After one of the most polarizing, provocative and sometimes pretentious bands somehow released a couple of its greatest works back-to-back after expanding the tracklist and letting frontman Matt Healy’s cluttered mind roam wherever it wanted to, it seems The 1975 have reversed course with their latest. Standing at only 11 tracks in length, that mind … Continue reading The 1975 – Being Funny In A Foreign Language
Author: bensbeat
Lil Baby – It’s Only Me
There are always online debates raging about which four faces belong on the hip-hop Mount Rushmore for any given genre or era. The cover art of Lil Baby’s latest depicts himself occupying all four slots. With just how meteoric his rise has been over the last couple years, from a popularity standpoint, it’s hard to … Continue reading Lil Baby – It’s Only Me
Charlie Puth – CHARLIE
It truly seems like you never know what to expect when you hit play on a Charlie Puth album. Not because he’s wildly experimental – but because he’s now delivered an awful album, an incredible one, and one that’s perfectly mediocre, the latter being his latest, CHARLIE. After the widely acclaimed pop-R&B fusion of 2018’s … Continue reading Charlie Puth – CHARLIE
Quavo & Takeoff – Only Built For Infinity Links
Four years after the last Migos split that heralded solo albums like Quavo Huncho and The Last Rocket and only a little more than a year past the trio’s Culture III, a lengthy list of inter-group conflicts and drama has led us to Only Built for Infinity Links, a team-up between Quavo and his nephew … Continue reading Quavo & Takeoff – Only Built For Infinity Links
Freddie Gibbs – $oul $old $eparately
It’s a little unfortunate that Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs had to stir up so much online drama in the last few months in order for his latest project to sell well above his usual projections – he repeatedly proves that he deserves to be in this spot without all of the surrounding silliness, and $oul … Continue reading Freddie Gibbs – $oul $old $eparately
Kid Cudi – Entergalactic
Flirting with a musical retirement – though we know how often to trust those lately – and now on his eighth solo full-length, the endlessly influential Kid Cudi has dropped a new multimedia project in a career full of multihyphenate ventures. The soundtrack to a new Netflix animated special dedicated to his late friend, fashion … Continue reading Kid Cudi – Entergalactic
DaBaby – Baby on Baby 2
After a highly impressive run of singles and features – one that now seems like a career speedrun, looking back on it – during 2019 and 2020, DaBaby’s seemingly monthly scandals finally hit a tipping point with some homophobic remarks made during a show at a summer festival. His verse removed from what was the … Continue reading DaBaby – Baby on Baby 2
5 Seconds of Summer – 5SOS5
One of music’s biggest cult fanbases comes through for their Australian pop-rock idols once again, propelling them to the top of the charts without much of a hit single to speak of. After lifting themselves up from the depths of trendy early-decade drudgery with their last project with the more pop-oriented and often anthemic CALM, … Continue reading 5 Seconds of Summer – 5SOS5
FLETCHER – Girl Of My Dreams
Girl Of My Dreams is technically New Jersey vocalist FLETCHER’s debut studio album, but there’s already been a rollercoaster of a journey to get here. When I was lucky enough to interview her, she told me all about the internalized struggle to finally include pronouns and narratives in her music that made it abundantly clear … Continue reading FLETCHER – Girl Of My Dreams
BLACKPINK – BORN PINK
K-pop’s – really, the world’s – biggest girl group return two years after dropping their first official studio album, appropriately titled The Album. Just as short as the last one and as many of their previous EPs and compilations, Born Pink stands at a tight eight tracks and finds the group continuing to follow their … Continue reading BLACKPINK – BORN PINK
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