Hello, everybody. Today, I’m doing something different … as the title of this post says, I’m reviewing ten different albums, all in this one post!

Now, a few things to mention:

1 – I won’t be going into a ton of detail on these albums. My rule is that to give an album a score, I have to listen to it all the way through at least once (if I take a break to go to the bathroom, go for a walk, etc. I still count that as ‘all the way through’) … that being said, I will almost always listen to it more than once. I wanted to listen to these ten albums until I felt confident about my opinion, but I didn’t want to spend a bunch of extra time and effort trying to write a whole lot about each album, so I’ll keep it pretty brief.

2 – This is something I plan to do in the future, but it won’t always be ten albums … I have another upcoming post where I review seven albums (six new albums and one throwback).

3 – I have randomized the order in which these reviews appear. I mostly finished the reviews before randomly selecting the order, but I’ve made a few edits to the reviews since finding out what order they’ll be in, such as starting the last review with the word, ‘finally’.

4 – As always, all of this is just about my own personal taste. There’s nothing wrong with disagreeing with me. No hate meant to any of the artists/producers/etc.

Planet Zero by Shinedown:

Alright, so, before I get into my thoughts on this new Shinedown album, I’m going to recommend that you listen to “Monsters”, a song that I love from their 2018 album, Attention, Attention. I haven’t listened to that album, but I love that song!

I mention “Monsters” for two reasons: One reason is that I do actually love that song, and the other reason is because I’ll feel less mean now … because this review is not going to be positive! At all!

I do have to mention that, as always, this is just based on my personal taste … no hate meant toward the members of Shinedown, anyone who helped make the album, or anyone who likes this album. I’ll at least give them this much credit: they recorded and released a full album, which is something I’ve never done.

But about my personal feelings on this album … this album is TWENTY TRACKS LONG, and none of them clicked for me … not even one.

Now, some of the tracks are interludes, but even the majority of the interludes are awful in my opinion.

“Hope” is my favourite full song on the album, and I don’t even like it. But I do love the melody of the first line of the chorus.

Aside from that, when it comes to positive things I have to say about this album … I like some of the melodies at the start of “Dysfunctional You”, and the single-note synths in the chorus of “The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo”.

Overall, this album seems to be going for this big, epic feeling, and so much of it is so cheesy in my opinion, and I personally don’t find much depth in the lyrics.

Before this album came out, lead singer Brent Smith said he thought some people would consider this album controversial, and some of the lyrical themes seem to relate to cancel culture. As someone who doesn’t like cancel culture myself, I understand that it’s an important message to get across … but there’s a lot about these lyrics that I don’t like, and I don’t want to get into it all. Honestly, as unfair as this may be considering that I’m reviewing it, I don’t really feel like looking deeper into this album. I just really couldn’t stand this.

So, don’t take my opinion on the lyrics too seriously, because I haven’t spent a ton of time looking into the lyrics.

Personally, I found this album to be HORRIBLE … for me, it’s a 1/10, and the only reason that score isn’t lower (aside from a few good elements like I mentioned before) is that I found it … not super, super, super annoying? Maybe? At least a decent amount of the songs.

This is the only Shinedown album I’ve listened to, but like I said, “Monsters” is a great song that I recommend you listen to. But this album … I mean, if you’re curious, you can give it a listen. I’m not stopping you. But there are so many other rock albums from this year I’d recommend instead … Love Sux by Avril Lavigne, Wet Leg’s self-titled album, and especially Ants From Up There by Black Country, New Road … I’m not trying to judge anyone for liking this, I’m just saying I’d recommend those albums over this one to almost anyone.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 1/10
Favourite Tracks: None
Least Favourite Tracks: “No Sleep Tonight”, “Planet Zero”, “Welcome”, “Dysfunctional You”, “Dead Don’t Die”, “America Burning”, “Do Not Panic”, “A Symptom Of Being Human”, “Clueless And Dramatic”, “Sure Is Fun”, “Daylight”, “This Is A Warning”, “The Saints Of Violence And Innuendo”, “Army Of The Underappreciated”, “Delete”, “What You Wanted”

Mercury – Act 2 by Imagine Dragons:

Yes, I know that a lot of online music critics really don’t like Imagine Dragons … but personally, I’m a fan of this band.

That being said, while I respect a lot of what they’ve been doing recently, most of it hasn’t really clicked for me … but the lead single, “Bones”, brought up my expectations for this album … and then I heard the second single, “Sharks”, which I really couldn’t get into.

So, now that the album’s here … well, I want to make one thing clear: some of the lyrics on this album are very personal to Dan Reynolds, and are about some heavy topics. None of this is meant to attack Dan personally or anything like that. It’s all just based on my personal taste.

And for the third time in a row, I’m not really a fan of the latest Imagine Dragons album. A lot of these songs, despite the lyrical themes, just don’t really work for me personally, and I find a lot of it to be really cheesy … for example, the song, “Symphony”, which is creative, yes, but the lyrics, despite the positive message, just don’t really work for me, especially the instrument references. And a lot of the melodies on this track feel really basic to me.

The aforementioned “Sharks” has some sound effects and vocal ad-libs that really annoy me, like the ‘ha ha ha ha ha’, and the ‘woo woo’ part, and also the bubble sounds … how is this the same band who made “It’s Time”? Or the same band who made “Tiptoe”? Or “Warriors”, “Amsterdam”, “Hear Me”, “Hopeless Opus”, “Walking the Wire” and so many other great songs?

But speaking of great songs, there are a few on this album. I mentioned “Bones”, which has some great melodies and some great synths. “I Wish” is a heartbreaking song where Dan Reynolds sings about wishing he could have said goodbye to his friend before his friend’s death (although I’m pretty sure it’s a bonus track, so it’s not contributing to the version of the album I’m reviewing and won’t affect the score … still worth mentioning, though, as it’s a great song!), and while I could understand why someone might find “I Don’t Like Myself” to be way too cheesy, it clicks for me, partially because of some personal reasons that the lyrics resonate with me, but I also love the way that Dan sings the ‘I-da-da’ part.

Overall, I like this album more than Mercury – Act 1, and every song here is better than “Cutthroat” if you ask me, but it still doesn’t really work for me. Outside of those songs I just mentioned, as well as “Peace Of Mind” and the emotional closer, “They Don’t Know You Like I Do”, this bores me.

Some of the other songs I feel had potential to really click for me, but don’t really get there … “Blur” is one example. I like that it’s more of a rock song than a lot of what they’ve been doing recently, and there are some elements to it that I like, but the production doesn’t work for me, with the guitars mixed way too quietly on the chorus, and the percussion in general not really fitting the rest of the song in my opinion … and I find it a bit off-putting when he says, ‘When I hit the pavement, don’t save me. I’m such a waste of space.’ I get that it’s not meant literally, but it still doesn’t sit well with me.

I also like the lyrical themes on “Younger” about wanting to go back in time, and I love the line, ‘I wish that I could put a force field around every single one of us.’ However, the echo on the percussion really doesn’t work for me, and there’s not much in the instrumentation that I really like. This track reminds me of “Underdog” from their debut album, but nowhere near as good as “Underdog”.

But then there’s “Ferris Wheel”. Not only do I find this track very boring musically, but lyrically it seems to be one of those ‘you shouldn’t be with this person, you should be with me’ songs, which usually really bug me, and this song is no exception, considering that it seems to be intended as a romantic song.

This album gave me some individual songs I like, some of which I love, so while I’m glad I listened to it, and I’ve added some songs to my 2022 playlist … when it comes to full Imagine Dragons albums, I’ll stick with their first three.

Mercury – Act 2 gets a 3/10 from me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: “Bones”, “I Don’t Like Myself”, “Peace Of Mind”, “They Don’t Know You Like I Do”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Symphony”, “Sharks”, “Higher Ground”, “Take It Easy”, “Ferris Wheel”, “Tied”, “Continual”

Fear of the Dawn by Jack White:

So, I’m not going to count this as a throwback, because it came out this year … but it’s been out for a few months now. Anyway, this is a very creative rock album with lots of interesting song structures, and lots of cool musical ideas.

That being said, while I feel like it’s an enjoyable album overall, it’s very inconsistent if you ask me.

Don’t get me wrong; there are some great songs here, most notably to me, the opener, “Taking Me Back”, and the closer, “Shedding My Velvet”. The former has some awesome distorted guitar and a fantastic snare, and the latter has great production and some small details that add a lot to the track, like the pianos early on, the pauses a bit more than two minutes in, and the tremolo toward the end.

But there’s also some songs that don’t work for me, most notably “Into the Twilight” which, at least to me, just sounds like a bunch of random ideas put together, recorded, and then put onto the album without making any changes. I’m not saying that’s actually what happened with this song, but it just kind of sounds that way.

Some of the songs I have mixed feelings on, like “What’s the Trick?”, which has some cool ideas, but feels too all-over-the-place without the different parts feeling very connected, at least to me. That being said, I do love the line, ‘If I die tomorrow, what did I do today?’

Overall, I feel like this is an album I respect more than I like … I like some of the songs here, and there’s enough here that I like for it to get a 5.5/10 from me, but inconsistency and a lot of these ideas not feeling like they fit together hold this back from getting a higher score. But if you have the time, I recommend that you give it a listen, because it’s certainly interesting!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Taking Me Back”, “The White Raven”, “Eosophobia”, “Morning, Noon and Night”, “Shedding My Velvet”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Hi-De-Ho”, “Into the Twilight”, “Eosophobia (Reprise)”

Farm to Table by Bartees Strange:

On his second studio album, Bartees Strange delivers a variety of different styles, including alternative rock on songs like “Heavy Heart” and “Escape This Circus”, more mellow music like on “Tours”, and even something along the lines of autotuned pop trap with a rock outro on “Cosigns”!

Overall, I do like this album, but I don’t find it to be super consistent. “We Were Only Close For Like Two Weeks” shows up around the middle of the album, and at least to me, it doesn’t add to the album at all, and instead throws off the pacing.

I also don’t like the closing track, “Hennessy”, but overall, while I don’t find this album to be super consistent, it’s got good moments, and enough of them to make this album a 6/10 for me.

I still haven’t listened to Bartees Strange’s first album, but maybe at some point I’ll check it out. At the very least, I like his new album!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 6/10
Favourite Tracks: “Heavy Heart”, “Wretched”, “Cosigns”, “Tours”, “Escape This Circus”
Least Favourite Tracks: “We Were Only Close For Like Two Weeks”, “Hennessy”

DRILL MUSIC IN ZION by Lupe Fiasco:

You guessed it: this is my first time listening to a Lupe Fiasco album!

While I’ve reviewed albums with elements of hip hop/rap, this is probably my first time reviewing a hip hop/rap album on this website (I’m still not quite clear what the difference is between the two genres) … and it’s worth mentioning that I’m not as big a fan of hip hop/rap as most critics seem to be, maybe partially because of how much the lyrics matter in a lot of hip hop/rap, and while I do pay attention to lyrics and consider them when reviewing albums, I pay more attention to the instrumentation, melodies, etc.

Please keep in mind that I haven’t looked super deeply into all the lyrics on this album. I’ve tried to look into them a bit, and I like the majority of what I could find in the lyrics, but I’m not sure what the meaning of a lot of the lyrics here are, and I’m not going to analyze them very much in this review.

But the production on this album is fantastic, and the rapping sounds great, and overall, I love this album!

“MS. MURAL” tells a really interesting story, “PRECIOUS THINGS” and “SEATTLE” both feature great choruses sung by Nayirah, and the closing track, “ON FAUX NEM”, has a fantastic synth at the start, and the first verse of this song is so great that I’m not even going to say anything about it, so that you can hear it for yourself! On this track, Lupe seems to be referencing how much he hears about guns and violence in music, and Lupe having a hard time supporting it, and meanwhile, so many people listen to that kind of music without really thinking about it.

Lupe Fiasco’s flow over the instrumental is awesome on “NAOMI”, and also, for whatever reason, I love the way he sings the word ‘mall’ on “KIOSK”, which is also an excellent track!

All that being said, this album takes a bit to really get going for me. “GHOTI” is okay, but doesn’t fully click for me, and “AUTOBOTO” is my least favourite song on the album, with a really annoying chorus. And even as someone who loves “The Box” by Roddy Ricch, I find the “ee-err” sounds in “AUTOBOTO” to be so annoying.

But overall, this is an album with great rapping, great production, and very interesting lyrics. Great stuff here from Lupe Fiasco!

Personally, I’m giving this album an 8/10, and that’s coming from someone who isn’t into hip hop/rap as much as most critics. So, especially if you are really into hip hop/rap, I highly recommend that you listen to this album if you haven’t already. It’s fantastic!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: “PRECIOUS THINGS”, “KIOSK”, “MS. MURAL”, “NAOMI”, “DRILL MUSIC IN ZION”, “SEATTLE”, “ON FAUX NEM”
Least Favourite Tracks: “GHOTI”, “AUTOBOTO”

Honestly, Nevermind by Drake:

So, after Lupe Fiasco’s new album, which I absolutely love … now it’s time for my review of … this.

Last year, I listened to Certified Lover Boy once and I never wanted to listen to it again … so, despite me not being super familiar with Drake’s discography, I had heard enough of his songs that my expectations for this album were low.

But, of course, I wanted to go into this album with an open mind … but, like I expected, I didn’t end up liking this.

That being said, I like it more than Certified Lover Boy (at least based on what I remember from my one listen to Certified Lover Boy) … but I was almost definitely going to like it more than that album.

When listening to an album, I can usually understand why some people might love it, but with this album … maybe? I kind of understand, but just barely. And I don’t want to make anyone feel bad for liking this album … if you love this album, that’s great! Maybe it’s your favourite album of all time! All I’m saying is I have a hard time understanding the appeal.

But that’s not to say this has been getting a lot of critical acclaim. It hasn’t been. And despite me mostly agreeing with seemingly the majority of critics on this album, one of the songs that seems to have been criticized the most on this album is my favourite track here, “Liability”. And I’m unsure what the most positive takeaway from this album is for me … is it “Liability” because I legitimately like that song? Or is it “Currents” for being awful in such a hilarious way?

“Currents” uses a sample of bed springs and it sounds hilarious—and also very annoying—with the rest of the song!

But then there’s “Calling My Name”, which is also awful in my opinion, but not in a funny way. I don’t even know what to say about this one right now other than that the lyrics are creepy and immature … so, I’ll just add that this song, to me personally, is a flaming pile of garbage, and even that doesn’t tell you just how much I fucking hate this song! If you want to hear something that does explain how I feel about this song, I’ll go as far as to say that this is not only one of my least favourite songs of the year so far, but it might even be my least favourite. Seriously, this song is HORRIBLE!

Aside from that … look, I could go more in-depth on some other songs … but why would I do that?

I like one song on this album … outside of that, there’s the occasional cool moment, but overall, I found this album to be terrible.

No guarantees, but this is probably going to make my top ten least favourite albums of 2022. Of course, as always, it’s just my opinion, but for me, it’s a 2/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 2/10
Favourite Tracks: “Liability”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Falling Back”, “Texts Go Green”, “Currents”, “A Keeper”, “Calling My Name”, “Sticky”, “Massive”, “Tie That Binds”, “Jimmy Cooks”

Arkhon by Zola Jesus:

I don’t have a ton to say about this one.

I planned to include this album in this post before I even listened to it, and after giving it multiple listens, while I don’t think this album is bad, it’s not really my cup of tea.

I’ve seen this album described as art-pop. This is a very mellow album with some personal lyrics, but these tracks blend together for me. If I listened to it more, they wouldn’t blend together as much, but I don’t know if I’d like these tracks more. I’ve already listened to it in full four or five times and I can barely remember any of it.

For me, this album is a 5/10. While I find it consistently enjoyable, none of these tracks stand out as special to me … but I think these tracks could be special to a lot of people, so even though I’m not really a fan of this album myself, I recommend that you listen to it. It sounds like an album that had a lot of effort put into it, and it’s definitely interesting! And you might end up absolutely loving it!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: ????
Least Favourite Tracks: ????

THROWBACK REVIEW – What Love Is All About by Johnny Reid (2015):

First of all, big thanks to my Granny, who recommended that I listen to a Johnny Reid album. Because this is the first time I’ve ever gotten a music recommendation in a comment, I decided this should be my first ever throwback review! I decided to listen to his eighth studio album, What Love Is All About, released in 2015.

So, what do I think of it?

Honestly, this is not for me. And if you’re looking for some simple sing-along country pop rock without a ton of depth in the lyrics (at least I personally didn’t find a lot of lyrical depth), then this very well could click for you … but personally, this just isn’t anything special to me … that is, outside of “A Picture of You”, which has some nice horns, some great melodies, and great vocals from Johnny Reid.

But the majority of this album just feels really uninteresting to me. Yes, there are some cool instrumental moments, and some good vocal melodies, and Johnny Reid is a good singer, but outside of “A Picture of You”, none of these tracks fully click for me.

Some of these songs, in my opinion, are not terrible, but almost every track feels like there’s something very notable missing.

“Honey Honey” is so cheesy, and not in a good way at all. Johnny Reid also covers “I Feel Like Goin’ Home” by Charlie Rich, a song I’m not a big fan of, but I like the original a lot more than this cover.

Also, while I think “Is It Lonely Where Your Heart Is” is one of the better songs here, there’s still one big issue I have with it. I think the vocals and instrumentation are good together, and I love the melody in the instrumentation after each chorus. This song seems to be about looking back on a past relationship, and it would be a great song in my opinion … if it weren’t for the bridge, where he says he’s been running red lights … and I get that it’s not trying to promote unsafe driving, and there’s songs I love where the artist is playing the villain. But in this case, it ruins the mood of the song. It’s supposed to be this emotional song, and he doesn’t seem to be trying to play the villain.

Overall, while I appreciate the recommendation, and I might check out some of Johnny Reid’s other albums, this album isn’t my cup of tea. For me, it’s a 3.5/10. But I discovered one song I like here, “A Picture of You”, so I can take that away as a positive from listening to this album … it’s just that, as a whole, the album isn’t for me. 

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “A Picture of You”
Least Favourite Tracks: “What Love Is All About”, “Honey Honey”, “When the Sun Goes Down”, “The Rest of My Life”, “My Heart Beats Like a Drum”, “I Feel Like Goin’ Home”

Life Is Yours by Foals:

This is the first Foals album I’ve ever listened to, and after giving it multiple listens, despite a few great songs, the album as a whole doesn’t really work for me. A lot of these songs are very danceable, but they don’t really grab me personally for the most part.

“Wake Me Up” is a great track with some great synths, a great bassline, and a chorus that I love! Other highlights for me are “2001” and “Looking High”, the latter of which has a chorus that sounds so good with those synths in the background!

Meanwhile, I don’t like the repetitive (and, in my opinion, boring) bassline on “Under The Radar”, or the ‘bouncy production’ (that I’ve used to describe other songs in previous reviews) on “The Sound”, even though I’ve heard ‘bouncy production’ done worse than this.

I get the appeal of this album, but overall, it’s not for me. Strong 3.5/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Wake Me Up”, “2001”, “Looking High”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Under The Radar”, “Crest of the Wave”, “The Sound”, “Wild Green”

Otherness by Alexisonfire:

Finally, it’s the newest album from Alexisonfire, Otherness.

Most of the albums I’ve reviewed on this website are the first album I’ve ever listened to by the artist … and this is no exception to that.

Anyway, Otherness is a hard rock album that has some cool instrumental moments, but the majority of this album either bored or annoyed me.

Part of the reason I decided to check out this album is because I’ve liked a lot of what I’ve heard from band member Dallas Green’s solo project, City and Colour. I haven’t listened to much City and Colour music, but I plan to listen to more eventually … and I hope I like it a lot better than this.

The closing track, “World Stops Turning”, feels very boring musically and very creepy lyrically, and “Conditional Love”, in my opinion, is horrible … I don’t even know how to describe it. It sounds like pretty much everything I don’t like about generic hard rock combined into one track.

There are some cool moments on this album, but none of the tracks fully click for me, and I’m giving Otherness a light 3/10.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: There are some tracks here that I find to be mediocre/decent, but none that really click for me
Least Favourite Tracks: “Conditional Love”, “Dark Night of the Soul”, “Mistaken Information”, “World Stops Turning”

I know I keep saying this to start my reviews, but I’ll say it about this album, too: this is my first time listening to an album by this act.

Porcupine Tree are a band I don’t even know if I’d heard of before I saw that this album was going to be released. But anyway, I decided to check out their new album, Closure/Continuation … and while I respect this album a lot, and it sounds like an album that had a lot of effort put into it, it didn’t really click for me personally outside of two songs.

I’ll start by talking about the songs on this album that I do like. “Dignity” has some really good melodies, and I think it’s produced well for the most part. This song reminds me of “Space Oddity” by David Bowie, and while I don’t love it nearly as much as I love “Space Oddity”, I still like this song.

Lead singer, Steven Wilson, said that “Herd Culling” is about UFO-related things lyrically, as something shows up outside somebody’s house. I love the powerful chorus on this song, and the song is really well produced in my opinion.

Then there’s “Walk The Plank”, which has instrumentation which feels all over the place, and it doesn’t sound very good together if you ask me.

The album opens with my least favourite track here, “Harridan”. This song is over eight minutes long, and there’s pretty much nothing about it that really clicks for me. Also, the vocals are mixed terribly in my opinion.

“Of The New Day” has some cool ideas … I like the guitar progression around the halfway point, but the song as a whole feels like it’s missing something, and as a result, it feels pretty boring to me.

And then there’s “Rats Return” which also feels like it just drags on without having much that really interests me. Also, I really don’t like the vocal effect used on Steven Wilson’s vocals here.

I really don’t like the closing track, “Chimera’s Wreck” … this song is almost ten minutes long, and something about the eerie feeling to it really makes me want to turn it off, and I’m not totally sure why. There’s just something about this song that really bugs me, and I’m not trying to say that it’s ‘badly written’ or anything like that, just that personally, I find some of it to be really annoying, even though I do like some moments of it, such as the high-pitched vocals that come in about six minutes and forty seconds in. Also, the lyrics might be very personal, and I’m not trying to be disrespectful, I’m just saying that it doesn’t click for me.

Overall, while there are elements of this album that I like, and I like “Dignity” and “Herd Culling”, the majority of this album really didn’t click for me. As a whole album that’s almost fifty minutes long, I’m giving this a 3.5/10. But that’s just how I feel about it. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you thought of this album and/or what you thought of my review.

Sorry if this review comes across a bit rushed … I’m working on a post where I’m doing ten mini album reviews. I hope to get that post done within the next week or so, but realistically, I have no idea how long it’ll take. 

And with that, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Dignity”, “Herd Culling”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Harridan”, “Walk The Plank”, “Chimera’s Wreck”

Hi, everyone. Welcome to my tenth album review! This is the first Soccer Mommy album I’ve ever listened to … and if you’ve been reading my reviews up to this point, you can probably tell I barely listened to albums until within the last two years, considering that I keep saying ‘this is the first album I’ve listened to by this artist.’

Anyway, I ended up really liking this new Soccer Mommy album, Sometimes, Forever. And I’ll start by saying that most of these tracks are really well produced in my opinion.

The first song I want to mention is “Don’t Ask Me”. At some points in this track, the drums and guitar sound like they’re made for different songs … and I’m not talking about the speed that they’re going at … I’m talking about the overall sound of the two. And I know this kind of sounds like a criticism, but I often love this kind of production, and that includes in this song. The drums aren’t too loud, but they still feel super powerful, and the mostly clean guitars are great, too! I could maybe say this is a post-punk revival song, but I have no idea how to define post-punk revival, or pretty much any genre, really.

The song, “With U”, feels a lot more tight, and I love the way this song sounds … however, I will say, the line, ‘And where ever you’re going, I’m goin’ too’ kind of bugs me … this is a pet peeve of mine in music, when a song is trying to sound romantic, but ends up sounding creepy instead. But overall, I still love this song.

I mentioned the clean guitars on “Don’t Ask Me”, and they also sound great on other tracks, like the song I just mentioned, “With U”, as well as “Bones”, “Following Eyes”, and “Feel It All The Time”.

“Bones” opens the album, and while I already mentioned the cleaner guitars, I think the lead guitar at the end is a great addition to the track. Overall, I think this track is really well produced.

I love the way the drums sound on the verses of “Following Eyes”, and they add to the eerie feeling of the song really well.

Despite all the positive things I have to say about this album, there are a few tracks in the earlier part of the album that really don’t work for me, with these two tracks being right next to each other in the track listing. First, there’s “Unholy Affliction”, which I’ll at least say has a fantastic snare in it … unfortunately, though, that’s pretty much the only notable thing I like about this song. I find the melodies to be extremely boring, and aside from the drums, the instrumentation sounds way too quiet in my opinion.

Right after that is the song, “Shotgun”, and the drums don’t have nearly the impact that they do on my favourites on the album. Just like the previous track, the melodies don’t really work for me here, either. I also don’t like the chorus of this track, and I’m not totally sure why.

However, “Darkness Forever” really clicks for me. I love the synths that come in partway through, and the guitars, which are more distorted than they are on some of the other tracks I mentioned, really fit the eerie feeling of the song.

While I like the closing track, “Still”, some of the lyrics don’t sit well with me, such as the line, ‘I’ll cut a piece out of my thigh.’ I know that line isn’t trying to promote self-harm, but it still doesn’t sit well with me.

That being said, I really like the music and vocals on “Still”, and I like some of the lyrics about wanting things to get better.

Overall, I’m giving Sometimes, Forever a 7.5/10. There are a few tracks that aren’t my cup of tea, but I like the majority of these songs.

Of course, as always, these are just my own personal feelings on the album. So, feel free to let me know what you thought of the album and/or what you thought of my review.

The last few reviews I’ve done, including this one, probably appear a bit rushed, and that’s for two reasons: 1) I’m still pretty new to reviewing albums and I’m not ready to go into all the details yet, and 2) there are quite a few new albums I’ve been trying to review, so I don’t want to spend a huge amount of time on each review.

Anyway, thanks for reading my review! If you’re into indie rock, or post-punk revival, or anything like that, I recommend giving this album a listen. Although maybe those genre descriptions aren’t accurate. Like I said earlier in the review, I don’t have much knowledge when it comes to genres … there’s so many different genres, and I don’t know how to tell most of them apart … but if you have the time, I think it’s worth listening to.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Bones”, “With U”, “Darkness Forever”, “Don’t Ask Me”, “Following Eyes”, “Feel It All The Time”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Unholy Affliction”, “Shotgun”

GIVĒON is an artist I’ve been excited to hear new music from after loving his compilation album from last year, When It’s All Said And Done… Take Time, which combined two of his EPs and added one more song at the end.

In September of last year, GIVĒON released “For Tonight”, the lead single from his debu studio album, Give Or Take. Earlier this year, before I started this website, I finished making a list of my top 100 favourite songs of last year, and this song wasn’t too far from making the list. It’s an amazing track with incredible vocals from GIVĒON, and I love the melodies on this track. I also love the double-meaning when he sings, ‘‘Cause all I wanna do is lie with you, even though it’s wrong to lie with you,’ right after mentioning denying the truth.

And while “For Tonight” remains my favourite track on Give Or Take, that’s not to say there aren’t other great tracks on this album, too. For example, “Another Heartbreak”, which I think is really interesting lyrically, as GIVĒON sings about being scared of a relationship because of the fear of it failing.

“july 16th” is a mellow track with some great pianos, and while it’s very short, lasting for under two minutes, it feels like a complete track, and a really good one, too.

“Remind Me” shows GIVĒON pointing out some of the flaws of his past self, and seeing these same flaws in somebody else, and he sings, ‘Is this karma calling?’

Now, there are a small handful of songs on this album that don’t really work for me, like “Get To You”, with the percussion that, in my opinion, sounds really awkward over the rest of the instrumental, with the kick drum sounding so overproduced, at least to me. And the melodies on this track don’t really click for me, either.

And then right after that track is “Tryna Be”, which is probably my least favourite song on the album. The only reason I find the melodies on this track at all catchy is because they’re so easy to remember due to feeling so repetitive and uninteresting, and the instrumental really bores me, too, with the synths that feel like they go nowhere, and the percussion that, in my opinion, sounds super generic and uninteresting.

The opener, “Let Me Go”, however, uses trap-like percussion really well in my opinion, over those synths, with GIVĒON’s amazing vocals … it’s a fantastic way to open the album. The repetitive vocal melodies work much better on this track in my opinion, and I love the intro and outro by GIVĒON’s mother on this track.

“This Will Do” shows GIVĒON having romantic feelings toward a fan at a show, but the fan only wanted to meet GIVĒON because of his music. And the second verse comes across a bit creepy when he says, ‘Take my hand, I’m in control’, but aside from that, this song is great! I love the melodies, and GIVĒON’s vocals are fantastic!

Overall, I think GIVĒON’s debut studio album is really, really good. GIVĒON is an amazing vocalist, and there are so many great melodies on this album, too.

There are a few tracks that I don’t like, but I like the majority of this album, and I’m giving it a strong 7.5/10. If you’re into mellow music with melodic vocals, I highly recommend that you listen to this. Great stuff!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7.5/10
Favourite Tracks: “Let Me Go”, “Scarred”, “This Will Do”, “july 16th”, “For Tonight”, “Lie Again”, “Another Heartbreak”, “At Least We Tried”, “Remind Me”, “Unholy Matrimony”
Least Favourite Tracks: “dec 11th”, “Get To You”, “Tryna Be”

For a while, Conan Gray was a name I’d seen a lot online, but I’d never listened to any of his songs until I discovered the song, “Heather”, from his 2020 debut studio album, Kid Krow. I still haven’t listened to that album, but I like the song, “Heather”, even though I get why some might not like the lyrics of that song.

Now, Conan Gray has released his second studio album, Superache, and … well, this review might be a bit difficult, not because my opinion on the album is all that complicated, but because I just recently started this website, and negative reviews are difficult for me, because to anyone reading my reviews for the first time, it may appear that I’m trying to tell the artist what to do, when really, I’m just sharing my own perspective on the album. So, yes, this will be a negative review, but I will start by saying that I totally understand that there’s an audience for this type of music, and I understand the appeal of this album to some extent. And, of course, even if I don’t understand the appeal of an album at all, that doesn’t mean that everyone has to agree with me on the album.

But anyway, yes, I get the appeal of this album to some extent. The album seems to be very much about failed relationships, and wanting to be in a relationship. For example, on the song, “People Watching”, which is the one song on this album that I truly love. On this track, Conan sings about another couple, wishing he could be in a relationship with somebody, and he describes himself as ‘people watching’. I also love that chorus, and Conan’s vocals on this track are fantastic!

But then there’s a song like “Disaster”, which, I’ll at least say, has a very self-aware title (sorry, I had to lol). Conan Gray sings on this track about a potential relationship, and goes as far as to say, ‘You know, Ashley believes that there’s something between you and I, but if I’m readin’ it wrong, then it’d be better off if I died.’ And yes, I know he’s not being serious when he sings that line (at least I certainly hope he’s not being serious), but it still makes the song even worse in my opinion.

Even if it weren’t for that line I just mentioned, I still wouldn’t like “Disaster”. The percussion feels really awkward on the chorus, the synths don’t fit in my opinion, and the sudden stops toward the end don’t work for me, either.

The closing track, “The Exit”, has something in it that is a big pet peeve of mine in music, which I mentioned in my review of I Used To Think I Could Fly by Tate McRae to describe the chorus of the song, “what would you do?”, from that album. I referred to it as ‘bouncy production’, and it shows up on the chorus of “The Exit” and it’s really annoying in my opinion. I do like some of the buildup toward the end of the song, but that hook really doesn’t work for me, and I’m not really a fan of the verses, either.

“Astronomy” is one of the best songs on the album in my opinion. I love the production and mixing on this track, with the volumes of the instruments feeling really well balanced, and I love those acoustic guitars. I also like the chorus of this song. While I don’t think this song is amazing or anything, I do think it’s good.

One more song I want to mention, though, is my least favourite song on the album, “Best Friend” … what is it with 2022 ‘best friend’ songs I personally find to be really terrible? First, The Weeknd’s song, “Best Friends”, which might be my least favourite song that I know by The Weeknd, and now “Best Friend” by Conan Gray … and, to me, this is even worse. I’ll even go as far as to say this is one of my least favourite songs of 2022 so far. I’m not even sure how I’m supposed to describe this song or what I should say about it. And I know that as a music critic, I want to describe why I feel the way I do about a song/album/etc, but with this one, I don’t even know what to say … I mean, the hook is terrible in my opinion, I’ll say that much. If you’re curious to listen to it, go ahead.

Overall, I didn’t like this album, and I’m giving it a 3/10, but, as always, it’s just my own personal opinion. Feel free to comment what you thought of this album and/or what you thought of my review.

Also, if there are any albums that you want me to review, let me know. It doesn’t have to be a new album. No guarantee that I review it, but feel free to make a recommendation.

I got a comment on a previous review recommending that I listen to a Johnny Reid album, which I haven’t done yet, but once I do, I might review one of his albums, but no guarantees.

There are quite a few new albums I’m planning to review soon, so if you make a recommendation and I choose to review it (which I may or may not choose to do), it might have to wait a bit.

Anyway, thanks for reading my review! And while I’m not going to guarantee anything, I plan to have more reviews out very soon!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 3/10
Favourite Tracks: “People Watching”, “Astronomy”, “Memories”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Disaster”, “Best Friend”, “Yours”, “Jigsaw”, “Summer Child”, “Footnote”, “The Exit”

You know those artists who you hear/read about for so long, and most of what you’ve heard has been positive, but you haven’t really taken the time to listen to them?

Up until now, that was my experience with Perfume Genius. And as of right now, I still haven’t listened to any of his previous albums, but I decided to check out his sixth studio album, Ugly Season, after hearing/seeing so much critical acclaim for Perfume Genius’s past releases.

Now, before I get into my opinion on the album, I’ve made a minor change to my review format: in the Final Thoughts at the bottom where I list my favourite and least favourite tracks, I’ve decided to start using quotation marks from now on. It makes it easier to tell whether there’s a comma in the song title or if it’s two different songs, and also in case I want to write any notes about my favourite and/or least favourite tracks (example: “[song title]” is my least favourite, but I still love it), it won’t get confused with a song title.

The opening track on Ugly Season, “Just a Room”, really hooked me. It starts off with a really eerie instrumental and fantastic vocals, before mellowing out for the rest of the song, until one more buildup at the end.

After that is the song, “Herem”, which starts out as a very mellow track with some great flute, and then there’s a dramatic shift in sound three minutes into the track. But eventually, the mellow percussion is added to end the track, and I love how this song changes so much throughout. It’s a great song if you ask me.

“Teeth” feels less mellow than the first two songs on the album, and just like both of them, I love this track. The piano and clarinet sound incredible together, and I love the stylistic shifts throughout the song.

The next three songs, though, feel like a big step down from the first three, at least to me.

“Pop Song” starts off pretty boring to me, and the addition of the percussion part-way through just feels really awkward, and I’m not totally sure why. From there, it kind of feels like it doesn’t really go anywhere.

“Scherzo” is an instrumental track which sounds like it had a lot of effort put into it, and I could totally understand why someone might love this track. I absolutely get the appeal of it, but for whatever reason it just kind of bores me. It’s an interesting song that sounds like it could work well in a movie soundtrack, but at least as of right now, it’s not clicking for me.

Then there’s the title track, and all I can really say about this track is … it’s a song. It exists. And I’m not denying the creativity of this track, it’s just that it doesn’t really click for me personally.

To me, the album gets better from here, starting with “Eye in the Wall”, which just has this eerie feeling to it that I really like, and those synths that come in about three and a quarter minutes in are an awesome addition to the track. This song reminds me of “Bad Guy” by Billie Eilish, a song that I have a ton of respect for, despite not being a fan of it myself (that’s right, I don’t like “Bad Guy” … controversial opinion, I know) … but unlike “Bad Guy”, I love “Eye in the Wall”. It just feels so intense in such an interesting way.

“Photograph” takes some time to get going in my opinion, but I like the track overall.

“Hellbent” starts off with an eerie sound that I don’t know how to describe, other than saying it sounds like a broken instrument. There’s also a helicopter-like sound at the start. Overall, this track sounds like a Black Midi song … I mean that as a compliment. However, I wish it didn’t have the line, ‘I cut my arm, it’s all over my coat.’ I don’t think the song is trying to promote self-harm, but I still don’t like that line.

While I don’t think I’d go out of my way to listen to the closer, “Cenote”, on its own, I think it works in the context of the album.

This album made me want to listen to Perfume Genius’s previous albums … I’m not sure when I’ll do that, but I’m almost positive I will at some point.

What I can say right now is that while I’m not as big a fan of this album as most critics seem to be, I still like it, and found it to be really creative and interesting.

Personally, I’m giving Ugly Season a 7/10. It’s eerie, it’s mellow yet still intense, and overall, it’s a really good album if you ask me.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 7/10
Favourite Tracks: “Just a Room”, “Herem”, “Teeth”, “Eye in the Wall”, “Hellbent”
Least Favourite Tracks: “Pop Song”, “Scherzo”, “Ugly Season”

I was recently looking at some new album releases and came across this new Shearwater album. I wasn’t familiar with their music, and honestly, I don’t think I’d ever even heard of this band until I discovered this album.

I was curious to check out this album, partially due to the cover art, which has to be one of my favourite album covers of the year so far. But a great cover art doesn’t always mean a great album, so how’s the album itself?

Well, it’s interesting, to say the least … but it didn’t really click for me outside of a few songs. This is a mostly mellow album with lots of small details in the instrumentation, and I could totally understand why someone might love this album.

With that being said, some of these songs feel like interesting ideas that kind of drag on and become boring … for example, the song, “Milkweed”, which starts off promising with some water sounds and some nice pianos, but the song feels to me like it drags on too long. Although I do like the ending of the track.

This album does have its highlights in my opinion. “Highgate” is a great opener, with the pianos, great vocals from Jonathan Meiburg, and huge shots of instrumentation part-way through that add so much to the track, before mellowing out at the end.

“Empty Orchestra” is almost a rock song, and I love the busy percussion on this track, as well as the synths (or whatever that sound is) that come in just under a minute and a half into the song, and show up later, too. Also, the volumes of the instruments on this track are really well balanced.

“Aqaba” is also a highlight on the album for me, and while I don’t think this track is amazing, it has some really good vocal melodies and some nice strings.

And then there’s a song like “There Goes the Sun” which, at least to me, feels way too long. I’m bored by about two minutes in, and the song is almost eight minutes long!

I do respect the creativity of this project. I mean, the song, “Wind Is Love”, for example, has some really cool ideas, like the switch-up part way through with the addition of the percussion, as well as that helicopter-like sound … but the song just doesn’t do much for me personally.

I think Jonathan’s vocals throughout this album are good, and a lot of the instrumentation is good, too, but I often feel like the vocals and the music don’t fit well together. The vocals remind me a lot of Asger Mygind of VOLA, based on the one VOLA album I’ve listened to, Witness, which is one of my favourite albums of last year. (If you haven’t heard Witness and you’re into melodic hard rock, I highly recommend that you listen to it … it’s phenomenal!) However, the music on this album is very different from the music on Witness. So, maybe part of this is just me being biased because I feel like it’s missing the instrumentation of Witness, but for the most part, I don’t think that’s the issue for me. Honestly, the vocals sound like they could really work over mellow instrumentals in the right context. Maybe it’s just that the extra detailed instrumentation distracts from the vocals.

Overall, while I think there are some cool ideas on this album, it doesn’t really work for me as a whole, and I’m giving The Great Awakening a strong 4/10.

Keep in mind, though, as always, this is just my opinion based on my own personal taste in music. Like I said, I respect the creativity of this album, and I could totally see why someone might love this, so if you have the time, I think it’s worth a listen.

Finally, I said in my last review that I was hoping to have more reviews out within five days or so. That didn’t happen. It’s been almost two weeks since that review was posted. That being said, I do expect to have another review out soon. No guarantees, but that’s what I’m hoping for.

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: Highgate, Empty Orchestra, Aqaba
Least Favourite Tracks: Laguna Seca, Everyone You Touch, Detritivore, There Goes the Sun, Wind Is Love

Wow … I can’t believe I’ve reached this point. This is a milestone I only imagined I would reach. My fifth album review!

Okay, but jokes aside, thank you to everyone who has followed my blog, commented on my posts, liked my posts, or even just taken the time to look at my website. I really appreciate the support.

Alright, so … before listening to Angel Olsen’s new album, Big Time, I had never listened to an Angel Olsen album, but I was curious to check out this album, and I’m so glad that I did, because I absolutely love it!

This album is very mellow, and at times it feels very symphonic. And while I listen to a lot of music, I haven’t been listening to this much music for all that long, so I know there are probably a ton of albums I haven’t heard that are quite well-known and are much more accurate comparisons to Big Time … however, I’m still going to mention that elements of this album feel somewhat similar to Spellling’s 2021 album, The Turning Wheel, which, by the way, is one of my favourite albums from last year. If you haven’t heard that album, and you have the time, I highly recommend that you listen to it … it’s beyond incredible! And while I don’t think Big Time is as great as The Turning Wheel, both albums have some (kind of) similar moments instrumentally, which work super well for both. (Considering this is my fifth review, I don’t really know how to describe it well.) And don’t get me wrong, I still think Big Time is a great album!

When I mention the symphonic elements, one example is the song, “All The Flowers”. This is a super emotional track that I absolutely love. Angel gives a great vocal performance on this song, and the strings work so well!

“Go Home” is a great song with lots of shifts in the instrumental that sound absolutely fantastic! Angel’s vocals on this track are incredible, and I love that chorus!

“Through The Fires” is a haunting track with an amazing vocal performance from Angel, beautiful pianos, and strings that add so much to the track! I also love the way this song builds, and overall, it’s a fantastic song!

But even the title track, which is much simpler, is a good song in my opinion. It just feels nice to listen to.

“Dream Thing” is a super well-written and well-produced track with great vocals and some small details that add so much, like the pianos.

Honestly, with this being my fifth review, I don’t think I’m at the point where I can go into too much detail with my reviews yet, and this is an album that I don’t have a ton to say about at the moment, but that’s part of what works so well here in my opinion … this album has so many emotional moments that are still so simple and somehow find that balance.

And some moments are harder for me to break down lyrically, like the closer, “Chasing The Sun”, but I still love the lyrics on this track. It paints a picture while still being mysterious. And, of course, I have to mention the beautiful pianos on this track, as well as Angel Olsen’s vocals, which are also amazing here. It’s such a great way to end the album!

I think my biggest criticism of this album is the vocal melodies … at times, they’re really good, and at times, I don’t think the melody makes much of a difference, but there are quite a few points here where it really feels like it’s missing a better vocal melody. But that’s just me.

Overall, this album didn’t give me a ton to say, but I still wanted to review it, because it was worth a try.

This album is very mellow, and I understand why some might find it boring, but for me, this is an 8/10. Fantastic album!

By the way, another reason this review is so short is because I’m trying to put out more reviews over the next five days or so … I have another one I’ve started, and we’ll see if I can put out another after that. No guarantees for any of this, but I hope to have more reviews out soon.

Anyway, let me know in the comments what you thought of this album (if you want to), and with that, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 8/10
Favourite Tracks: Dream Thing, All The Flowers, Right Now, Go Home, Through The Fires, Chasing The Sun
Least Favourite Tracks: This Is How It Works

I wasn’t sure what to expect going into this album … okay, really, no matter what album I’m going into for the first time, I don’t really know how much or how little I’m going to like it. However, with Harry’s House, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

Now, I prefer not to go into albums ‘trying to like it,’ or ‘trying not to like it.’ I’d rather go in looking for both what I like about it and what I don’t like about it … so, does it really matter what I expected going into this album?

But still, I can’t help but wonder how I’m going to feel about an album, and this is an album where I could have loved it, or I could have found it to be terrible, or somewhere in between … and pretty much no matter how I felt about this album, I wouldn’t be surprised by my opinion.

You see, I really didn’t like his self-titled debut album (to be fair, I haven’t listened to it much). But then came his second album Fine Line, which, in my opinion, is not just so much better than his debut, but is a great album in general!

This year, “As It Was” dropped as the lead single from Harry’s House, and I remember thinking it was terrible at first. The percussion feels like it doesn’t fit with the song, I don’t like that synth-line at the intro that shows up more throughout the song, and there wasn’t much that really stood out to me that I liked … but the song has grown on me since. I still don’t like this song, but I will admit, it’s pretty catchy, and the chorus is decent (or maybe even pretty good) in my opinion.

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the opener, “Music For a Sushi Restaurant”. It’s an interesting song title, and … well, I don’t like how the song starts, with the ‘ba, ba-ba’ vocals, and the food references, and the instrumental which really doesn’t grab me … but then we get those awesome horns, which don’t make the song really click for me, but I do think they’re a great addition to the track!

“Late Night Talking” is really well produced in my opinion … the instruments sound really good together for the most part, and it’s overall a song that feels really nice to listen to, and it’s hard to explain why. But I’ll also mention that Harry Styles’ vocals on this track are great! And yes, at one point, he does say, ‘I’d follow you to any place’, which typically is something that bugs me, but for whatever reason, this doesn’t feel as creepy as it usually does with lines like those … maybe it’s the word ‘I’d’ to start the sentence, implying that the other person has a choice here, or maybe it’s just the overall tone of the track.

But then there’s my favourite track on the album, “Grapejuice” … where do I begin with this one? It’s just so fun to listen to! I love the pianos on this track, Harry’s vocals are fantastic, and I especially have to point out that vibrating noise (it might be a synth, I’m not sure what it is) that shows up at the start of the song, and also after the first chorus. I absolutely love this track, and it’s one of my favourite Harry Styles songs to date.

After the aforementioned “As It Was” is the song, “Daylight”, which has some really awesome heavier parts musically. Overall, I like the song, and I’m not sure how else to explain why, other than saying I like the production.

“Little Freak” sees Harry look back on a past relationship, and I really like how he says that he’s not worried about where this person is now, or who they’re with, but he admits he’s still thinking about this person. I also really like a lot of the vocal melodies on this track.

“Matilda” is a song that I understand the appeal of, but I’m not a big fan of it myself. I like the lyrics where he sings to somebody who wasn’t treated well by their family, and he tells them it’s okay to leave that life behind and try to find a better future somewhere else, and while I also like the pianos later in the song, for the most part, the instrumental bores me … I think it’s an okay track, and I get why some people might love it, but personally, I’m not a big fan.

I think “Cinema” gets better as it goes on, especially with the outro, but overall, I’m still not really a fan of this song, especially considering how terrible the lyrics are in my opinion … and if you read the lyrics, you’ll probably at least get where I’m coming from.

“Daydreaming” samples “Ain’t We Funkin’ Now” by The Brothers Johnson, and while I like the use of the sample, and Harry Styles’ vocals are really good on this track, I kind of feel like the song doesn’t really go anywhere. There are elements of this track that I like, but it doesn’t fully click for me.

However, I do like “Daydreaming” more than the next track, “Keep Driving”, which seems to be using a car as a metaphor for a relationship … he sings, ‘A small concern with how the engine sounds’, but still asks, ‘Should we just keep driving?’ And it’s an interesting idea for a song, but outside of that, the song doesn’t do much for me, and the bridge feels out-of-place lyrically … maybe I’m missing something with the lyrics on the bridge, and if I am, feel free to let me know. But for me personally, this song just doesn’t work.

“Satellite” starts off with some great crescendos as well as some really nice higher-pitched synths on top, and I love that switch-up near the end where it gets heavier musically. I also like the pitch-shifted vocals toward the end of this track, and while I do feel the drums are too loud on the chorus, I still like the track overall.

The second-to-last track, “Boyfriends”, starts off promising with the backward vocals, but the instrumental feels pretty boring after that, and the vocal melodies don’t really interest me much, either.

And then we get the closer, “Love Of My Life”. I love the low synths on this track, and the pianos at the end are a fantastic way to end the album. But even though I find this track enjoyable while it’s on, it’s not one I really see myself going back to (other than maybe for lists, rankings, etc.).

So, overall, while I think this album is an enjoyable listen while it’s on, I feel like if I’m just in the mood for listening to some good music, I don’t see myself listening to this on my own time … but that’s just how I feel about the album as a whole. I absolutely see myself returning to some of the songs here. There are a couple great songs here in my opinion, and a few others that I like but don’t love. And even my least favourite songs here are still very listenable, and most of the songs at least somewhat work for me. I’m giving this album a 5/10. I’m not going to call it good, but I’m not going to call it bad, either. And keep in mind, in my opinion, a boring album is a bad album, and I don’t think this is boring. It’s an enjoyable listen that doesn’t really stand out as all that special to me outside a handful of songs. But, of course, as always, this is all just my opinion. Let me know in the comments how you felt about this album!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 5/10
Favourite Tracks: Late Night Talking, Grapejuice, Daylight, Little Freak, Satellite
Least Favourite Tracks: As It Was, Keep Driving

Welcome to my third review on this site! I know these reviews probably aren’t very good yet, but I hope they get better. Also, I know this album just came out … just to be clear, I’ve listened to the album five or six times already (it’s under forty minutes so I’ve been able to fit in that many listens and get a review out in under twenty-four hours) … I didn’t just listen to it once and write a review … if that approach works for some people, that’s fine, but I don’t review albums until I’ve listened to them AT LEAST once in full, and I would almost always listen to them at least three or four times before reviewing them.

But anyway, I first was made aware of Tate McRae by her 2019 song, “stupid”, after hearing it on the radio. I like that song, and I ended up loving her hit song, “you broke me first”. While I still haven’t listened to her debut EP, her second EP, TOO YOUNG TO BE SAD, was released in 2021, I was curious about it, I gave it a chance, and I really liked it!

For a while I’ve felt like I’ve been in the minority of critics (I wasn’t an online music critic until just recently, but you know what I mean) by defending Tate McRae’s music … and look, I get what people don’t like about “you broke me first” and I’ve understood the criticisms of her music overall; a lot of it is very mellow, and you could argue it sounds like it was made for the radio (just like I said about AM Gold by Train in my review of that album, I’m not saying Tate McRae’s music is just made for the radio … all I’m saying is you could make the argument that it sounds that way). I get that the style and the production choices of TOO YOUNG TO BE SAD is not everyone’s cup of tea, but I’m a fan of that EP. (And it’s worth noting that I haven’t seen a ton of reviews of her music up to this point, so maybe I’m not in the minority like I think I am.)

So, I was very excited about Tate McRae’s debut album, but I had some small doubts about whether or not I would like it. Yes, she’d made an EP that I really like, but I’ve been down the road before of discovering a song/a few songs/etc. by an artist, really liking what I’ve heard, and then I check out an album of theirs, and I don’t end up liking it.

“feel like shit” dropped as the lead single in November 2021, and while I wouldn’t say I love it, I do like it. The production is great, there are some great melodies, and Tate McRae gives a good vocal performance. And after that, it felt like the singles were getting better with each one.

The second single, “she’s all i wanna be” really surprised me … I wasn’t expecting a rock song from Tate McRae, but that’s what we got! And I know this whole pop-punk thing has been trendy recently, and a lot of mainstream artists are trying to make pop-punk, and some of it hasn’t clicked for me. However, some of it has, including this song, which is super well-produced in my opinion, especially how powerful the drums are in the chorus. The instrumental, the vocals, and the lyrics go together so well on this excellent track!

But even after the first two singles, I didn’t expect to love “chaotic” as much as I do, but this song really wowed me! This song seems to be about the struggles of growing up, and mentions hiding feelings and being afraid of uncertainties of the future, and I love the lyrics on this track. Tate’s vocals on this track are fantastic, too, in my opinion, the melodies are great, and the whole thing just goes together so well … I think this song is absolutely incredible.

But then came the last single released before the album, “what would you do?”, which I only listened to once before hearing the album, but this one really disappointed me. It starts out promising with a nice buildup, but then it transitions into the chorus super awkwardly, and by the way, I really don’t like the bouncy production on the chorus, and it kind of kills the song for me. There are elements to this track that I like, such as the melody on the pre-chorus, and even the melody of the chorus, despite my issues with the production … but overall, this song just doesn’t work for me.

So, the fourth single got me a bit worried about how the album would turn out, but considering how much I liked the singles before that, I was still pretty sure I was going to like this album … but unfortunately, I didn’t find much to like about this album outside of the singles. This was a disappointing album for me.

Considering that I’m just getting started with my reviews, I guess one positive about this album for me is that it doesn’t really give me a ton to say outside of the singles (that doesn’t affect the score of the album, I’m just saying it makes it easier to review). Some of these songs have trap percussion that really doesn’t fit in my opinion, and while I don’t think the lyrics are terrible, I personally don’t find them that interesting for the most part, but that’s just me. And it’s worth mentioning that for me to like an album, I don’t have to like the lyrics. It really depends on the context, but if I liked other elements of this album enough, I could have liked this album despite not being a huge fan of the lyrics … and it’s not even that the lyrics are all that bad in my opinion, I’m just saying they don’t really do much for me, and if I liked the lyrics more, they could have been that missing piece to make me like the album at least a bit more than I do.

Overall, the majority of this album bores me. Of course, this is all just my opinion, but that’s what I’m here to share … I’m not here to say ‘you shouldn’t like this’ or ‘this is trash’ … I’m just saying I personally don’t like this album.

The song, “boy x”, for example, while I get that there’s an audience for this, it just doesn’t do much for me. It’s a mellow song with a story to tell, over acoustic guitars, and it eventually adds in more instrumentation. And on paper, it seems like something I might like, but for whatever reason, it just doesn’t click for me, and I’m not totally sure why … it just really feels like it’s missing something to make it really click for me. But I’m not even all that interested in the story being told, although that’s just me personally … or maybe it’s not the story being told, and more just that I’m bored by the instrumentation. However, I do like the piano in the background.

“you’re so cool”, at least to me, sounds like a million other songs that I hear on the alternative radio station that I listen to, and it doesn’t do much to interest me. And it’s worth mentioning that I really don’t like how the guitars are produced.

I will say that “i’m so gone” and “go away” are my two favourite songs on this album that weren’t already released as singles, the former having some good melodies, and Tate’s vocals fit the song well, even though I don’t really like the trap percussion on this song … and also, I don’t really like the lyrics on this track, either. It’s one of those ‘I’m over you’ songs, and at least she references this person calling her on the phone, so it isn’t one of those songs where the whole point is ‘I’m so over you’ (that’s a concept that I respect more than I like … if you’re so over someone, why are you making a song about it? That’s just me personally, but the majority of the time, I don’t like that song concept … I’m saying at least this isn’t one of those), but still, the lyrics don’t really work for me. Also, “go away” is worth mentioning for the great production. But despite me liking these tracks more than any of the other non-singles (except maybe the sixteen-second opener, “?” … honestly, I’m not sure where that would land if I ranked every track on the album because … well, it’s more of an intro to the album than anything, at least to me), I’m still not a big fan of either song.

Overall, this album really disappointed me … I don’t think it’s terrible, but so many songs here just don’t click for me. I don’t really have much to say about a song like “hate myself”, or the closing track, “i still say goodnight” … overall, this album bored me. I think it’s listenable as background music, but it didn’t really click for me.

I didn’t like this album, and I’m giving it a 4/10, but that’s just my opinion. Feel free to let me know in the comments what you thought of this album and/or what you thought of my review. Also feel free to suggest albums that I could review … no guarantee that I review it, but I’d love suggestions. Also, feel free to suggest an album from any year; it doesn’t have to be new. Also, please don’t feel any pressure to comment.

This is the third review I’ve posted in less than four full days, but don’t expect to see another review for at least a few days, as I’m not really sure what to review next. But you never know … maybe I’ll have a review up tomorrow!

Keep in mind, this is (as always) just my own personal opinion … if you love this album, that’s great! And no hate meant to Tate McRae, either … the album’s just not my cup of tea. I feel the need to say all this considering that this is my first negative review … whenever I post a negative review, it’s not meant as any hate toward the artist, I’m just sharing my opinion on the music. And with all that, thanks for reading!

Final Thoughts
Rating: 4/10
Favourite Tracks: chaotic, she’s all i wanna be, feel like shit
Least Favourite Tracks: don’t come back, hate myself, what’s your problem?, you’re so cool, i still say goodnight