million enthusiastic YouTube views.
"If the ocean was liquor" (Mike sings),
"And I was a duck,
I'd swim to the bottom,
And drink my way up."
For Clark Jr. partisans, that leaves only "No Chaser," "Proud Of Me" and "Don't Stand Next To Me" as relative unknowns, still waiting to be exposed on streaming sites and social media.
By the high bar set by Clark Jr. throughout the EP, "Proud Of Me" is arguably the least effective. "No Chaser," however, is another contemplative riff on romantic love, winsome and engaging, and further enhanced by a well-done rapping interlude by K. Camp. And albeit not in the league with Clark's signature classic "Keep On Steppin'," "Don't Stand Next To Me" is a lot of fun both musically and lyrically, offering a refreshing contrast (along with "Cups In The Air") to the romantic themes dominating the album.
Feel Good Music captures Mike Clark Jr. successfully moving on from his bombastic entrance into southern soul with the thrilling, high-energy hits "Auntie Outside Tonight" and "Keep On Steppin'"---never an easy thing for a young artist to do. And just as those blockbusters assured Mike Clark Jr.'s debut, this follow-up---think of it as a breather---presents the more gentle, sweet, and love-oriented side of the young southern soul star.
---Daddy B. Nice
Listen to all the tracks from Mike Clark Jr.'s Feel Good Music EP on YouTube.
Listen to Mike Clark Jr.'s Feel Good Music EP on Spotify.
Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide to Mike Clark Jr.
Mike Clark Jr.'s new Feel Good Music EP at Apple.
January 23, 2026:
WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
Daddy B. Nice's 19th Annual...
2025 Southern Soul Music Awards
Best Southern Soul Club Song (Fast Tempo)
"Keep On Steppin'"----Mike Clark Jr.
Listen to Mike Clark Jr. singing "Keep On Steppin'" on YouTube.
Read Daddy B. Nice's Artist Guide.
Buy Mike Clark Jr.'s "Keep On Steppin'" at Apple.
Originally published in Daddy B. Nice's New Album Reviews.
September 12, 2025:
MIKE CLARK JR.: Keep On Steppin: Big Stepper Edition (ColliPark Music/Atlantic) Five Stars ***** Can't miss. Pure Southern Soul heaven.
Buy Mike Clark Jr.'s new Keep On Steppin: Big Stepper Edition at Apple.
KEEP ON STEPPIN': BIG STEPPER EDITION Track List:
1. Mistreated (feat. Boozie Badazz & Anthony Q.
2. Keep On Steppin' (feat. Big Boogie)
3. Worry You (feat. 803Fresh)
4. Pop That
5. Trail Ride (feat. Bun B. & Jeter Jones)
6. Auntie Outside (Collipark Remix)
7. Stay Right There (feat. Big bo)
8. Break Up Letter (feat. Marcellus The Singer)
9. Dog House
10. Treasure
11. Keep On Steppin'
Exactly two years ago, September of 2023, Mike Clark Jr. burst upon the southern soul scene with
"Auntie Outside Tonight". Almost forgotten now,
"Auntie Outside" was an anthem. You could feel the excitement and hormones pumping through its verses. It had the makings of one of those energetic R&B/pop hybrids that become arena "jock jams," and it was southern soul all the way, elevating yet another new black slang term ("aunties") into the national lexicon. "Auntie Outside" rose to
number one and his southern soul debut EP
Club Mike Clark soon appeared. Still, I hadn't a clue Mike Clark Jr. would soon back up "Auntie" with even more astounding music.
But that's what Mike did. Another Top 10 Single,
"Party," accompanied by E. Realist & Charity Harris, arrived that December. Another Top 10-charting tune,
"Doghouse," followed in September of 2024.
"Slow Roll It," an accomplished cover of the
Love Doctor's seminal southern soul classic, charted in December of '24. Then---in 2025---came the "bomb" that would change the trajectory of Clark Jr.'s career from successful to legendary. But it wasn't easy.
"Keep On Steppin'" had the misfortune of debuting at almost the same time as 803Fresh's
"Boots On The Ground," which had dropped and charted at #5 a month earlier. So in March of 2025 the viral "Boots On The Ground," which had practically everyone in the country---including the former first lady Michelle Obama---line-dancing to it, occupied the #1 Single spot, while Mike Clark Jr.'s "Keep On Steppin'" had to be content with the
"#2 Single spot. Yet even then, at the height of the clamor for "Boots On The Ground" (including your Daddy B. Nice proclaiming it "the biggest phenomenon to hit southern soul music since King George's "Keep On Rollin'"), I was enjoying Mike Clark Jr.'s "Keep On Steppin'" just a little bit more. And with "Keep On Steppin'" trending throughout southern soul fandom in burgeoning numbers, I had no qualms in finally justifying its #1 game-of-southern-soul-thrones ranking in
April of 2025. Huge. Eventful. A career-maker.
Published just two weeks ago, Clark Jr.'s new, eleven-track LP
Keep On Steppin: Big Stepper Edition is a celebration of all things "keep-on-steppin". The fact the collection not only covers the mega-hit's iterations and other recorded singles (the danceable "Pop That," overlooked because it came out almost like a "B-side" at the same time as "Steppin'," the previously mentioned "Auntie Outside" and "Dog House," and two impressive, new, September-charting singles, "Break Up Letter" featuring Marcellus The Singer and "Worry You" featuring 803Fresh) has to make it a no-brainer for the trail ride, backyard barbeque and hole-in-the-wall, party album of the year.
And yet, as many people as "Keep On Steppin'" has drawn to the dance floor, and as many TikTok shorts and YouTube videos as it's spawned, little to nothing has been written about its memorable instrumental track. In my
bullet commentary in March introducing "Keep On Steppin'" to the audience for the first time, I described the uniquely textured background to Mike's viral vocal in this way:
"It sounds like an entire army on the march. The vaguely military percussive effects---stomp, stomp, stomp, stomp---and hypnotic beat will stun you, and if you've got a dancing bone in your body you'll find it impossible not to jump on the dance floor and keep on steppin'."
Today I might describe it as layers upon layers of hand-claps, but "hand-clapping' doesn't do it justice. There have been some super-hot and innovative southern soul producers in the last decade---Beat Flippa (Pokey Bear), Slack (Jeter Jones) and Kang803 (King George) instantly come to mind---but to that list we must now add Mr. Collipark, Atlanta-based Michael Antoine Crooms, who took his industry name from the Atlanta suburb of College Park. Collipark is just as incredible, but with an entirely new and unique sound. Mostly working in hiphop, Collipark was the producer of V.I.C.'s
"Wobble". For those too young to remember, this song was big in the Dirty South in the late aughts and early teens, even on southern soul radio and especially in the clubs, and it was two or three years before it became national and made the Billboard charts. Interestingly enough, like its 2025 counterparts, "Wobble" grew in popularity after inspiring a dance.
"Wobble" was all about the instrumental track, hugely percussive, with a wild upper melody line played by horns. Similarly, the forgotten and under-appreciated part of "Keep On Steppin'" is the respite from the stomping---the choruses! Signaled by a whistle, it's also a higher-pitched, anthem-like melody line---all humming---rendered by Mike Clark Jr. in eloquent contrast to his style in the verses, giving the song's powerful chant an eerie, unforgettable resonance.
And there's one last aspect of "Keep On Steppin'" that deserves testimony. The key words in the lyrics---the ones no one thinks about---are
"They don't like it". It's an emblem for adversity, whether it be in one's job, one's health, one's social interactions or whatever. Anything in the world that puts shackles on one's spirit. So when you start steppin', you're saying, "No, I won't quit! I won't give up!"
---Daddy B. Nice
Buy Mike Clark Jr.'s new Keep On Steppin: Big Stepper Edition at Apple.
Listen to all the tracks from Mike Clark Jr.'s new Keep On Steppin: Big Stepper Edition album on YouTube.
Read Daddy B. Nice's Southern Soul The New Generation Artist Guide to Mike Clark Jr.
************
Send product to:
SouthernSoulRnB.com
P.O. Box 19574
Boulder, Colorado 80308
Or e-Mail:
daddybnice@southernsoulrnb.com
*************
July 20, 2025: Originally published in...
Daddy B. Nice's
News & Notes:
New Album Alerts!
Get your marching shoes. According to reports,
Mike Clark Jr. ("Auntie Outside Tonight," "Keep On Steppin'") has signed a record deal with Atlantic. His first southern soul EP, aptly entitled
Keep On Steppin', was released June 17th, prior to the partnership with Atlantic. However, the rights are copyrighted to "ColliPark Music Inc. under exclusive rights to Atlantic Recording Corporation".
The EP includes "Auntie Outside," "Keep On Steppin'," "Pop That" and "Doghouse".
"Keep On Steppin" was a
Daddy B. Nice Top 10 Single in both
March (#2) and
April (#1). Watch for
Mike Clark Jr. to ascend to the prestigious
Southern Soul: The New Generation Chart soon.
June 22, 2025: Originally published in "News & Notes" on Daddy B. Nice's Corner.
According to
reports, Mike Clark Jr. ("Auntie Outside Tonight," "Keep On Steppin'") has signed a record deal with Atlantic. His first southern soul EP,
Keep On Steppin', was released June 17th, prior to the partnership with Atlantic. The EP includes "Auntie Outside," "Keep On Steppin'" and "Doghouse". Clark Jr.'s cover of the
Love Doctor's "Slow Roll It" is not included, most likely due to copyright reasons.
April 1, 2025: Originally published in Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 Singles
#1 Single! Keep On Steppin'!
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles For. . .
April 2025
1. "Keep On Steppin' Remix"----Mike Clark Jr. feat. The Ying Yang Twins
"Keep On Steppin'" is special in so many ways. For one, it's got three or four music videos running simultaneously because it's so beloved by the dancers. For another, it's by a performer who published his first hit single
("Auntie Outside Tonight") a year ago at the age of eighteen! "Keep On Steppin'" has percussive effects that are nothing short of hypnotic---like a gigantic musical magnet pulling club-goers onto the dance floor. Add a simple but rousing melody delivered in humming verses over the boot-stomping rhythm section and the irrepressible Clark Jr. shouting directions ("We're going to church here y'all!") and you have a young talent on the conveyor belt to stardom.
Listen to Mike Clark Jr. singing "Keep On Steppin'" on YouTube.
Originally published in Daddy B. Nice's Southern Soul Awards (Best of 2023).
January 21, 2024:
Best Out-Of-Left-Field Song:
In a year filled with outstanding debuts, Mike Clark Jr. tackled this paean to one-night stands with the triumpant praise of a preacher rousing a congregation.
Mike Clark Jr. ----- “Auntie Outside Tonight”
Listen to Mike Clark Jr. singing "Auntie Outside Tonight" on YouTube.
Buy Mike Clark Jr.'s "Auntie Outside Tonight" single at Apple.
See Daddy B. Nice's 17th Annual Southern Soul Awards (Best of 2023).
September 1, 2023:Mike Clark Jr. #1 Debut Single!
Daddy B. Nice's Top 10 "BREAKING" Southern Soul Singles For. . .
-------SEPTEMBER 2023-------
1.
"Auntie Outside Tonight"-----Mike Clark Jr.
Macon, Georgia. First time out. Electric vocal. And without another recorded single to his name, Mike Clark, Jr. shoots like a bunny rabbit through all the other hard-working and talented, up-and-coming artists who've been around longer but who haven't been lucky enough to score the right song in the right place at the right time. "Auntie Outside's" the right song, and Mike Clark Jr.'s the man.
Listen to Mike Clark Jr. singing "Auntie Outside Tonight" on YouTube.
Listen to MIKE CLARK JR TALKS #AUNTIEOUTSIDE, GOING VIRAL ON TIKTOK, SIGNING A MAJOR DEAL & ETC [WEOUTSIDE] on YouTube.
Listen to Mike Clark singing "Auntie Outside" with accompanying lyrics on YouTube.
--Daddy B. Nice
Honorary "B" Side
"Auntie Outside"
