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liam-93-productions · 5 years

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Liam Payne is on the cover of Esquire Middle East's June 2019 issue

The One Direction star was photographed on a rainy day in London

During the shoot, Payne opens up about the media's obsession with romance rumours

"Most of what you read online about me is straight BS" says Payne

It’s raining in West London. Every weather man, woman, and app had forecast that sunshine would be on the agenda for the day. But no. It’s raining. So, we’re stuck inside instead.

Alternating between balancing on a set of dumbbells (...) Liam Payne doesn’t seem to mind all that much about the weather. He’s used to plans changing pretty quickly.

“I’ve found in my life at the moment, because of the way things have happened, that everything’s kind of fast-forwarded,” says Payne, his dark eyes lighting up like those of a prospector that’s just panned a nugget of gold, “everything has fast-forwarded.”

As Payne ambles about the studio, it’s hard not to notice that even the tattoo on his forearm bears a striking resemblance to the fast-forward button on a television remote. Or a Spotify skip button.

Having recently performed alongside Rita Ora at the Global Teacher Prize concert in Dubai, Payne looks healthy and tanned, kissed by the sun even though his visit to the region was greeted by weather not dissimilar to today’s overcast conditions. “I think the weather’s just following me around at the minute,” he says with a laugh as abrupt as the first half of a hiccup. “There’s an air of something almost Vegas-y about Dubai,” adds Payne, “everything’s a little bit of a show there.”

Payne is no stranger to bit of a show. As well as having spent the better part of a decade touring the world with One Direction (the band is currently on a definitely indefinite hiatus) Payne helped break a concert attendance record in the Middle East last year by performing in front of 110,000 people. “I didn’t eat anything at dinner beforehand because I was thinking no-one’s going to turn up,” he admits.

To make Liam Payne nervous certainly takes some doing. Back in 2009—when ambitions of winning X-Factor as a solo performer were still very much at the forefront of his mind—Payne sang in front of over 29,000 fans as part of the pre-match entertainment of a game between his local football team Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United. A pretty heady experience for a boy not yet old enough to drive a car.

Now 25, Payne knew from an early age that he could “hold a tune”. What it took him longer to realise was that others couldn’t. “I think I thought it was just a normal thing that people could get on with,” he says with a shrug. That may well have been the case when it came to his local theatre group, but when considering most of the “normal things”that people “get on with”, we’d hazard a guess that the majority don’t involve amassing over two billion streams on Spotify.

But that’s Liam Payne for you: unassuming, self-effacing, and—for the most part—a guy who seems just genuinely happy to be here. It’s easy to forget when deliberating the merits of Linkin Park’s nu-metal masterpiece ‘Meteora’ with Payne that his face was once plastered on the bedroom walls of millions of tweens the world over.

Payne’s achieved extraordinary success in the quarter of a century he’s exhausted so far. So much so that you’d expect the moment that sparked off his passion for music to be equally spectacular. A real spontaneous Kevin Bacon dancing-in-an-abandoned-warehouse sort of epiphany. The reality is that it wasn’t romantic or sexy in the slightest. It was karaoke. “I used to go out to Cornwall and see my grandad and we’d always go to this karaoke bar and we’d sing a load of different stuff,” says Payne.

What sort of “stuff” does a future pop-star sing in a karaoke bar in a small town on the west coast of the UK? Well, the same oeuvre that you or I are have probably crooned into a microphone at midnight at Lucky Voice: ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams.

While Payne isn’t ashamed to admit that he was listening to Williams pretty much 24/7 as a youngster (“No, I really was”), one of the first CDs he bought with his own money was an Eminem record. Growing up with both Robbie Williams and Marshall Mathers as his idols, he places his own sound as “somewhere in-between the two”.

A little bit Slim Shady and a little bit Rock DJ, that intersection of pop and rap is reflected in Payne’s solo career so far. His debut single, the catchy-as-the-plague earworm ‘Strip That Down’, featured Migos alum Quavo and went on to be certified platinum in both the US and the UK. The title track of his First Time EP also saw Payne join forces with rapper French Montana. Payne’s certainly not the first popstar to align themselves with a more urban sound in an attempt to appeal to an older demographic. Nor will he be the last. The transition from squeaky-clean boyband member to fullyfledged solo artist is, after all, anything but easy. To use a Take That comparison: for every one Robbie Williams, there are a hundred Mark Owens.

When it comes to One Direction, it’s still a bit too soon to tell who the Robbies and the Marks of the bunch are going to be. “When we did the band stuff it was very—not exactly scripted—but let’s just say you kind of knew your audience very well,” says Payne. “We’d usually sell a tour out before we’d even done an album. And then they [the record producers] would go: ‘Right, you’re doing stadiums’. And then you’d go: ‘Okay, so we need longer choruses—the kind of songs that people can chant in a stadium’. You had to kind of write around the tour.”

If that process sounds a bit paint-by-numbers, that’s because—by Payne’s own admission—it was. “It’s a very backwards way to do it,” he admits, “obviously people don’t really tend to write like that. But we just had no time, so it was like: ‘Quick! We need another hit and another and another!’ It was actually easier to write in that scenario because there were so many hoops you had to jump through. It wouldn’t necessarily be my choice of music now—it wasn’t something that I would listen to—but I just knew how to make it, if that makes sense?”

Going from such a canned bop formula to a world of complete creative freedom is a daunting prospect for anyone looking to make it as a solo act. But that was far from the only challenge Payne faced. Streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music have drastically altered the music industry since the phone-to-vote days that launched One Direction. “The way that the industry kind of works now is kind of a difficult one because of the way albums are and the introduction of Spotify,” says Payne. “When I was in the band, Spotify wasn’t really a thing for us, we didn’t really care. We used to sell a lot of albums and physical copies, so it was different for us. As I got more into the solo stuff it was a kind of, like, a bit f**king confusing.”

All you need to do is look at the chains that Payne draped around his neck during the releases of a series of sophomore singles to see a man adopting a kabuki mask that didn’t quite fit. A man who was, in his words, a bit f**king confused. “‘Strip That Down’ was amazing and I was really happy with the success of it—but it didn’t necessarily paint the right picture of me and who I actually am,” he says, “I always found, to start off with, that with a lot of the chains and the clothes and the fashion, I was kind of hiding behind something. We did a billion streams for ‘Strip That Down’ but it still all gets a bit heady and at a certain point you’re like: ‘what the f**k am I doing here?’ It’s a bit like being stuck out in deep water and you’re just going ‘well, it would be really nice to get back now.’”

Payne might still be far from the shore, but he seems to be treading water at a more comfortable pace nowadays. “It took me a long to get my head around it,” he says (...)

And where is Liam Payne now? Well, he’s sat in front of me looking comparatively anxiety-free: comfortable and relaxed in a plain black tee and pair of tailored HUGO trousers. “My style and my fashion sense are all quite laid back now because that’s kind of the way I am as well. I don’t feel the need to hide behind the clothes anymore. I feel I can finally be who I am and enjoy myself.”

The last few years have witnessed a real boy-to-man transition for the ex-boy band squaddie. A coming-of-age moment came when he arrived at Frank Sinatra’s house in Palm Springs to record his part of ‘For You’ with Rita Ora. A crooning, finger-snapping, rather embarrassingly-waist-coated rendition of ‘Fly Me to The Moon’ was what Payne sang to get through his first ever X-Factor audition. Walking into Old Blue Eyes’ home, for Payne, came with the realisation that he’d “made that complete full-circle journey”.

Suffice it to say there’s no turning around for Payne in that journey when it comes to the fame front; he’s well in the thickets of the tabloid jungle. Headlines about who’s “breaking silence on romance rumours” with the popstar are a daily occurrence in the British papers. So too are accompanying photographs of his face. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Payne has, after all, got a rather nice face. The latest use of which has seen it become the face of Hugo Boss’s latest HUGO menswear line.

“To be honest, they called me and it just seemed to make a lot of sense at the time. It was a direction that I knew I’d love to go down,” says Payne on how his partnership with the brand first came about. “It’s very rare that a big company like Hugo Bosscomes around asking for you to be the face of it. It’s a bit of a dream come true actually.”

Previous Hugo Boss ambassadors include the likes of Chris Hemsworth, Jamie Dornan and Gerard Butler. Handsome faces. Familiar faces. Faces that are now forever immortalised in the public conscience. A fact that Payne is all-too conscious of himself. “I was looking through the different people that they’ve had on their roster over the years and they’re all people that I look up to,” says Payne, “So, I’m obviously quite excited but it’s also a bit daunting because these things,” he spreads his arms in a gesture that aptly sums up the rigmarole of press junkets and interviews, “are literally around for forever now.”

Moving from location to location and outfit to outfit, it becomes evident that dressing to hide who he is, is no longer on Payne’s agenda. As he’s grown (both figuratively and literally) in the public eye, and Payne’s now come to accept the lane he’s in. “I’ve become more in tune with things now,” he says, “as the years go by, I think you gain a different level of confidence and find out what works for you and what doesn’t, rather than constantly trying to be something that you’re not. If that makes sense?” It does.

What makes less sense is why Payne decided to go with chains in the first place “It was quite funny at the time when everyone used to get really mad about it,” he says referencing outraged headlines like: Sleepy Liam Payne leaves a London studio wearing a HUGE gold chain. “It just didn’t really matter to me.”

What matters to Payne is when those stories affect the lives of those around him. One particular article published in the British newspaper, The Daily Mail, last year that attempted to insinuate he was romantically linked with a member of his team irked Payne so much that the usually apolitical Twitterer took to social media to criticising the newspaper.

“The difference with that story was that the people that they were putting me with have families, boyfriends, girlfriends,” explains Payne, “I go home every night and know that people write horses**t about me daily. I won’t worry about it because I know it’s f**king bulls**t. But for someone who’s never had a story written about them before? If they go home and their partner’s reading the paper going like: ‘what the f**k is this?’ It’s difficult for them to be able to explain that.” Payne’s voice ratchets up a few decibels when he says this. He uses more than a few words we’re not legally allowed to print. I can tell that he cares about this. That it needles him. That it’s not something he has to say, but rather something that he needs to say. So, I let him.“I asked for this, I get paid very handsomely to be here and it’s part of my life and I get it. It’s alright. You can write what the f**k you want about me but when it comes to other people who work with me? That is not on.”

The only way for Payne to cut through that noise is by doing the thing he knows best: making music. “Everything I do is very, very public a lot of the time. I get reported on a lot for different things. I just think there’s a certain line where I have to have my say. And that there’s only one way for me to do that—which is through my music.”

(...)

Communicating as a public figure becomes increasingly difficult when navigating the glut of information that exists online. Do a quick Google search for ‘Liam Payne’ and you’ll be greeted by countless fan sites with a never-ending litany of “facts” about the man. Facts like:

“Liam Payne prefers showers over baths” “Liam Payne sleeps naked” “Liam Payne has a phobia of spoons”

While Payne is quick to assure me that most of what you’ll read online is straight B.S., one fact did keep cropping up again and again. And I mean, c’mon, I couldn’t not ask him about the spoons, could I?

“Yeah, I did have a fear of spoons,” he groans with the weariness of a man who’s been pelted with countless pieces of cutlery, “but it wasn’t so much a fear as something that’s now turned into a thing because of the internet. I was forced in detention once to wash up dirty plates and spoons and I think it just put me off looking at how dirty some of these spoons came back. But people used to throw spoons at me in concerts! I should have said I had a fear of pillows—that would have been comfier.”

All things considered, a fear of spoons is a fairly harmless rumour to spread. But rumours rarely ever are. Most are vicious; spreading like wildfire and burning all of those they touch. “I’ve been dead,” says Payne abruptly. “People I love have been dead.”

The non-stop 24-hour nature of the news cycles can be overwhelming to read, let alone to be involved in via the announcement of your own death. “You have to learn fast and we [One Direction] had to grow up pretty quick in the circumstances that we were under or else you kind of f**k it a little bit,” he says. If you’ve ever seen clips of The Beatles or BTS getting mobbed on the streets, you know the kind of hysteria that can ensue when boyband members are seen out in public.

“I don’t think I struggle in the sense of what you would naturally think of when I’m walking down the street with every person stopping me,” says Payne, “I mean, it happens sometimes but it’s mainly mentally where you struggle with it. It’s the getting ready and always knowing that you might be photographed.” From elaborate airport fits to the loungewear he puts on to pick up a pint of semiskimmed milk from the shop down the road, there’s never a moment where Payne and his clothing aren’t in danger of becoming front page news.

One of the ways that Payne combats that simmering anxiety is by going for a run at 5am every morning. It’s probably why he’s been able to maintain his sanity so far. And probably why he’s in—as evidenced by his numerous topless Instagram photos—such great nick.

“I love it. I get myself outside and into the day and get past that fear of ‘what if this happens?’ or ‘what if that happens?’. Because, for a long time, I became—what’s the word?” says Payne, gesticulating wildly as if he’ll catch the phrase careening around his head like a runaway wasp, “there’s a word for this condition where you stay inside and never leave, it’s in Ocean’s Twelve…”

I saw Ocean’s Twelve last week. The word he’s looking for is agoraphobia.

“Yeah, that’s it. I developed a bit of agoraphobia. I would never leave the house. And I do sometimes suffer with it a bit in the sense that I’ll get days where I just don’t want to leave my house. Even if it’s just going to the shop. I’d be going i to order a coffee at Starbucks and I would sweat because I wouldn’t know whether I was doing the right thing or not. I would be thinking: ‘f**k, I don’t want to be here’.”

I worry for a moment whether Payne is feeling that same feeling today but decide instead to take likely misplaced solace that my innate knowledge of the Ocean’s film franchise has won him over. “I even used to have a really bad problem with going to petrol stations and paying for petrol. I can feel it now—it was like this horrible anxiety where I’d be sweating buckets in the car thinking ‘I don’t want to do this’.”

Many people suffer from moments of panic and instances where we feel crushed by the weight of the world’s expectations and Payne is all-too aware that his specific anxieties stem from a position of privilege. “Unfortunately, it does happen to everybody in this industry,” he says, “I think at a certain point you just have to get over it as quickly as you can.”

There we are once again: back to doing things quickly. Back to being on fast-forward. Back to doing countless interviews in specifically allotted time slots. Back to that constant pressure where “everything happens a little bit quicker in my world than it does in everyone else’s”.

Everything might be happening a hell of a lot quicker for Liam Payne than me, but I’m still interested to know: what’s next for the man? What does he want to achieve in the not-yet fast-forwarded future? “I’m hoping for something a lot more than what I’ve done so far, if that makes sense?” Having listened to Payne’s solo discography in preparation for this interview, it really does.

Sure, Payne’s produced a spate of bonafide bangers—songs that will have you singing along as you whip down Emirates Road—but they’re also songs that are, for the most part, still formulaic. They’re catchy, glossily well-produced, yet contain something of an air of inauthenticity about them.

And, having met Payne, I can’t help but feel they seem at odds with his unabashedly authentic self. As he tells me: “People can see right through that s**t and it’s difficult for you to then go and say ‘buy this record!’ if you don’t really believe in what’s going on.”

So, what does a man who’s (sort of) afraid of spoons actually believe in? Moreover, what does a man who eats ice cream with a fork want to be remembered as having believed in? “I’m obviously really happy with some of the stuff I’ve done. Like breaking world records with the band and all sorts of amazing stuff. But in the recent years, it’s been a bit topsy-turvy with me kind of finding my way. And I’d rather not be remembered for a lot of those things. I want to make a really amazing album that’s not, like,” and he air-quotes here, “important, but something that people really get into. Something that makes certain people feel a couple things. I think that would be the best thing for me. I just want to make people move, if that makes sense?”

In case you haven’t already noticed, that question (‘if that makes sense?”) is practically punctuation to Payne. It’s a caveat that ends many of his statements; an interrogation of his own beliefs and a moment where his PR armour reveals its chinks and offers a glimpse of the man beneath the surface. A man that is equal parts cocksure and uncertain—a man who’s very rarely both and almost never neither.

While he might be living on fast-forward—and shows no signs of slowing anytime soon—Liam Payne, for the moment at least, might just be in the midst of the most interesting time of his life. His legacy is currently being written, awaiting the day we’ll eventually look back with a clearer idea of whether he’s a Robbie Williams or a Mark Owen. As for me, I’m just hoping that the next evolution of Liam Payne’s career is a lot more Liam Payne than the last. If that makes sense?

#liam payne #esquire middle east #liam's interview #hugo boss #30.05.2019 #long post

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1dreality · 5 years

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The New Direction of Liam Payne

Liam Payne discusses anxiety, romance rumours and what's next for the ex-One Direction star

Lucas OakeleyMay 30, 2019

It’s raining in West London. Every weather man, woman, and app had forecast that sunshine would be on the agenda for the day. But no. It’s raining. So, we’re stuck inside instead.

Alternating between balancing on a set of dumbbells and showing off adorable videos of his son, Bear, to the cooped-up crew, Liam Payne doesn’t seem to mind all that much about the weather. He’s used to plans changing pretty quickly.

Payne’s lived pretty much his entire life on fast-forward. He had his first X-Factor television appearance at the age of fourteen. He embarked on his first world tour with a little band named One Direction—you might have heard of them—only four years later. The band sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and had four albums debut at number one in the US charts. He even found the time to meet the future mother of his child somewhere in-between. As for fatherhood, that’s a life achievement the singer notched at just twenty-three.

Payne might still be far from the shore, but he seems to be treading water at a more comfortable pace nowadays. “It took me a long to get my head around it,” he says, “and obviously at the same time I was having a baby and all that different stuff. So, there was a lot of s**t to go through at that time to get to where I am now.”

“I don’t feel the need to hide behind the clothes any more. I feel like I can finally be who I am and enjoy being myself”

“To be honest, they called me and it just seemed to make a lot of sense at the time. It was a direction that I knew I’d love to go down,” says Payne on how his partnership with the brand first came about. “It’s very rare that a big company like Hugo Boss comes around asking for you to be the face of it. It’s a bit of a dream come true actually.”

“I asked for this, I get paid very handsomely to be here and it’s part of my life and I get it. It’s alright. You can write what the f**k you want about me but when it comes to other people who work with me? That is not on.”

to do that—which is through my music.”

The din of noise that Payne has to compete with has increased somewhat substantially over the last two years thanks to the addition of his son, Bear. Although Payne attests that Bear is as “good as Goldilocks”, he’s aware that being a dad and a popstar aren’t easy responsibilities to balance.

“People make it out like a lightbulb comes on and suddenly you’re a dad and it’s like… no. [Being a father] is something you have to learn and I’m not afraid to say it takes more than a f**king minute to get your head around the idea of what it is.”

Payne might not have his head fully around the concept quite yet but, as we talk about his relationship with Bear, it becomes evident that Payne’s already nailed one of the most important aspects of being a dad: caring. “The not understanding is the most difficult bit,” he says with the weariness of a father well above his years, “especially when you have a toddler who doesn’t understand how to communicate and you can’t understand what they want.”

“Liam Payne prefers showers over baths”

“Liam Payne sleeps naked”

“Liam Payne has a phobia of spoons”

I’ll get days where I just don’t want to leave my house. Even if it’s just going to the shop. I’d be going i to order a coffee at Starbucks and I would sweat because I wouldn’t know whether I was doing the right thing or not. I would be thinking: ‘f**k, I don’t want to be here’.”

I saw Ocean’s Twelve last week. The word he’s looking for is agoraphobia.

#liam payne #liam’s solo project #liam for esquire #liam’s promo #This was a pretty good interview. Looks like Liam is trying the honesty approach and may have started to figure hinself out #Let’s hope that this honesty will be reflected in his new music

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cbreezylikes · 3 years

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Quavo boldly proclaimed he’s the “best Hip Hop basketball player in the world” following his recent All-Star Weekend victory against 2 Chainz and Lil Baby. But evidently, Chris Brown is even more confident he could’ve washed both the Migos rapper and his teammate Jack Harlow if given the chance. On Saturday (March 6), the R&B hitmaker took to his Instagram Stories and gently taunted the winning duo. “They knew who not to ask for on that 2 on 2 basketball,” he wrote. “I would’ve cooked Quavo and Jack! On my soul! Guess they wanted a smoke free zone.” Brown’s post prompted a response from Quavo who replied, “Chris Brown ain’t cooking nan call next n-gga!!!” Undeterred, Breezy came back again with, “Aint no next… I’m on now. Set it up lil n-gga. U know dis work different.” Brown has a long standing reputation for being a stellar basketball player. In August 2019, former NBA star Metta World Peace appeared on Van Lathan’s podcast The Red Pill and said he thought Brown was talented enough to make it to the National Basketball Association (NBA). “I thought Chris Brown should have been in the league,” he said at the time. “Before, 10 years ago when I was playing with Chris? Yeah, definitely. He was better than a lot of people. He was still young — didn’t have a shot — but what young player has a shot? I like that he was very smooth … really good penetrator and really aggressive when attacking the basket. I thought he was one of the best ones I’ve seen.” https://www.instagram.com/p/CMIqhMmlqBh/?igshid=g04j3ts15ygx

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darlingalicn · 5 years

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♡ sabrina antoinette grande & cole robert brock.

001 yellow love - citizen

♡ “be mine, shake up my love, yellow night has had enough. be mine, pull me in two, i will mold myself just for you. still i see nothing but yellow love.”

002 2 souls on fire - bebe rexha feat. quavo

♡ “we can go out to the islands on privates, we can drive the latest cars no mileage, we can do whatever you like just be quiet; if you don’t break my heart i’ll let you inside it.”

003 paint it black - andy black

♡ “it’s not too late for two lost souls, we’re not the only ones to lose control but we’re in this together. every time you walk away, i lose the one i need to save. i’ll just paint it black like starting over.”

004 third degree - movements

♡ “you’ve got your hook pretty deep in me like your tongue pushing through your cheek. you pull me in, catch and release, once you’ve had your fix throw me back to bleed. but i wanna keep you, keep you close to me.”

005 drive - halsey

♡ “your laugh echoes down the highway, crawls into my hallow chest, spreads over the emptiness, its bliss. all we do is drive, all we do is think about the feelings that we hide, all we do is drive. and california never felt like home to me, california never felt like home to me until i had you on the open road.”

006 haunting - halsey

♡ “i was as pure as a river but now i think i’m possessed, you put a fever inside me and i been cold since you let. i got a boyfriend now and he’s made of gold, and you’ve got your old mistakes in a bed at home, i’m hoping you could save me now but you break and fold, you’ve got a fire inside but your hearts so cold. i’ve done some things that i can’t speak and i try to wash away but you just won’t leave, so won’t you take a breath and dive in deep cause i came here so you’d come for me. i’m begging you to keep on haunting me.”

007 is there somewhere - halsey

♡ “you were dancing in your tube socks in hotel rooms, flashing those eyes like highway signs. light one up and hand it over, rest your head up on my shoulder, just wanna feel your lips against my skin. white sheets, bright lights, crooked teeth in the nightlife, you told me this is right where it begins. and your lips hang heavy, underneath me. and i promised myself i wouldn’t let you complete me. i’m trying not to let it show that i don’t wanna let this go.”

008 suck it and see - arctic monkeys

♡ “suck it and see, you never know, sit next to me before you go. jigsaw woman with horror movie shoes, be cruel to me cause i’m a fool for you. blue moon girls from once upon a shangri-la, how often i wonder where you are. you’ve got a face that just says “baby i was made to break your heart.”

009 drew barrymore - bryce vine

♡ “ain’t nowhere i would rather be, right between your holidays. coffee on the flinstone, jewelry on the ottoman, baby let me in cause i get way too adamant about it. love the way you shiver, right between my shoulder blades, feel it when you quiver, higher level elevate. you could be the renegade, bonnie to a clyde, harrelson and juliet; legends never die. the tv hasn’t worked in ages, probably got a shorted cable, way too busy fucking on the sofa or the kitchen table.”

010 shadows - childish gambino

♡ “tuesday afternoon, i ain’t got shit to do but fall in love with you.”

011 head to the ground - neck deep

♡ “i hope that you feel the same and i hope we can both adjust to the pace of this. maybe we'll be okay, maybe you'll stop me from digging my own fucking grave. and i hope i don't drag you down cause i'm starting to feel alright thanks to you and i hope this can all work out cause i feel like myself when i'm running my head to the ground.”

012 growing pains - neck deep

♡ “you've had your own mountains to climb and i've got skeletons i hide in the back of my mind where i question myself, i dwell on the past just like everyone else. don't bear the weight of the world on your shoulders, it's not too heavy, i'll break my back so you can feel like someone's on your side. forget the past and all the heartache, the growing pains that keep you awake, i'll sing you to sleep with songs that let you know that we'll be okay.”

013 tear in my heart - twenty one pilots

♡ “sometimes you've got to bleed to know that you're alive and have a soul but it takes someone to come around to show you how.”

014 what a heavenly way to die - troye sivan

♡ “tell each other you're the one while we're laying by the poolside, getting tired from the sun, fading in and out of long nights. there's no limit to your love, east or west we got the north lights. what a heavenly way to die, what a time to be alive because forever is in your eyes but forever ain't half the time i wanna spend with you.”

015 you in january - the wonder years

♡ “another early flight, i ran the dishwasher this morning, i wanted there to be clean plates for you tonight. i've grown used to your perfume, it hangs in the morning light. wake me up before you leave for work and kiss me goodbye. you were the one thing i got right. i'm measuring heartbeats in miles away. you held me together, i used to burst and decay. we got off the airplane, a couple of runaways. i was hoping you'd stay.”

016 criminal - state champs

♡ “so what’s it mean when every dream i have’s about you now? i can’t believe you get to me the way you do somehow, it’s criminal.”

017 slow dancing in the dark - joji

♡ “i dont want a friend, i want my life in two, waiting to get there, waiting for you. when i’m around slow dancin’ in the dark, don’t follow me you’ll end up in my arms.”

018 finding you - kesha

♡ “i know forever don't exist but after this life, i'll find you in the next. so when i say forever, it's the goddamn truth, i'll keep finding you.”

019 vegas - kid ink

♡ “promise not to leave me out, said you know where to find me, this is somethin' we should figure out before we leave the lobby. baby, let's not fight in vegas, face it, i know we’re wasted. sorry if i'm faded but we on vacation and i ain't had no time off in motherfuckin' ages.”

020 likefck - laye

♡ “wantin you is evil when it's hard to have you here, only got you for a minute, i'll have you and your arms wrapped around me for a moment before we wait so long. you take me higher. love me so rich let me pay it right back but baby's far away in his black cadillac and i want him to come home now. love him like fuck but it’s never enough.”

021 milk n honey - laye

♡ “you can be mean, you can be cruel some of the time, love. go out a while, come back in time and ill be fine, love. xause its you always you i adore, you make me feel more. love to fight but it ain't worth the war, cause i love you and you love me more.”

022 someone like you - mac miller

♡ “life move fast but my baby keep it slow, open up your mind start forgetting what you know. shit ain't been the same since you left me here alone, you hurt so good, your loving hurt so good. love me, love me, that fentanyl it numb me, beautiful it get ugly, turn you into a junkie.”

023 numb without you - the maine

♡ “let's get this straight, you are a panic in the blood stream yet you bring me peace. you are a stutter in the heart that beats inside of me. you are my last, you are my first, you kill me for the better, you are the rising tide, you're every fucking thing inside me now. you are the violence in my veins, you are the war inside my brain, you are my glitter and my gloom. i am so numb without you.”

024 be my mistake - the 1975

♡ “so don't wait outside my hotel room just wait till i give you a sign, cause i get lonesome sometimes. save all the jokes you're gonna make while i see how much drink I can take, then be my mistake.“

025 heaven - the neighbourhood

♡ “when i feel like i'm strangled, you treat me like an angel, show me all different angles and i never, ever felt that way. when you leave, i don't wanna try and if you stick with me, i'll be fine. cause your love's rubbing off on me, tell me how'd you get so heavenly? there's something 'bout you baby, there's nothing like that the way you get me high. you got a heart from heaven but you're burning like hell.”

026 scary love - the neighbourhood

♡ “move to the city with me, don't wanna be alone. you're too pretty for me, baby i know. you look better when you first wake up than anybody else i’ve fucked, baby i got good luck with you. i didn't know we'd get so far and it's only the start. baby, you got me worried. your love is scaring me, no one has ever cared for me as much as you do. i need you here.”

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thesinglesjukebox · 7 years

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MIGOS - T-SHIRT [7.12] It's 2017, so non-Drake rap artists are allowed to have follow-up hits now! Skrt skrt!

Jibril Yassin: Anyone that tells you Quavo is the only one that matters in Migos is wrong. End of. Thankfully, CULTURE has proven an effective Migos Separatist deterrent and "T-Shirt," one of its firing salvos, is great because you get to see just how fantastic Migos are now that they've dropped their namesake flow and have opted to just ride over what could be the best beat of 2017. Takeoff's stutter flows, Quavo's leaned-out background humming, Offset's melodic verse -- there are enough highlights to fill a list. If "Bad and Boujee" can be considered the first great Migos song, here's the second, no debate. [9]

Alfred Soto: Takeoff punches monosyllables like he's thumbing texts. Over a foundation of click track, piano line and organ, Migos interject barks, woos, hey, vocodered uhhs -- anything approximating spontaneity and improvisation and for all I know keeps them awake. [7]

Maxwell Cavaseno: The unfortunate aspect of "T-Shirt" is one of the biggest albatrosses of Migos: Quavo. Quavo is not the most adept rapper in the group (Takeoff) or the actual star (Offset) but he got to be the earliest standout in Migos rise. After being benched to allow space for Lil' Uzi on "Bad & Boujee," Takeoff getting a chance to frolic with Quavo's flow of the day and do his usual twists and turns is enthralling, as he finds a number of pockets to play with in the swamp mists of Nard & B's production. And who sounds more enticing than Offset's bizarre cryptid-like autotuned wails? However the focal point is the SAME BULLSHIT FAKE GUCCI MANE FLOW Quavo's been milking since fucking "Bando" that he uses when he isn't doing it in triplet, which really drags us down. I guess now that it's Migos Comeback season, we also get Quavo thinking he should rap like it's 2014 again. BAH. [6]

Thomas Inskeep: Back in the day, no one had coke raps better than Clipse; in 2017, Migos might well own that title. "T-Shirt" is simple and sharp: Nard & B and XL keep the track stripped-down (I love that heavy synth bass), and Takeoff, Quavo, and Offset's verses are each their own, easily distinguishable from each other's. Even though all three of them are riding the same beat, they manage to sound entirely individual. Not as ear-grabbing as "Bad and Boujee" maybe (though it's close), but still a standout single. [8]

Joshua Copperman: One of my favorite things anyone said about "24K Magic" last year (I don't remember who, though) was that Bruno Mars sounded like even he couldn't believe that he was getting away with "Uptown Funk" 2. I feel a similar way about Migos and this song - Migos are getting away with doing the same thing they always do but on a bigger budget, and they're clearly aware of how incredible it is that this silly underground rap trio has inadvertently taken over the world. When Quavo starts crooning "mama told yooooooouuuu", he sounds amused by the gloomy, likely expensive effects on his voice, and the enthusiastic adlibs sound even better against the glossy production. While I can't say I've always understood the massive popularity of Migos, "T-Shirt" is infectious enough that even I'm not entirely immune. [6]

Anthony Easton: The anxiety of late capital, with the baroque word play -- the slang and puns held against each other, the anxiety of figuring who has what, fractured into an angular and quite aggressive frame work. It's hostile in its angular beauty, and a deepening of a genre that has proven more fertile than it might have seemed at first glance. [7]

Rebecca A. Gowns: Hypnotic use of autotune and undulating tones. The lyrics are simple, and delivered staccato, but there's a sneaky cleverness underneath that makes you do a double-take. Haven't heard a better ode to a t-shirt in a long time. [7]

Adaora Ede: In 2017, the shiny and garish Migos of "Hannah Montana" and heck, remember "Versace"?, has 360ed into the cold and chic Migos (and Lil Uzi, Gucci Mane etc.) of Billboard topping hits. "T-Shirt" sounds like your mom's preferred version of Travis Scott: production team Nard & B do a precise job of turning the bass up and sloooooowing it down. The Migo Boys slither across the slowed down trap- Takeoff is matter of factly with his verses as if to atone for his absence on "Bad and Boujee", Quavo gives us triple threat, cooing, hypemanning, lackadaisical spitting, Offset ties up with one melodic verse that parallels the cadence of "Antidote". Given that braggadocious odes to the struggles of social mobility has to be my favorite subset of rap music right now, I think I've finally accepted Culture era Migos. I mean how can you not? Quavo's hook reads like a mantra, every (MAMA) word (TOLD) emphasized (ME) by (NOT) the (TO) syllable (SELL) and (WORK) just meant to be ingrained in your mind. [7]

[Read, comment and vote on The Singles Jukebox ]

#Migos #T-Shirt #TSJ Best of 2017

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anthonychurch97-blog · 7 years

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MY ALBUM REVIEW OF BIG SEAN’S “I DECIDED.”

Big Sean - “I Decided.” Album Review

After the success of his third album “Dark Sky Paradise” and last year’s “TWENTY88” project with Jhené Aiko, Big Sean has returned with his fourth album “I Decided.”. The concept of the project is Sean viewing his life from an old man’s perspective and getting a chance at a do over in life. After a string of solid releases at the end of 2016 Sean has set up a great campaign for the project and has really built hype around it. It had received praise from many of the industries top names over the past few months as well. A mixture of turn up and story telling is the best way to some up the expectations I have for the project based on what I’ve heard so far. With great producer and artist features including a collab with fellow Detroit MC Eminem this could very well be Sean’s greatest work yet. Here is my track by track review.

Light (feat. Jeremih) - The chill vibe of “Light” is a great starting point for the project. Sean takes it as an opportunity to talk on political issues, oppression, and more trials while at the same time reminding listeners to be true to themselves and never lose site of what’s right in life. Jeremih’s vocals cut through as a great addition and give this intro an added element. The layed back keys will give you chills as well as inspiration. This could be the beginning of a potential classic for Sean.

Bounce Back - As the lead single “Bounce Back” has been making its rounds since October. The track really fits the context of the album as its topic matter really taps into the do over in life. Learning how to take an L is one thing but bouncing back is another and this track does it quite well. With a turn up drum heavy beat Sean finds a comfortable flow and runs with it. Additional vocals by Kanye are just an added bonus to the record. While “Bounce Back” may never be considered a classic jam, I can see it getting many plays for years to come.

No Favors (feat. Eminem) - Over hard production from the likes of WondaGurl, Sean recruits his fellow Detroit alum Eminem for some heavy bars. Sean finds his flow quickly with the hook and first verse. Sean hits on some good points like his grandmothers influence, the water crisis in Flint, and his come up in Detroit. Eminem comes in on his classic aggressive style with some crazy lines about being the Aaron Hernandez of rap and shots at Donald Trump just to name a few. It’s nice to see Em over somewhat of an unconventional style track for him to be on and he fits it very well. This is one you’ll definitely have to hear for yourself but it is for sure a banger and should be on repeat for quite some time. So far it’s smooth sailing for “I Decided”.

Jump Out the Window - When it comes to the second chance theme a great example comes on this cut where Sean is ready to change the past by getting with the girl he never did. He talks to her about her relationship problems with her current partner and how every time he tried to help her she shut him out. Weather this is about a real life situation or now it sure seems like it’s about someone in particular. A bouncy Key Wane beat sets a scene for Sean to tell this story and get off some pent up emotions. It’s one of my personal favorites so far from this album.

Moves - Released in late December “Moves” already has an accompanying video and has caught people’s eye. The heavy bass production from 808 Mafia’s Fuse is a great example of Sean using more modern sounding records while also sticking to some positive topic matter. “Moves” itself serves as what it’s name suggests as more of a dance hit slash banger. However Sean’s lyrical ability is showcased as well with great bars about his aim for success and overcoming struggles. As the shortest song on the project “Moves” might not stand out as much but it is a solid cut and it’s easy upon listen to see why it made the album.

Owe Me - Following a short TWENTY88 track with Jhené Aiko comes the DJ Mustard laced “Owe Me”. A layed back track about finally letting go of a relationship that’s gone on too long. Sean realizes he is done trying and is ready to move on with his life while keeping a carefree attitude. I wasn’t feeling this much on first listen but it has grown on me more and more. Some different mic techniques are used toward the end of the song along with some soft horns and I can feel the Travis Scott influence here. It’s a nice chill record that should catch more air plays as the year progresses.

Halfway Off the Balcony - The production skills of Amaire Johnson show up here with a nice beat and great key work. Sean comes to the realization how important his relationship connections are. He gets that it has more to do with compatibility on a mental level than anything physical. He takes the opportunity to also thank his dad for great advice and hoping he is living life to the fullest. The deep meaning of the song is a perfect representation of the albums theme of doing things right in your life and taking advantage of each day. I believe this track will be one of Sean’s more underrated hits for years to come.

Voices In My Head / Stick To The Plan - This two part banger is one of the more memorable moments from “I Decided”. It features Sean locked in an inner conflict with himself questioning his every move and allowing the voices in his head to affect his judgement. Halfway through however during a crazy Metro Boomin beat switch the attitude switches as well. Sean overcomes the voices to remind himself to stick to the plan and keep moving forward. At the end of the day he trusts his own judgment enough to realize it will lead him to the right place. This is a fantastic record in my opinion and is worth a listen whenever it comes on. This one will catch a listeners attention for sure.

Sunday Morning Jetpack (feat. The-Dream) - The emotional chords on “Sunday Morning Jetpack” allow Sean to speak on his longing for his family again. He talks about missing the simple days with his grandma and mom and the memories they used to share. The-Dream adds guest vocals for a short time toward the end and does a great job as usual. It’s safe to say this could be “I Decided”’s version of Sean’s song “Memories” which is considered one of his classics. Either way this song will tug at your heart strings for sure.

Inspire Me - “Inspire Me” takes the energy from “Sunday Morning Jetpack” and runs with it. In a similar fashion Sean uses this song as an ode to his mom. He gives listeners a flashback of what life was like growing up with his mom and how she has inspired him in everything he has done even if he doesn’t always admit it. It’s Sean’s version of a “Hey Mama” kind of record and similar to that one this is also effective. I’m sure this song makes him mom proud for sure and is another solid offering from this album.

Sacrifices (feat. Migos) - Sean keeps the heavy hitters going on “Sacrifices”. Going in on the crazy beat Sean speaks on giving up so much to achieve his dreams and get to this point of his career. He calls upon Offset and Quavo of the Migos to lay killer verses of the same message. This is another banger that should receive praise from modern rap fans while also carrying a good message to people.

Bigger Than Me (feat. The Flint Chozen Choir & Starrah) - As a triumphant finish to “I Decided.” Is track “Bigger Than Me” which caps off the project in a great fashion. Sean realizes his success has more to do with the people around him than himself at all. He remembers performing for his home town and loving to make them proud. Along with Starrah and The Flint Chozen Choir the song is a new Detroit anthem. Sean ends the track and album with audio of a phone call with his mother where he explains the in a nutshell the albums concept and Sean becomes his older self again. “Bigger Than Me” is in my top three cuts from “I Decided.” at the moment and is recommended if you want some inspiration.

Summary - I have nothing but praise for Big Sean on this new album. He continues to inspire listeners with great lyrics and topic matter and while this album took a slightly different approach with the beat selection it was still very effective. The production was on point from start to finish as well and I was very impressed once again with the rollout of the project. Everything from the artwork to the overall theme behind it was great. To me more people should look at Sean as a top artist especially after they hear this album. He continues to evolve as an artist and make better material with each release. Be sure to support Sean and buy “I Decided.” on iTunes. Thanks for reading.

#big sean #i decided #album review #2017 #good music

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213hiphopworldnews · 5 years

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All The Best New Music From This Week That You Need To Hear

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Keeping up with new music can be exhausting, even impossible. From the weekly album releases to standalone singles dropping on a daily basis, the amount of music is so vast it’s easy for something to slip through the cracks. Even following along with the Uproxx recommendations on daily basis can be a lot to ask, so every Monday we’re offering up this rundown of the best music released in the last week.

This week saw the highly anticipated debut album from Billie Eilish, Lil Uzi Vert leak his own massive single, and Sky Ferreira’s lush return to the spotlight. Yeah, it was a pretty great week for new music. Check out the highlights below.

Billie Eilish — When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?

Not since Lorde has a teen pop star had this much hype. Of course, Billie Eilish is hard to compare to Lorde or any other rising artists because her aesthetic and sensibility seems so much her own, the kind of fully-formed vision that most artists take a career to cultivate. With her long-awaited debut album now available for the world, it’s Billie’s time to shine.

03 Greedo — “Traphouse” Feat. Shoreline Mafia

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03 Greedo continues to offer new music from behind bars produced by Mustard. This time Shoreline Mafia joins in on the collaboration which is getting a full album release next week, but this standalone combines inspired bars with an infectious, modulated hook. It’s a distinctly LA sound from one of the cities best rappers, who will hopefully be returned from incarceration before too long.

Lil Uzi Vert — “Free Uzi”

Few people thought Lil Uzi Vert was really retiring from the rap game, but still, “Free Uzi” a notable return from one of hip-hop’s most exciting young voices. In the non-official, probably-leaked-by-the-artist jam, Uzi is in top form, spitting straight fire for the song’s nearly-three-minute runtime. The song’s pitched-up delivery couldn’t save it from being removed from streaming services, but fans are unlikely to forget the greatness they heard in the process.

Sky Ferreira — “Downhill Lullaby”

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One of the most anticipated returns of the year has finally come. Sky Ferreira has been promising new music for years, and with “Downhill Lullaby,” fans’ patience paid off with gorgeous orchestration and subdued vocal performance. The vocals are pushed pretty far down in the mix, but the song is anchored by Sky’s impeccable taste, letting the production and aesthetic be the star.

Black Midi — “Crow’s Perch”

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SXSW Black Midi were the talk of critics, proving that the annual trek for rising talent can still pay dividends. Writing about the song, Uproxx’s Derrick Rossignol said, “Jittery rhythms and waves of intensity take over for the rest of the track, which rewards listeners ready for something unexpected and appealingly different.”

Modest Mouse — “Poison The Well”

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Modest Mouse leader Isaac Brock has a label called Glacial Pace, and that easily refers to how Modest Mouse functions as a band. Their last album came out in 2015 and the one before was 2008, and even though this song is technically a new release, the Washington natives have been performing it live for close to a decade, which gives you some idea of how long it takes for the band to get things just right. “Poison The Well” is an unabashed rocker, and whether this is just a one-off or the beginning of the next cycle, it shows the band can still bring the intensity 25 years into a career.

Kelsey Lu — “Blood”

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A trend in music is to draw out debut albums for years, which Kelsey Lu has done effectively enough to bring anticipation to a boil. The title track from said debut emerges to showcase how Lu’s classical sensibilities fuse with modern flourishes. The result feels like a thing of true beauty that could only exist in the contemporary scene.

Cage The Elephant — “Night Running” Feat. Beck

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Ahead of their co-headlining tour later this year, Cage The Elephant and Beck offer up a co-headlining song. The tune combines dub, hip-hop, and rock influences for a track that doesn’t sound much like anything else happening in music right now, a distinctly 2019 vision of alternative music that feels destined to soundtrack sunny days and sweaty nights.

Khalid — “Self”

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“There’s many people dying / I’ve always been afraid / Not that I’m scared of living / I’m scared of feeling pain.” These are the lyrics Khalid said are most important to him in this reflective new song, showing deft insight into the human condition that surpasses his 21 years on earth. If the rest of Free Spirit can live up to this, Khalid’s new album should continue his meteoric ascent.

Saweetie — Icy

Hip-hop rising star Saweetie is banking on only needing seven songs to leave an impression on her latest album. Two of said tracks feature her beau Quavo, but mostly the NoCal rapper takes the spotlight for herself, showing no chill in this inspired effort.

Some artists covered here are Warner Music artists. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

source https://uproxx.com/music/best-new-music-this-week-billie-eilish-lil-uzi-vert/

#hiphop #hip hop legend #hip hop history #hip hop #music #trending #hip hop news #ballin #hip hop scen

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930club · 6 years

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ALBUM REVIEW: Migos - Culture II

When it comes to Migos, you get what you expect. When I say that I mean, before diving headfirst into the second edition of Migos’ definitive claim of “culture,” I expected to hear that classic Migos sound. Twerkloaded beats, iconic producers, iconic features, catchy hooks, and an entirely autotuned album.

Is that what I got? Absolutely.

Was I disappointed? No...

Only because I knew what to expect.

Culture II is Migos’ third studio LP, and the follow-up to their critically acclaimed Culture. Because of that, it’s impossible to discuss Culture II without talking about it in relationship to its predecessor. Culture II is decent, but it is definitely not an improvement from Culture. Culture came equipped with everything that Culture II did, except their hottest single leading into it was “Bad and Boujee,” which was the first time either Migos or Lil Uzi Vert earned a #1 spot on the Billboard Top 100. Talk about securing the bag. At the time, and even still, Migos was the talk of the nation. Carrying all of that hype and then blessing the streets with fresh album tracks like “T-Shirt,” “Slippery,” and “Get Right Witcha,” Culture had iconic gems that I know twenty years down the road, I’ll ask my kids, “Whatchu know about this?” Culture II, eh, not so much.

The singles that led us to this album were “Motorsport” and “Stir Fry.” “Motorsport,” to me, sounds like “Bad and Boujee[’s]” little brother: catchy and definitely high on the Richter scale, but not nearly as earth shattering as “Bad and Boujee.” I mean, even The Roots were jamming out to “Bad and Boujee” on Jimmy Kimmel Live! “Motorsport” is just Migos going through the motions, which is how most of this album feels. “Stir Fry,” on the other hand, is Migos on a different kind of production. It’s got the literal bells and whistles of club banger, guaranteed to get everyone off the wall and on the floor. I was surprised to hear Migos rap on something other than a traditional trap beat, but hearing them on such an unmistakably Pharrell production is not only refreshing, but badly needed. Even though I strongly dislikedespise the Calvin Harris produced “Slide,” I was still excited to see Migos branching out of their familiar formula and experimenting with some different sounds. But don’t expect it to be there on Culture II. It’s pretty much all the same.

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A few tracks do stand out to me, though. “BBO,” “Emoji a Chain,” “Narcos,” and “Flooded” are the ones I would say to pay attention to. “BBO” features 21 Savage, who carries the hook, and I’ll chock it up there as a major party anthem. “Emoji a Chain” just has one of the most ridiculous titles, and the song does it justice. The flow on the hook is bouncy and absurdly catchy. Just like on “Bad and Boujee,” Offset carries this track. “Ice out the gang, Make a emoji a chain” is guaranteed to be quoted at every function for the next few months. Offset also does the hook for “Flooded,” which I think was one of the hardest tracks on the album. It’s got a gangster hook with a gritty piano backing and a rimshot instead of a snare, whichthat just whips your neck so much harder than the cliché bell snare you hear everywhere. “Narcos” is my favorite track on the album. It’s funny and the production on there is thematic. Offset and Quavo tag-team the hook this time around and it just meshes so well over the Latin trap. I can’t stop saying “snubnose with potatoes.”

Even though I’ve mentioned Offset and Quavo a lot, I don’t want to leave Takeoff out. He consistently comes hard with every verse this album, and Migos definitely learned their lesson from “Bad and Boujee” and made sure Takeoff hads a verse on every one of the major hits. His flow, delivery, and especially his voice, complement each track really well, and I’m glad to see him hold it down this time around. A lot of people have been talking down on him since he got left off their last major hit, but he made sure to shut every hater up on Culture II. “Made Men” is the pinnacle of Takeoff’s shine on this album. The production is smooth, classy, and the best part: not a trap beat. It’s also placed well in the album; it slows everything down after you’ve been swinging your dreads the whole time. Takeoff also gets a shot at the hook and gives us a really smooth bop. Honestly, after this album, I want to see more Takeoff features and maybe even a solo Takeoff project.

But not every song is great, unfortunately. “Work Hard” sounds like a throwaway, especially since the beat sounds like a spinoff of “Gyalchester.” It’s supposed to be motivational inspirational, but the message of dropping out of school might not be the best way to be an inspiration. Then “Open it Up” is basically the same song as “Deadz” with nearly the same hook, adlibs and everything, except “Uh ooh, fresh out the bed, Uh ooh, count out the dead” is a better hook than “Uh ooh, open it up, Uh ooh, criss cross jump.” I’m still wondering why they thought it was ok to throw that one in the mix. “Walk It Talk It” is tricky. I say to look out for it because it’s got that coveted Drake feature and I can see the twitter dance videos will undoubtedly pouring in for this one the way that Quavo delivers the hook, but personally, I can see this track getting played out really fast and getting annoying even faster. But hey, I can only speculate.

Overall, Culture II is a pretty good project. Migos has been in the game long enough for me to expect heat on the album, and they didn’t disappoint. The album is long and probably would have had better reception if it was twelve tracks instead of twenty-four. By the time I hit the twentieth song on the first run through, I was exhausted, but on the second go-‘round, I could manage. Culture II is really a playlist Migos gave for us to picking and choosinge which songs fit your mood at the time. Now what I want from Migos is a break. Slow down, and start thinking about bringing in some different themes. Bandos and icy chains are cool, but eventually, they’re going to run out of new ways to talk about them. Culture II didn’t receive the same praise as the first, and Migos knows. Perhaps this means that Culture III will be three times better.

-Kian Kelley-Chung

#Album Review #New Music #Culture II #Migos #Quavo #Offset #Takeoff #Narcos #BBO #Walk It Talk It #Emoji A Chain #Stir Fry #Motorsport #Made Men #Rap #Trap #Hip Hop #Kian Kelley-Chung

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voodoochili · 6 years

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My Favorite Albums of 2017

Thanks to the magic of Spotify Premium, I was able to listen to over 150 new albums this year. Most of them were pretty good! It took weeks, but I was finally able to piece together a list of the year’s best that I’m happy with! Here is the list of my favorites, spanning several genres and countries of origin. Hopefully, you enjoy the read and maybe find something you’ll love!

And, oh, while you’re here, check out In Itinere, the new EP by my band The Chordaes: https://open.spotify.com/album/79kKlk7OYfu1G62AjD3nlk

Check below for the Top 20, plus a ranked list from 21-50, and honorable mentions. I’ve included Spotify links for each of the top 20. Happy New Year and Happy Listening!

The Top 20:

20. Future – HNDRXX: Departing from his usual dark-night-of-the-soul-trap aesthetic, HNDRXX shows another side of Future—the unapologetic pop star. Packed with potential hits, (none of which, obviously, connected at actual radio), HNDRXX paints a glorious picture of a future (no pun intended) where pop, R&B, and rap meld into an invigorating hybrid. The stretch from “Damage” to “Fresh Air” represents some of the most accessible, emotional, and best work of Future’s prolific career.

19. Björk – Utopia: People often lament that the influence of the smartphone has driven people to isolate themselves from the physical world. Not Björk. On Utopia, which she describes as her “Tinder album,” technology has the power of bringing people closer together—“I literally think I am five minutes away from love,” she warbles on “Features Creatures.” Moving beyond the harsh, metallic soundscapes of Vulnicura, written and recorded at the end of a decades-long relationship, Utopia is a blissful and pastoral record, populated by flutes and bird sounds and overflowing with joy.

18. Smino – Blkswn: Powered by future funk production courtesy of Monte Booker, Smino’s first proper album makes good on years of promising SoundCloud singles. The perfect antidote of the flat-voiced rap-n-b perpetrated by Drake and PartyNextDoor, Smino’s voice has an underlying bluesiness and soul that grounds Booker’s soundscapes and paints a picture of the rapper’s life as a St. Louis transplant in Chicago. Highlights from Blkswn include the sweetly sung, romantic “Netflix & Dusse,” the unconventionally lustful “Anita,” and the gorgeous “Glass Flows,” a duet with frequent collaborator Ravyn Lenae.

17. Playboi Carti – Playboi Carti: Dancing on the perimeter of his own cavernous cloud-trap, Playboi Carti is hip-hop’s pre-eminent wave-rider Blessed by the wizardry of producer Pi’erre Bourne, a master of counter-melodies whose beats are as danceable as they are sonically absorbing, Playboi Carti might be mindless ear candy, but rarely has that candy been this sweet.

16. Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever – The French Press: A Melbourne-based five-piece with three distinct singers and lead guitarists, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever overwhelm with a veritable avalanche of jangly guitars. With overlapping lyrics and guitar lines that evoke a conversation with constant interruptions, The French Press is a decidedly Aussie take on guitar pop—an album-length exploration of the guitar tornado from The Velvet Underground’s “What Goes On.”

15. Tyler, The Creator – Flower Boy: Ditching the shock tactics and abrasive sonics of his earlier projects, Tyler, The Creator creates a vibrant, pastoral, even peaceful, jazz-influenced soundscape on Flower Boy. As you can possibly tell by the tongue-in-cheek title, Flower Boy is Tyler’s “sensitive” record, and the one that feels more in-touch with Tyler Okonma, not the monster he Created. Whether exploring his loneliness on “911,” existential ennui on “Boredom,” or casually revealing his fluid sexuality on the album’s hardest rap track “I Ain’t Got Time,” Tyler manages to subvert rap tropes even on his most mainstream release.

14. Ulver – The Assassination of Julius Caesar: Straight outta Norway, where the sun shines for approximately 5 minutes in the winter, erstwhile Black Metal band Ulver’s latest is a goth-industrial epic, foregoing noise for Depeche Mode-esque orchestral pop. The songwriting is as ambitious and accomplished as the music, imbuing important events in modern history (the Battle of Dunkirk, the death of Princess Diana) with the grandeur and majesty of Greek (or Norse) myth. It’s easy to get lost in the band’s world as it lights up the sunless sky with cascading falsetto harmonies, sweeping strings, and massive drums.

13. Bedouine – Bedouine: Born in Aleppo, Syria, raised in Saudi Arabia and three of the United States before eventually settling in California, Azniv Korkejian is as nomadic as the tribe that inspired her name. Her gentle, gorgeous debut album as Bedouine reflects the sunshine of her adopted home, but retains a lived-in melancholy that reflects her turbulent past. Evoking the big names in singer-songwriter-ing in equal measure (Bob, Joni, Carole, and especially Leonard on the single “Solitary Daughter”), her best track is her most atypical: the mournful, haunting sound collage “Summer Cold,” about the transformation of Aleppo from a vibrant city to a horrific war zone.

12. Algiers – The Underside of Power: Cataloging hundreds of years of oppression in one densely-packed fusion of DC hardcore, post-punk, and southern soul, The Underside of Power is a tough, but invigorating listen, explaining our nation’s bitterest conflicts with a beat you can dance, or at least mosh, to.

11. Oxbow – Thin Black Duke: A heavy, and loosely conceptual album, Thin Black Duke is a theatrical blend of noise rock, avant-jazz, and blues, dominated by frontman Eugene Robinson’s inimitable baritone, which gurgles, bellows, and stretches out syllables like taffy.

10. Mozzy – 1 Up Top Ahk: The game’s most reliable purveyor of starkly honest and soulful slaps, Sacramento rapper Mozzy had a prolific 2017, releasing five projects in the year’s first eight months. Though they were all worth a listen, the strongest and most substantial of these releases was 1 Up Top Ahk, his “official” album. Somehow only 30-years-old, Mozzy has the presence of a grizzled vet, relaying empathetic and violent street tales, flashing internal rhyme, and stacking syllables with the most pronounced NorCal accent in modern hip-hop. Despite the glistening mob instrumentals from frequent collaborator Juneonnabeat (don’t shoot him in the street) and other Bay Area mainstays, Mozzy’s life is not glamorous—the violence he depicts is not stylish, just an ugly fact of life about providing for his family. Featuring appearances from kindred spirits like Boosie, Jay Rock, and (in one of the project’s highlights) the late The Jacka, 1 Up Top Ahk proves Mozzy’s worth as a successor to the struggle rap throne.

9. Moses Sumney – Aromanticism: Dripping with emotion and otherworldly sexuality, Moses Sumney’s voice might be the purest and most versatile instrument in modern music. On Aromanticism, Sumney stacks, loops, and manipulates his voice to create an unclassifiable hybrid of art rock, neo-soul, and cosmic jazz. The songs on the album generally follow a similar structure, with Sumney’s angelic falsetto rising above plaintive piano chords or a snaking guitar line or rippling harp, gradually opening up into an orchestral tapestry at the song’s climax. But the lush beauty of the arrangements, coupled with Sumney’s emotional songwriting and unique voice, ensures that the album never grows stale. There’s no need to tinker with a formula that works as well as Sumney’s—after all, Monet never got tired of painting water lilies, did he?

8. Migos – Culture: It’s hard to believe when you think about it now, but in Summer 2016, Migos was an afterthought--an act that despite its youth seemed to be past their peak of popularity, latching onto the “Dab” craze as if their career depended on it. That changed in October 2016, when the trio dropped “Bad & Boujee,” a titanic banger that built enough momentum to reach #1 on the Billboard charts. How could Migos possibly live up to the massive expectations they built with “Bad and Boujee”? Well, an easy way is to make an album where “Bad & Boujee” is only the 4th or 5th best track. Culture was the most consistently replayable and enjoyable rap album of 2017, overflowing with infectious ad-libs and an impressive arsenal of distinct flows (not just the triplets!). The highlight of the album, and possibly of human civilization, is “T-Shirt,” a lurching drug dealers’ anthem that showcases the individual talents of the three-headed monster: Quavo’s smooth melodicism, Takeoff’s blunt-force bars, and Offset’s chameleonic and charismatic combination of the best qualities of the other two.

7. Alex Lahey – I Love You Like a Brother: Combining the dry witticism (and Aussie-ness) of Courtney Barnett with the bubblegum overdrive guitar riffs and emotional sincerity of Weezer, Alex Lahey’s I Love You Like a Brother was my biggest surprise of 2017. Shamelessly layering her tracks with unstoppable melodies, “whoa-ohs,” and “wee-ooohs,” Lahey has the acuity to make those massive moments feel earned. Even if you don’t normally go for pop-punk (which I don’t), Lahey’s debut is insanely fun, with sing-along anthems like the surprisingly literal title track, the grungy “Lotto In Reverse,” the plaintive vocal standout “There’s No Money,” and the standout, generation-defining “I Haven’t Been Taking Care of Myself,” highlighting the hookiest rock record I heard all year.

6. King Krule – The OOZ: On The OOZ, Archy Marshall piles trip-hop, lounge jazz, rock-n-roll, and beat poetry into a blender and arrives at the most evocative imagination of the grimy underworld of the soul since peak-era Tom Waits. Though they have similar low, scratchy, bellowing voices, King Krule doesn’t sound like Waits (except on “Vidual” which is a dead-wringer for the first side of Rain Dogs), but The OOZ is an engrossing, hour-long trip through the 23-year-old’s mind. The album wallows in an unconventional sort of beauty, with Marshall airing his anxieties with his ungodly growl over clean, snaking guitar lines, creating an unforgettable ambience that sounds like the late-night act at the last jazz club standing after a nuclear apocalypse. Explained Marshall, “The Ooz for me represents … your sweat, your nails, the sleep that comes out of your eyes, your dead skin. All of those creations that you have to refine.” It’s a perfect title and a great metaphor—The OOZ synthesizes Marshall’s ugly thoughts and disparate influences and refines them into a style that is all his own, topped off with his striking, evocative, and poetic lyrics: “She sits as dust, with an earthly pus in a capsule on my tongue/And I think of what we've done and sink into where she sunk.”

5. Susanne Sundfor – Music For People in Trouble: When I first heard Music For People in Trouble, I was slightly disappointed. Ten Love Songs, the last album by Norwegian pop artist Susanne Sundfør, was a gothic masterpiece—a maximalist pop epic that resembled the lovechild of ABBA, Siouxsie Sioux, and Johann Sebastian Bach. Music For People in Trouble, on the other hand, is a relatively simple record, eschewing the grandiose arrangements of Ten Love Songs in favor of sparse recordings that feature only one or two accompanying instruments. As I spent more time with the album, however, I began to focus more on the songs on their own terms, and marvel at the power of Sundfør’s quivering soprano. Few living songwriters can write a melody like the classically-trained Sundfør; they lilt one moment, soar the next, and always reach unexpected, yet natural resolutions. If Ten Love Songs was an ode to the turbulent heart, Music For People in Trouble offers serenity for the aggrieved with gorgeous folk songs like “Mantra” or “Reincarnation,” pop power ballads like “Undercover,” and the pastoral dirge “No One Believes in Love Anymore.”

4. Sacred Paws – Strike a Match: An erudite indie pop group that uses African polyrhythms and snaking guitars to explore the intricacies of modern life—where have I heard that before? While Vampire Weekend is a great band, they often seemed like dilettantes when dipping their toes into African waters; not so for Sacred Paws, the muscular brainchild of guitar/drums duo Rachel Aggs and Elidh Rodgers. On Strike A Match, the duo adds a horn section to the revue, imbuing bouncy, skeletal pop songs like “Nothing” and “Everyday” with an added grandeur, in the process creating the most invigorating and danceable rock album of the year.

3. Slowdive – Slowdive: The most melodic and majestic of the English bands that comprised the Shoegaze movement’s late ‘80s/early ‘90s heyday, Slowdive reunited after a 21-year absence to deliver their second magnum opus. Filled with buzzing guitar riffs and heavenly harmonies, Slowdive is enveloping and engrossing, a triumph of atmospheric dream pop. Foregoing the ornate space operatics of 1996’s Pygmalion, the group’s self-titled 2017 album is a proper follow-up to 1993’s classic Souvlaki, one of my all-time favorite albums. Couching gorgeous, soaring melodies within circular bursts of noise and distortion, the band augmented their signature strain of shoegaze with tighter songwriting and a broader palette of musical ideas, whether embracing Glass-like minimalism on “Falling Ashes,” incorporating massive ‘80s drums on “No Longer Making Time,” or schooling imitators with dream-pop classics like “Sugar For The Pill” or “Don’t Know Why.” A master class in emotional dynamics, Slowdive establishes the band as not just genre stalwarts, but as uniquely gifted in the realm of sonic world-building.

2. Big Thief – Capacity: Last year, Big Thief drew national attention with the album Masterpiece, a cathartic and intelligent set of songs. Turns out, they might have used that title a year too early. Delicate and devastating, Capacity is a leap forward for the young band—a mature and varied collection of stories and moods, and an intimate exploration of human emotion. Led by Adrienne Lenker, with her literary gift for finding the extraordinary in mundane moments, the album derives its strength from its simple, yet note-perfect arrangements that augment and provide emphasis for the lyrics. Make no mistake, Capacity is a heavy album—the gorgeous “Mythological Beauty” embodies the point of view of a mother during a child’s graphic near-death experience, and the astonishing “Haley” finds Lenker in the bargaining stage of grief—but it’s buoyed by the inventive arrangements, the power of the band, and the winsome fragility of Lenker’s voice. But beyond all that, Capacity feels necessary, like if Lenker didn’t write these songs, the emotional weight would have been too much to bear. As a listener, I’m eternally grateful she decided to grace us with her music.

1. Kendrick Lamar – DAMN.: Ladies and gentlemen, the artist of the decade. I listened to well over 200 new albums in 2017, but this is the one to which I kept coming back, the one that never left my rotation. Only Kendrick could make three (four if you count untitled unmastered) straight albums of rap tracks deep and innovative enough to satisfy critics, while also landing at #1 on the Billboard 200 year-end chart. It’s so haaaard to be humble…

2015′s To Pimp a Butterfly was an insanely ambitious future jazz odyssey, with Kendrick Lamar looking outward, trying to find a universal theory of race relations in the United States, but never quite coming up with a satisfactory answer. On DAMN., Kendrick looks inward, reckoning with his own rising star and asking a simple question: is it possible to live the life of a rap star and still be accepted into the Kingdom of Heaven? With songs with titles that tackle the multitude of feelings, values, and desires we all contain, DAMN. paints a vivid portrait of the artist as a 30-year-old man, expertly rendering Kendrick’s inner conflict into his most “traditional” rap album to date. There are plenty of themes and lines that repeat throughout the project (Kendrick, like everybody else, really hates FOX News), but there is no overarching storyline or unifying concept. Instead, Kendrick gives us the clearest glimpse yet into his personality and what drives him—his love for his high school sweetheart-turned-fiancé on the gorgeous “LOVE,” his fear of death on “FEAR,” (man, these titles really spell out the themes, don’t they?), and the difficulty of remaining level-headed despite being so goddamned dope that it should be illegal on the smash hit “HUMBLE.” And it all ends at the beginning with “DUCKWORTH,” a superhero origin story (or more accurately, a prequel) that explains how small decisions can have life-altering consequences.

Best of the Rest:

21. Nick Hakim – Green Twins 22. The Clientele – Music for the Age of Miracles 23. Cornelius – Mellow Waves 24. Anna Wise – The Feminine: Act II 25. Young Thug – Beautiful Thugger Girls 26. Broken Social Scene – Hug of Thunder 27. SZA – Ctrl 28. Kelly Lee Owens – Kelly Lee Owens 29. Nadine Shah – Holiday Destination 30. Guerilla Toss – GT Ultra 31. Jens Lekman – Life Will See You Now 32. Deem Spencer – We Think We’re Alone 33. Jay-Z – 4:44 34. The Mountain Goats - Goths 35. Forest Swords – Compassion 36. Ty Dolla $ign – Beach House 3 37. Run The Jewels – Run The Jewels 3 38. Ibeyi – Ash 39. Daniel Caesar – Freudian 40. Charly Bliss – Guppy 41. Sinkane – Life & Livin’ It 42. Kamasi Washington – The Harmony of Difference 43. Bicep – Bicep 44. Rexx Life Raj – Father Figure 2: Flourish 45. Vince Staples – Big Fish Theory 46. YoungBoy Never Broke Again – AI Youngboy 47. Jason Isbell – The Nashville Sound 48. Do Make Say Think – Stubborn Persisent Illusions 49. Pile – A Hairshirt of Purpose 50. Fred Thomas – Changer

Honorable Mentions: Jay Som – Everybody Works Kelela – Take Me Apart Blanck Mass - World Eater Drab Majesty – The Demonstration Caddywhompus – Odd Hours Talaboman – The Night Land Kelela – Take Me Apart Lowly – Heba Jidenna – The Chief Landlady – The World is a Loud Place J Hus – Common Sense Miguel – War & Leisure

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liam-93-productions · 5 years

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Summer 2017. It will, justly, go down in musical history as the season of Cardi B’s ascendance; the career-making single “Bodak Yellow” was released in June, and, by year’s end, it had propelled the performer into the firmament of hyper-celebrity. 2017 also marked the year of “Despacito,” released in January by Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee (only to then be remixed in April with Justin Bieber). “Despacito” was tied as the longest-running No. 1 placeholder on the Billboard Hot 100, until Lil Nas X’s “Old Town Road” broke that record in mid-2019.

Within that same time frame, another mega-hit would emerge. It was the solo debut from Liam Payne, whose years as one-fifth (then one-fourth) of One Direction have made him a permanent global force. “Strip That Down” dropped in May, featured Migos member Quavo, and was penned by the singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran. Payne describes the track as “rap singing” with a “pop melody on top.” With a bouncing intro beat overlaid with percussive snaps (and a dusting of piano-key complements), the song was palatable from the first hook and dance-floor ready throughout. In essence: a satisfyingly uncomplicated, all-but-guaranteed banger that would go on to become a quadruple-platinum success (with over 300 million music video views on YouTube and nearly 700 million streams on Spotify, totaling north of 1 billion plays).

Before “Bodak Yellow” pulled its money moves by gaining major traction toward August and onward, “Strip That Down” was what you heard blasting when cars drove by; sun and sound and windows-down fusing together to create that fleeting, specific euphoria that helps determine the song of the summer. “Despacito” contended, no doubt, but it had been around a bit longer, and there was something extra — a listenable breeziness — about “Strip That Down” that made it linger. Payne says he couldn’t release any new material “for nine months, because they just wouldn’t take it off the radio.” According to YouTube commenters, the song has had a minor resurgence in 2019, and Payne admits he is still shocked by how it continues to stream in the millions, monthly. “I’m like, what? It’s so old now.” The song also made a major, unmissable declaration in its chorus: Payne repeatedly voices, “You know I used to be in 1D / Now I’m out, free.”

Fast-forward two years from the song’s release, and Payne is sitting in his London management office, jet-lagged but energized after a quick but busy trip to New York City to promote his newest single, “Stack It Up,”featuring the artist A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie. The song, which also credits Sheeran as a writer, marks Payne’s first major promotional push since “Strip That Down,” having released an EP in 2018 but, as of yet, no complete album. Though fans will not have to wait much longer: it was announced in mid-October that Payne’s first album, titled LP1, will arrive on December 6, 2019.

Eating a salad from Pret a Manger, he is boyishly handsome, even when battling time-zone disorientation. At 26 years old, the Wolverhampton, England-born Payne (...) and no stranger to fame. One Direction, that union of Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, and Harry Styles, formed in 2010 after appearing on the British version of the singing competition show The X Factor. “1D” would earn millions of fans worldwide and hundreds of millions of dollars; the band went on indefinite hiatus in 2016. “I’ve been doing this for 10 years,” Payne says with a smile, when everyone in the room admits to feeling the grind of an exhausting schedule.

“We’ve gone full circle,” Payne says, relaxing into his chair. “‘Stack It Up’ is the same team that made ‘Strip That Down,’ which is why it sounds like the song’s little brother.” The track is similarly playful but is more about cash-lust than anything physical. It’s also slightly less shimmery, with an attenuated keyboard pulse and a semi-scratchiness to Payne’s vocal work. “One of the main problems I had with the song, actually, is that it’s very money-oriented, and I didn’t know if that was the message I wanted to convey,” Payne continues. “I’ve been really lucky to have great success, but there have been times in my life when I am sitting there, looking out at the most beautiful view, and all of these amazing things are happening around me, but there’s no one there and you’ve got no one to share it with. You sort of think, ‘Well, that didn’t fix anything, did it?’ You feel just as low as if you had none of it.” This is the first bite of Payne’s ice-clear transparency. He is think-aloud and cut-to-the-chase candid, which, it could be argued, is a rare trait for the very famous.

“So, with that in mind, we kind of switched up the lyrics so that you have dreams for you and someone else, and sending this message of working hard for what you want to gain,” Payne says. “I was a kid from humble beginnings. My parents didn’t have a lot. They gave us what they could. The reason I love this song is that, if you’re on your way to work and you’re listening, I like to think that it gives you the urge to go above and beyond for your shit.”

Love — sometimes messy, sometimes fanatical, sometimes deeply personal — is part of Payne’s narrative. (...) Likewise, his friendships (both then and now) with the other members of One Direction. Regarding modern love — and the trials and tribulations he’s gone through to understand it, and to achieve self-love, at this point — Payne has much to say. The path to 26 has not been easy: The singer has been open about facing mental health, relationship, and self-esteem issues. There is fact and fan fiction when it comes to One Direction’s split, but Payne himself has said there was strife. He even has a tattoo that reads, “We are the quiet ones,” as he felt he was never allowed to speak up on account of the group’s squeaky clean public-facing image.

“I think everyone has a love-hate thing with what they each individually do. It’s not always nice,” he’ll say of his career. “You get a bit of that feeling of turning against your profession.” Has he ever fallen out of love with music? “It can get tedious, and there is a lot of pressure a lot of the time, which is difficult. Your urge sometimes will not be enough. I’ve found that having people around you that give you unwavering support is, more than anything, what keeps me going. (...) Whereas in the past, there have been times when I didn’t know if I wanted to make any more music. You need those people around you to make sure that you carry on.”

(...)

Payne also admits to mentally working through the backlash and the hysteria that can follow his every move. From the One Direction days, his fandom can tread into extreme territories. “Some people can be really nasty for no reason,” he says. “And also, when you’re worried about going to a restaurant or the park and being overprotective, that actually causes more problems. Because then the paparazzi and the press get more on your shit when you’re hiding away, and then when you do finally show yourself or reveal something, it’s a fucking frenzy. (...)”

Payne would not count himself as one of those people. He has been affected by acute anxiety, agoraphobia, and insecurity. He has canceled shows and, at one point, found himself drinking too heavily as a coping mechanism. “We all have an ideal in our heads of what we want to be,” Payne says of self-love. “From the moment you step in and say, ‘I am who I think I am,’ then nothing can touch you. For a long time, I was playing this character, and in reality, I was a million miles away from it, and everyone could fucking see that shit. You get a different level of confidence once you are, like, ‘I’m good.’ Self-assuredness is a powerful thing.” Payne says committing to a fitness regimen and routine has helped, too. “You become happier and more confident, more quickly.”

(...)

Payne concludes by saying he has only “very recently” felt truly comfortable in his own skin. “I’ve just had a long conversation with a friend about this,” he says. “Don’t let your past define you. It’s not all about what you did or didn’t do. I’m on the map of where I am supposed to be, and knowing that is the key.” Liam Payne, consciously stripped down and continuing to stack it up, takes the last bite of his Pret salad.

#liam payne #mtv vol.ume #mtv news #liam's interviews #lp1 #29.10.2019

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ricardosousalemos · 7 years

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Mary J. Blige: Strength of a Woman

Some artists reject equating their personal lives with their artistic ones. In the tradition of the most magnificent women in soul, Mary J. Blige has always invited it, freely discussing her travails and liberally exploring them within her songs, no matter how cutting. Yet on Strength of a Woman, ardent followers might find it jarring that the R&B diva should once again find a reason to look within for affirmation, at age 46 as she does on her 13th album’s luminous, boom-bap opening track “Love Yourself.” After a career peppered with songs detailing her abusive relationships and substance addiction, she appeared to find a plateau, a lane where she finally uncovered the happiness she deserved. My Life II...The Journey Continues (Act 1) (2011), closed the chapter on those tumultuous years, untethering her enough that she could—on part of 2014’s acclaimed The London Sessions—finally manifest as the classic house diva she deserved to be—free and exultant, unburdened by BPMs.

Wounds reopen, though. Blige is currently embroiled in an acrimonious split from her longtime manager/husband Kendu Isaacs—the source, fans presumed, of much of that early happiness—and so Strength of a Woman finds its power in going back to basics. As a whole experience, it luxuriates within the magisterial hip-hop-soul queendom she formulated in the ’90s and the attendant themes that trace back to wronged-woman blues. The bulk of the arrangements, by DJ Camper, hover in the realm of classic soul with slow-jam sensibilities, leaving space for her warm, inimitable relatable voice to speak her truth.

Strength of a Woman’s classicism is, in some ways, a relief despite the success of The London Sessions’ more modern tracks; in an era of young R&B acts that bury their vocals in hazy, gossamer production to the detriment of cohesion, it’s refreshing to hear Blige sticking with what she knows. Mary will never not be Mary, and through the deep-dive into self-empowerment and, as ever, self-discovery, that is this album, she understands her voice is her most effective tool—and her emotion its understudy. “I’ve been broken for a long time, now I’m standing in the sunshine” she intones radiantly over a simple piano accompaniment on “Smile.” The magic in Blige’s music has always been in her ability to transform straightforward, would-be schmaltzy sentiment into universal truths, and here she does that magically, perhaps more fully invested in actualization than she’s ever been. While newer R&B fans might not be drawn to the stoicism Blige embraces, particularly those who gravitated towards her via Disclosure, it’s inarguable that she’s set the template younger faves want to emulate; in an era of musical confessionalism, Blige’s instinct has always been the most confessional of all.

That said, Blige is never far from the culture at its most current. Just like rappers will sing, so too will Blige rap; on hyper-dense verses in triple-time cadences, her antipathy lives in the rhythm. Aside from “Telling the Truth,” a typically clanging club track produced by Kaytranada, she is at her most indulgent and delicious on the “Glow Up” featuring Quavo and Missy Elliott, a gleaming revenge track in which she declares herself petty in a Migos flow—“I’ma glow up! Throw it in ya face like yeahhhh”—and vows to stunt on a spurned lover; Kendu, we presume.

On Strength, Blige’s soon-to-be ex-husband (or his avatar) is the equivalent of a cartoon villain, both centered as the antagonist in Blige’s betrayed dirges and merely serving as a plot point in the ones that chat chart her own growth through the break-up; to that point this is precisely what a Mary J. Blige album has always been, a document of a woman facing and subsequently never succumbing to her obstacles, all combatted with gritty trills and not-quite-perfect vibrato that mirrors her not-quite-perfect truth. She has never been the most precise singer and thus she is the exact right person to deliver such apparently intimate missives from the soul. Vocally, there’s nary a chirp, even in her soprano—just a conjuring deep in the diaphragm. It manifests as she is, what you hear is what you get.

#reviews-albums

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beatboxblog-blog1 · 7 years

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MORE LIFE: ALBUM REVIEW

As spring is upon us, so is More Life. Though Drake released his previous album, Views, only one year ago, the Canadian rapper decided he was just not done with us yet. Even though More Life has been announced and released as an album, it is more comparative to a mix-tape as Drake sporadically delves in and out of the UK grime scene through song titles, duos and his part Patois, part London attempt of an accent... I’m being deadly serious. Drake sends us on an emotional roller-coaster through this playlist with a mashup of music influences.

To best review this album, I brace myself and go through track by track to try and make some sense of this ambitiously nonsensical jumble. Now don’t get me wrong, I am obsessed! This could quite possibly be Drake’s best piece of work so far as he continually grows musically through experimenting with alternative aspects, whilst drawing on contemporary musical influence from across the globe.

Aubrey Graham begins the album with ‘Free Smoke’ which can only be described as an absolute banger which shall resonate through sound systems across the land far and wide, for a very long time to come! However, his opening of this song cannot be ignored as he imitates an urban mixed Caribbean and British accent. How did this make me feel? Quite honestly, I felt compelled into an awkward moment between my speakers and I. Drake is an undeniable legend and it is due to these reasons that he has free reign to experiment and explore his music talents openly, expressing different feels and frequencies from around the world. And this is cool, I just think it’s also a bit much. Let me stop being so pessimistic - overall ‘Free Smoke’ is a delectable opening track into the rappers method of madness!

The second track ‘No Long Talk’ which features Giggs is an extension of Drake’s admiration for the UK Grime scene. Drake opens this track by using London slang terminology which again, made me feel rather odd. I found myself completely lost and confused by the end of his part as his accent was off-key and quite simply cringe-worthy, up until the point where Giggs rocked up and killed the game! Again, it was a hard battle in accepting that Giggs was the one who made this track (people may disagree with me here, but I can’t deny my initial feeling - I didn’t want to feel this way either!) as featured guests are supposed to add charisma, not save yo ass!

The next track, ‘Passionfruit’ does not particularly follow suit from the previous track, but it’s a relief to hear the Drake we all know and love. The melodic beat, twinned with Drake’s controlled and comfortable vibes give me life!

Do we review interludes? Well for this one time, yes we do! Jorja’s Interlude gives a great break in the playlist, whilst preparing us for the next, very funky house beat.

The interlude is then followed by ‘Get It Together’ which features Black Coffee and Jorga Smith. This is something I would expect to hear from a UK artist and I appreciate that Drake has used this to his advantage, setting a precedent for other non-British artists as he bosses the track! Somebody did their research...

Personally, ‘Madiba Riddim’ is a pivotal point where the album is ready for take off, quite literally. Whilst using a tropical beat, Drake excels at what Drake does best and this is working for us all - I’ll be playing this one long into the future!

Okay so despite the fact that I had to google the meaning of ‘Blem’ is a still a tune. Blem is supposed to be a London slang term for 'being high', though I have never heard of it... ever... Now this doesn’t mean that people wont start using it, and I do appreciate this track enough to start using the word Blem myself to make sure that this one is loved universally. A Caribbean twist can be heard throughout as Drake compliments the track, yes I am a fan of this one!

‘4422′ is randomly thrown in (I don’t believe any thought process was used here, well that’s how we’re supposed to feel) as Sampha jumps in. Though the song is titled to feature Sampha, it actually doesn’t feature Drake at all. Anyway, I’m not complaining, by this point I’m quite enjoying the exhilarating ride of not knowing what to expect.

Next up is ‘Gyalchester’ which includes a heavy, addictive bee-line and Drake back in full swing with a harder tone. This has definitely got to be one of the best tracks from the playlist!

The following track entitled ‘Skepta’s Interlude’ flashes back to the grime genre, it is apparent now that this album follows no rules and lacks linear - I promise I am not complaining! Back to the track, I must admit that I’m glad a peep wasn't heard from Drake on this one as he leaves Skepta to dish out the dirt!

‘Portland’ featuring Quavo & Travis Scott is a classic tune as Drake is in sync with these two rappers to produce pure magic! ‘Sacrifices’ feat 2 Chainz & Young Thug and ‘Glow’ featuring Kanye West both also match the standards of the last track and reminds me of why Drake is up there with the legends. The whole album attributes to Drake simply expressing and publicizing how he can team up with any contemporary artist and make it work.

‘Nothings Into Somethings’,‘Teenage Fever’ and ‘Lose You’, all remind me of Aubrey’s earlier work, work that turned him into the megastar he is today. I feel as though they are placed to signify a reflection of who he was when he started out in this music ‘ting’ (I mean thing, sorry the whole UK grime thing is still on my mind...) and generally showing us that he has still got it.

Moving on into endangered waters, I know ‘KMT’ feat Giggs is going to be everywhere but this just isn’t for me. I’ve tried to like it, but something just doesn’t click for me. Actually let me be truthful, if we were to cut out Drake’s verse I’d like it. Yes, I said it.

‘Ice Melts’ & ‘Do Not Disturb’ are both in a league of their own with Drake resonating that he has got so much more to give!

Drake is an exemplar and has nothing else to prove to anybody but himself, and it shows. He has already made headlines as one of the greatest rappers alive, yet instead of slowing down like many of them do, he’s speeding up, placing himself high above the rest.

#drake drakemorelife morelife skepta giggs quavo kanyewest sampha 2chainz travisscott musicfeatures musicblogger rapper hiphop

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