Hi, everyone … so, I know I still haven’t posted my final two year-end lists. I feel like I’m getting close to finishing them, but just in case they’re not out in the next week or so, I’m going to start reviewing 2023 albums.

Now, that being said, I won’t be reviewing a lot of albums right away—because I’m working on those year-end posts for 2022—but I don’t want to totally avoid posting 2023 reviews while I finish working on those posts.

Anyway, today I’m reviewing Ava Max’s second studio album, Diamonds & Dancefloors. And if I’m being honest, my expectations for this album weren’t very high. Even though I haven’t given her 2020 debut many listens, based on the two or three times I did listen to it, I found it pretty boring for the most part. “Sweet but Psycho” is a great song, but nothing else on the album comes close to that for me, at least based on the few listens I gave it.

But I was curious to check out this album. So, I decided to give it enough listens to feel confident about my opinion … so what do I think of it?

Well … it’s pretty good, but nothing here is as good as “Sweet But Psycho” in my opinion. While there are quite a few good songs here, I don’t think there are a lot of great ones.

A lot of these songs feel like they’re so close to being great, but just don’t get there for me, in part due to a lot of the melodies and compositions, including the chord progressions.

And yeah, I wish there was more here that I liked in the vocal melodies. And one song that is a big example of that is “One Of Us”, where the vocal melodies are super boring to me. There’s just so little to it melodically that makes me want to listen to it, and the post-chorus is so annoying, especially with the echo and that super annoying chord change right at the end of the post-chorus. This is probably my least favourite song on the album.

But another big issue for me on the album is a lot of the percussion, which sounds really awkward at some points on this album. For example, the song, “Weapons”, where the bouncy beat feels really disconnected from the rest of the instrumentation. This is also the case with “In The Dark”, where the percussion is well mixed but sounds really jumpy and it becomes quite annoying, and I feel the same about “Maybe You’re The Problem”, although I don’t like the way the percussion is mixed on that song as much.

There are also points on this record where the percussion feels overpowered, like “Turn Off The Lights” and at parts of the title track. But that being said, there are also some points where the percussion feels underpowered, like the chorus of “One Of Us”—again, probably my least favourite song here—and also the track right after it, “Get Outta My Heart”. But there’s also the annoying clicking percussion in the background of “Maybe You’re The Problem” and that beat on “Ghost” which feels really annoyingly snappy with the rest of the instrumental, and I’m not entirely sure why.

But that’s not to say I don’t like any of the percussion here. I like how the percussion contributes to the groove on “Sleepwalker”, and I think it’s mixed mostly well, too. And I also like how the hand-claps and bassline in the chorus of “Dancing’s Done” play off each other really well!

But again, a lot of the vocal melodies here don’t really work for me, either … but there are also a lot that do, like in the chorus of “Sleepwalker”, one of my favourite songs on the album.

I also like the ascending vocal melody in the chorus of “Million Dollar Baby”, and the chorus of “Weapons” is really catchy. Also, I love the vocal melody in the chorus of the title track … also, is this just me or does this song remind anyone of Lana Del Rey? I mean, I haven’t listened to a ton of Lana Del Rey music (I do plan to soon, though), but based on what I have heard, it reminds me of her music, but I like this song more than almost any song on Born to Die, the one Lana Del Rey album I’ve listened to more than once in full while paying attention to it. (Again, I want to listen to more Lana Del Rey music, and I’ll probably like most of it more than that album.)

And also, the vocal melody in the chorus of “Dancing’s Done” is great!

Now I want to talk about some of the lyrics … something I’m not very good at doing in my reviews. I’m really not very good at analyzing lyrics, but I’ll try.

I think the edgy lyrics mostly work on “Sleepwalker” (I’m not sure if ‘edgy’ is the word I’m looking for, but it’s the one that came to mind). I like the lyrics on “Ghost” about trying to get over a breakup but feeling like your ex is haunting you, and I also like the kind of similar lyrics on “Get Outta My Heart”. I also like how Ava Max plays the role of the villain in the song, “Cold As Ice”, and it works especially well with those awesome vocal effects and synths, and I love how the percussion sounds on this song!

I like the message of “Weapons” about treating people with respect. But while the lyrics in the bridge when she pretty much tells someone to insult her are clearly sarcastic, it still feels awkward with the rest of the song, and I’m not entirely sure why … maybe it just feels awkward musically, as it goes from the really catchy hook to the bridge that really doesn’t do much for me melodically.

I also like the apocalyptic lyrics on “Last Night On Earth”, and I think the music and lyrics fit well together on this track.

I find a lot of the chord progressions to sound pretty boring to me on this album, and while my knowledge of chord progressions is low, it kind of feels like there’s a similar chord progression being used on a lot of these songs, and it gets kind of boring.

But overall … I mean, it’s not a great album in my opinion, but it’s a pretty fun, enjoyable listen. As far as I can tell, it’s not super deep lyrically, but I like a lot of the production, and Ava Max is a great singer. And while a lot of the melodies were underwhelming to me, there are a lot that I like. So, for me, this album is getting a 6.5/10. It’s good, but I wish it were more consistent and had more legit great songs. But, of course, as always, it’s just my own personal opinion. And despite the elements here I don’t like, I do like the album overall.

Anyway, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Sleepwalker”, “Hold Up (Wait A Minute)”, “Cold As Ice”, “Last Night On Earth”, “Dancing’s Done”
Least Favourite Tracks: “In The Dark”, “One Of Us”