Rising Swedish pop star Tove Lo’s sophomore album, Lady Wood, doesn’t pack as much of a punch as the smash hits which defined her first. Instead, she opts for a darker angle and sings over minimalistic electropop beats. Her brand of hook-based instant earworm pop music does not work as well with the style, many of them simply not being as memorable as tracks like “Habits (Stay High)” and “Talking Body”. The production team is largely the same barring some high-profile interlocutors who provide some of the album’s best tracks; this is largely just a classic case of sophomore burnout.
The project offers a brief 10 tracks of dance-pop, but with a darker pulsating spin. These instrumentals can tend to take over the entire song at times despite the aim to be minimalistic — they are more minimalistic in structure than in sound, many of the main beats punctuated by a pounding and repetitive synth line. Production team The Struts, not to be confused with the glam-rock band, handles most of the songs here and the similarity between them is felt strongly. When things switch up due to new blood in the studio is where things get interesting. Joel Little, known for working mainly with New Zealand artists Lorde and Broods, appears for highlight “Imaginary Friend”, bringing the same creativity for alternative pop music that he brought to Broods’ fantastic Conscious earlier this year.
Fellow Swedes Ali Payami and Ilya Salzmanzadeh, known for working with pop mastermind Max Martin on some of the decade’s biggest hits, do their best with what they’re given, experimenting with sounds that don’t fully deliver. “Keep It Simple” especially is the only attempt at something completely novel, built like an EDM song before the disappointing climax which actually might bring down the energy. Another thing that takes away from the overall strength of these tracks is that Tove Lo’s voice is honestly just not very interesting, bordering on nasal at times and failing to showcase anything that impressive technically.
One interesting aspect of the album is its division into two halves, marked by brief and mainly instrumental tracks which I suppose were meant to give an overall sense of the sound which the forthcoming 5-track section was going to provide, but the concept doesn’t appear to be fully realized. However, these introductions do contribute to some absolutely flawless transitions into the tracks that kick off each album’s half. Tove Lo appears to be turning these two tracks, “Fairy Dust” and “Fire Fade”, into short films, perhaps more meaning will be revealed later.
Some of the better musical moments appear on tracks like “Imaginary Friend”, which comes closest to the instant catchiness of her previous singles with a playful chorus over some rhythmically dense interlocking synths, and “True Disaster”, a high-tempo track in which Tove Lo’s voice is at its best in its lower register – where it really should stay at all times. Despite a Google search not returning much, Joe Janiak’s feature on “Vibes” actually provides an interesting contrast to Tove Lo’s voice — his raspy and dark tones fit the instrumental more than hers do.
The project also contains some stunningly lazy lyrics, and Tove Lo is the primary writing credit on each: in addition to swearing so often it can disrupt the structure of the song, she actually says some things like “You’re winning at life” and “Hate on this world ’cause reality sucks” on a serious release. “Cool Girl” is a song based off of a monologue given by Amy Dunne in David Fincher’s fantastic movie “Gone Girl”, and Tove Lo succeeded in taking one of my favourite movies and turning it into an incredibly boring song — and really, everything is quite boring. Unfortunately, most of this project signifies phoned-in and uninspired pop music with the added edgy angle that so many others are doing better.
There are also some very strange musical choices here. On more than one occasion Tove Lo tries to throw some quirky vocal manipulations on the songs that just end up sounding obnoxious, as her high-pitched and distorted vocals begin to grate on the listener. The chorus of “Vibes” is based on her voice pitched up, modulated and wobbly and is quite terrible. Songs like “Flashes” are incredibly overproduced and try to cram as many ideas from different realms of music onto one song as they can.
After some great features this year like Flume’s “Say It” and Broods’ “Freak of Nature”, this project is quite disappointing. Tove Lo has proven this year that she can be a great complement to other people’s songs, but her own creative agency needs some development. She has the potential to become a genuine hitmaker, and surrounding herself with the right people could allow her to come back with a vengeance on her third project.
Favourite Tracks: Imaginary Friend, True Disaster, Keep It Simple
Least Favourite Track: Flashes
Score: 4/10
After a few years accompanying Tony Bennett, far removed from the mainstream consciousness in the world of jazz music, Lady Gaga returns to the public eye with her fifth studio album and first since 2013’s ARTPOP. Gaga is accompanied by many interesting and unexpected collaborators from all over the musical map, leading people to wonder what direction Joanne might be taken in — Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme, Beck, Father John Misty and Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker are just a few.
Virginia rapper D.R.A.M., who burst onto the scene with infectious hits “Cha Cha”, which captured the attention of Chance the Rapper and Beyonce, and current top 5 single “Broccoli”, arrives with his debut full-length album — and it represents a very refreshing surprise in the current landscape of hip-hop music. D.R.A.M. himself is a lot more musically inclined than you might think after hearing the chilled-out ode to drugs that is “Broccoli” — his singing voice and overall ear for the technical aspect of music are actually very impressive, far beyond your average rapper. D.R.A.M. is an active member of a gospel choir, and his deep and silky voice suited for traditional R&B is showcased much more than his raps on the album.
After a seven year period involving contract disputes and legal struggles, former child star JoJo returns with her first full length album in 10 years. She previously made history as the youngest person to achieve a number one hit on the pop charts – remember “Leave (Get Out)”? The album draws from a wide range of inspirations, succeeding mostly in showing that the talent is certainly still there, and possibly more so due to her more mature voice — but at times the writing falls that. The album’s credits do not display the most recognizable names (And the biggest, Rock Mafia, produced what might be the worst song, “Vibe”), but JoJo’s impressive range is sometimes enough to carry songs on its own. It’s far from perfect, but Mad Love is a pretty respectable album in the wake of JoJo’s struggles.
Quickly rising funk sensation Anderson .Paak and producer Knxwledge, known for his jazz and soul-sampling beats, combined their talents on this 19 track album that never feels like it overstays its welcome. Often hilarious, the album captures the era of 60s and 70s soul music in a way no other modern artists have been, continuing the vibes Anderson brought to us on his fantastic debut album earlier this year, Malibu. Knxwledge’s beats are layered with gospel vocals and brass instruments, serving as the perfect accompaniment to Anderson’s raspy, passionate and unique vocal delivery.
Anderson .Paak is a master of soul
Ubiquitous pop-rock band OneRepublic returns for the first time in three years with their fourth studio album. The band is fronted by superstar producer and songwriter Ryan Tedder, who has found enormous success in his contributions to the work of some of today’s biggest artists (Adele, Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Ariana Grande). Unfortunately, what seems to be remaining for a OneRepublic album seems to be a staggering number of leftover songs rejected by these artists, as the album as a whole suffers from an extreme lack of personality.
Tedder with production equipment
Indie-pop duo Phantogram’s third studio effort takes a turn for the uncharacteristic, leaving behind the upbeat and synth-heavy tracks for more of a rock and roll edge. This musical turn is even more unsettling in the wake of their collaborative EP with OutKast’s Big Boi, Big Grams, blending their style surprisingly well with the jazzy southern rap of the latter.
After an extended absence, off-the-wall rapper Danny Brown returns with his third solo effort, Atrocity Exhibition, continuing to establish himself as one of the biggest risk-takers in the music industry. Brown’s uncanny ability to pick out any piece of music, regardless of the sonic world it comes from and flow on it is impressive. It makes the album an absolutely mindblowing listening experience to hear this multitude of sounds which wouldn’t appear on even the most creative rapper’s album. Only the mind of Danny Brown could produce something like this.
The alt-R&B songstress many have dubbed the female version of The Weeknd returns with a sophomore album which evades the sophomore curse in a major way, keeping up 2016’s apparent trend of improvements on previous work. The songwriting and production game is stepped up to allow The Altar to soar over her somewhat inconsistent previous album, Goddess. This album is full of snappy, razor-sharp trap-influenced rhythmic R&B bangers, turning up the energy from her past album. The only time she returns to the slow, piano-driven balladry that was a little too prominent on Goddess is on closing track “To The Hilt”, which turns out to be an appropriate way to round out the album.
