"hit different" was 2020 lol what is time
― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 1 November 2022 20:03 (one year ago) link
https://www.instagram.com/p/ClmWr_2vBW5/
starting to seem like we're actually getting the album - title is s.o.s.
― ufo, Thursday, 1 December 2022 01:10 (one year ago) link
excited.
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Thursday, 1 December 2022 05:30 (one year ago) link
so it's out friday and lol that it's 23 tracks but "hit different" didn't make it
SOSKill BillSeek & DestroyLowLove LanguageBlindUsed (feat. Don Toliver)SnoozeNotice MeGone GirlSmoking on My Ex PackGhost in the Machine (feat. Phoebe Bridgers)F2FNobody Gets MeConceitedSpecialToo LateFarShirtOpen Arms (feat. Travis Scott)I Hate UGood DaysForgiveness (feat. Ol' Dirty Bastard)
apparently only 67 minutes though
― ufo, Monday, 5 December 2022 23:51 (one year ago) link
yeah when I saw that many tracks my guess was that it was going to be structured like janet.
― monotony, Tuesday, 6 December 2022 01:21 (one year ago) link
excited.β γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Wednesday, November 30, 2022 9:30 PM
β γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Wednesday, November 30, 2022 9:30 PM
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Tuesday, 6 December 2022 03:02 (one year ago) link
ya'll're crazy btw "shirt" is late entry soty status
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Wednesday, 7 December 2022 23:26 (one year ago) link
such a good album
― J0rdan S., Friday, 9 December 2022 07:27 (one year ago) link
i haven't really given this a proper listen (just in bits & pieces throughout the day) but unsurprisingly it's less consistent & cohesive than ctrl but still quite good
― ufo, Friday, 9 December 2022 07:36 (one year ago) link
first listen right now.
lol this is fucking stellar! wow!
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Friday, 9 December 2022 15:18 (one year ago) link
some duds in the middle section, but man this is really good.
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Friday, 9 December 2022 16:03 (one year ago) link
That sample on the opening title track sure is familiar π
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 December 2022 16:30 (one year ago) link
Good album so far.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 December 2022 16:30 (one year ago) link
IMMA GET THAT DICK THAT I DESERVE
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Friday, 9 December 2022 16:49 (one year ago) link
I appreciate how emo this gets
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 December 2022 17:17 (one year ago) link
Guitars!
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 December 2022 17:21 (one year ago) link
this is excellent and one of the best albums of the year. easy 4 mics, maybe 4.5.
early criticisms:
-it's too long. when i saw how many tracks there were, i assumed at least a handful would be interludes. nope. that said, the length is a catch 22. keeps the songs brief and allows for a ton of variety. saw some complaints about their inclusion elsewhere, but the familiarity of older favorites like "i hate u" and "good days" makes the album more listenable for me, idk. but yeah: some of those more milquetoast tracks in the middle could've been cut.
-not sure if this is a proper criticism, but her lyrics are all over the place. i know it's what she does, but it does makes the album feel a lot more cluttered than it is. however, just in terms of her voice, she sounds better than ever.
definitely mirrors the times. that whole thing in "shirt" about `going back on my word` after losing yourself (`feelin lost and i like it`) fucks with me. how many times recently have i done something that i knew was kind of fucked up but, like, FUCK IT, right? elsewhere she wants to kill her ex, but also just eat, sleep, and love. seems like a perfectly contradictory microcosm for the whole album. really good, really personal music from a really important voice. love love love.
― γππ π π € π ‘ π π π彑 (Austin), Friday, 9 December 2022 17:43 (one year ago) link
My spirits did sink a little when U saw the track listing. But they're short things.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 December 2022 17:45 (one year ago) link
*when I
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Friday, 9 December 2022 17:46 (one year ago) link
It IS too long, would be my main complaint - but then you think about how long it took for this to come out. She probably recorded so much, and she and the label wanted to pack the track list
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 9 December 2022 18:13 (one year ago) link
In a better economy/marketplace maybe 8-10 of these wouldβve been on a pre album mixtape or something
Lol @ this song "F2F" βΒ it's like a mid-2000s pop single (not lyrically, tho)
― Wet Legume (morrisp), Friday, 9 December 2022 18:46 (one year ago) link
i can't see this as anything other than an unambiguously great album, prob one of the best albums in years, will rightfully go down as a modern R&B touchstone. when the music is this good i can't really get w/ any argument about it being too long, if anything i wish it was longer. i don't think any song overstays its welcome... maybe the choir part on "good girl" but that song is so good otherwise that i don't really care. there's enough experimentation to keep things interesting but the POV of her songwriting is so clear and consistent that everything feels of a piece. it's just an all around triumph to me. (i also don't like ctrl all that much so maybe i'm crazy.)
naturally my head starts to go to what other records it reminds me of... janet albums come to mind in ethos. putting a rock song as track 13 is so very janet. but i thought a lot about jeremih too... the way in which she flows like a rapper but w/ melody and vocals that firmly root the music in R&B in a way that couldn't be mistaken w/ i.e. future or young thug or melodic rappers. there's a stylistic throughline for me from songs on late nights like "pass dat" and "impatient" to songs on this album like "low", "blind", "notice me", "conceited" etc. there's this kinda stream of consciousness effect to that kinda songwriting that i love.
i actually think the album gets stronger in the middle... "kill bill" and those early ones are cool but a few of them feel a little genre exercise-y to me where as "love language", "blind" etc are where this album finds its groove. i love "snooze" ... it has a certain babyface lightness of touch to it but you'd never know he produced it, she really bends him into the sound of this record. same thing w/ the benny blanco & shellback songs. there's just so much to love here for me.
― J0rdan S., Friday, 9 December 2022 20:09 (one year ago) link
first thought is that this is pretty excellent. some highlights for me: "low" (kind of like a travis scott song but with vocals that i actually enjoy listening to), "love language" (spacious, languid groove,great lyrics), "blind" (noname-esque stream of consciousness rhyming for two minutes before it flutters off), "notice me" (organ sound is so good! quavering vocals are the perfect accompaniment), and "gone girl" (i actually really like the choir part hah, it's a really grand moment in a record full of small, intimate ones).
i don't really think it's too long, but i might've ended the album at "shirt." tho the final few songs at the end do help ground the album back in an r&b space after going (with mixed results) to pop city for a few songs in the back half.
― comedy khadafi (voodoo chili), Friday, 9 December 2022 23:07 (one year ago) link
i don't really think it's too long, but i might've ended the album at "shirt."
i like "open arms" perhaps the only time i've ever enjoyed travis scott's voice. given where they are on the tracklist i'm fairly convinced she had no intention of putting "i hate u" or "good days" on the album and was told that she didn't really have a choice
― J0rdan S., Friday, 9 December 2022 23:25 (one year ago) link
i really like the travis scott collab and think of it as one of the highlights.
i'm starting to think of this as a double album in the same way that kendrick's mr. morale + the big steppers was "thematically" a double album. in that respect, disc one is basically flawless and the best run of songs on any new album i've heard in many years. i know we say this cliche every year around this time, but i really do feel like this has been a great year for new music β and to have it capped off with an album of this calibre from her is just so damn satisfying.
final word: 4.5 mics
― Oh, Stevie, you are my number one gypsy goddess. (Austin), Saturday, 10 December 2022 00:23 (one year ago) link
She sounds more like Kehlani than ever.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, 10 December 2022 15:39 (one year ago) link
"far" is punching my brain this morning. this fucking album.
― Oh, Stevie, you are my number one gypsy goddess. (Austin), Saturday, 10 December 2022 16:21 (one year ago) link
I've had the new album on repeat since yesterday. Shit is absolute π₯π₯π₯
― I can't tell if he's trolling or not (ilxor), Saturday, 10 December 2022 16:48 (one year ago) link
yep.
and i have to say i hated "gone girl" the first couple times, but it's really growing on me. very cheesy, but also very classy.
― Oh, Stevie, you are my number one gypsy goddess. (Austin), Saturday, 10 December 2022 17:41 (one year ago) link
highlight for me is βSeek & Destroyβ
― I did see Xhaka crotchgrab (breastcrawl), Sunday, 11 December 2022 14:48 (one year ago) link
"βGhost in the Machine" for me. Those lyrics are sharp.
― Malevolent Arugula (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 11 December 2022 14:59 (one year ago) link
`shirt` is not only the highlight of this album, it's also the best song of the year.
"is that your final answer?"
― Oh, Stevie, you are my number one gypsy goddess. (Austin), Sunday, 11 December 2022 15:51 (one year ago) link
yes.
final answer.
where do december releases go in our ridiculous november year-end list culture? will this make it onto the best of 2023 lists?
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Sunday, 11 December 2022 16:10 (one year ago) link
anyway album rules
― your original display name is still visible (Left), Sunday, 11 December 2022 16:11 (one year ago) link
it should be on both 2022 + 2023 lists.
it's that good.
― Oh, Stevie, you are my number one gypsy goddess. (Austin), Sunday, 11 December 2022 16:11 (one year ago) link
bjork sampling ODB track at the end. things you didn't know you needed.
― maf you one two (maffew12), Sunday, 11 December 2022 17:15 (one year ago) link
whole thing is some perfect grey Sunday with a dusting of snow shit
― maf you one two (maffew12), Sunday, 11 December 2022 17:21 (one year ago) link
i actually think the album gets stronger in the middle
β J0rdan S., Friday, December 9, 2022 2:09 PM (three days ago) bookmarkflaglink
Agreed. "Notice Me," "F2F," and "Conceited" are stand outs.
― Indexed, Monday, 12 December 2022 15:27 (one year ago) link
lol @ everyone who made their year-end lists before hearing this.
― Oh, Stevie, you are my number one gypsy goddess. (Austin), Friday, 16 December 2022 19:58 (one year ago) link
Last week both of my kids separately asked me if I'd heard this yet, and yesterday a buddy called me asking for advice about buying tickets for *his* daughter to see SZA, so clearly there's a lot of SZA in the air. People want their SZA! I gotta get on this album, haven't really thought about her since I saw her play a small place in ... 2017? And even then she seemed ascendant.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 16 December 2022 20:30 (one year ago) link
βKill Billβ is amazing.
― The Triumphant Return of Bernard & Stubbs (Raymond Cummings), Friday, 16 December 2022 21:55 (one year ago) link
finally listened to half of this last night, concur, Kill Bill amazing, rest of the record really great, weird they held this back so long and difficult to parse out what the truth was about the delay from anything anyone has said.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Saturday, 17 December 2022 18:26 (one year ago) link
some of the album was only finished just before release, but i think the main reasons it took so long were her lacking confidence in her material & her label refusing to release things even when she wanted to
― ufo, Saturday, 17 December 2022 20:59 (one year ago) link
didnβt she have serious problems with her vocal cords at some point?
― I did see Xhaka crotchgrab (breastcrawl), Saturday, 17 December 2022 21:04 (one year ago) link
looking it up that was in 2018 after she toured ctrl, so idk how much that contributed to delays
― ufo, Saturday, 17 December 2022 21:16 (one year ago) link
she has spoken a lot about how being a famous musician gives her an extreme amount of anxiety. she has also spoken about hating the process of releasing music according to a schedule, having to plan out singles with a label and all that instead of just putting songs out when she wants. the guys who run TDE have talked about feeling like they needed to take control of the release process from her. both sides have spoken about not seeing eye to eye on a lot of things. i think itβs pretty easy to connect the dots and understand why her music came out in fits and starts before an album just suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
― J0rdan S., Saturday, 17 December 2022 22:47 (one year ago) link
they also sat on Kendrick's stuff for ages, no? I'm not sure exactly what that label is thinking.
― I? not I! He! He! HIM! (akm), Saturday, 17 December 2022 22:48 (one year ago) link
iβm not sure if her and kendrick have similar issues in that regard. i think kendrick albums just take a long time to make. but heβs also leaving TDE after this album so perhaps itβs not the easiest place to be an artist
― J0rdan S., Saturday, 17 December 2022 22:55 (one year ago) link