No Promises - Kunt Reviews pt. II
Nov 19, 2015 11:57:58 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Nov 19, 2015 11:57:58 GMT -5
New thread because my old one is filled with empty promises and I need to rebrand myself with a more accurate business platform: "No Promises". :)
Here's the only review I managed last time.
Feel free to make requests, I guess? Upcoming interviews I'm going to *try* to do are:
• Blackout
• Honeymoon (whenever it's releaesd)
• Delerium
Here's the only review I managed last time.
Oct 25, 2014 21:55:14 GMT -5 @touch said:
Taylor Swift, your diva next door, successfully jumped the shark when she recorded 'I Knew You Were Trouble'-- the song that transformed a Shania Twain into a Britney Spears. Two years later and the idea of Swift crooning over dubstep or anything like it still sounds outrageous (if not totally badass); yet it was in that moment that Swift became something more than a pop-culture phenomenon. She was a force. When the general public was teased with news of her latest, whispers of an empowered and improved "pop" sound spread like wildfire. In a post-RED world, a Taylor Swift record sitting pretty at the top of the pop charts could only be a good thing, right? There's no possible way one of the most talented writers of the twenty-first century could f**k this up, right? For the most the part, these assumptions would be correct-- it's not a bad record. Just maybe not her record.
1989 is experimental, taking a few nods from whatever your local Urban Outfitters is spinning; but that might be the record's biggest problem-- her success in replicating the sounds of her "edgier" peers has more or less removed herself from the record. Swift is more than capable of baiting a pop audience while retaining the quintessential-white-girl charm that defines her writing; and while songs like 'Blank Space' and lead single 'Shake It Off' have something of that left, she loses herself in the artists she's trying to emulate. This is an unfortunate fate that most of the record was faced with-- I count maybe three songs that didn't explicitly remind me of something I'd already heard within the first ten seconds-- and although songs like 'Out of the Woods' and 'New Romance' still sound fresh in 2014, the lack of originality takes the intended edge off of material that otherwise wasn't intended to be pop in the first place. Even worse, the two songs that succeed in sounding the most distinct, 'This Love' and 'Welcome to New York', only manage this by being truly awful.
To her credit, there is a silver lining to this situation. Swift has always been a take no prisoners go-getter when it comes to her own exposure-- and there's plenty left on 1989 to further her plans for world domination. Songs like 'Style' and 'All You Had To Do' make it easier to forgive her absence from them. Although a record full of 'I Know Places'-- the one song that gets it right-- would've been preferred, the longer you listen, the more the album sounds like a well-crafted business platform than anything else. 'Wildest Dreams' is the best example, as it's identical to Lana Del Rey's 'Without You'. It's the same song-- it's also a good song; and as much as that shouldn't work, it does. Now, take that sort of image and combine it with Taylor Swift's exposure. You've got a very powerful combo that can only be in her best interest. From a business standpoint, her only fault was relegating the bonus tracks to the deluxe-- all three are hits waiting to happen. Otherwise, it's borderline genius.
That in mind, 1989 sounds most like a Now That's What I Call Music: Indie Pop compilation album. It's as fun as it is forgettable. In a rather stupidly ironic way, it's perfect for a pop album-- but that's as much the problem as anything else. It's not a bad album by any means, and it will likely be a very successful album too; but whatever your favorite song on the record may be, there's a very good chance another artist has recorded something like it, and something better.
Highlights:
- 'I Wish You Would' would've made a top-tier 1980s power ballad.
- 'I Know Places' is light and moody-- the most distinctly "Taylor" track here.
- 'You R In Love' has arpeggios and reverb drums for days, which can only be a good thing.
Highlights:
- 'I Wish You Would' would've made a top-tier 1980s power ballad.
- 'I Know Places' is light and moody-- the most distinctly "Taylor" track here.
- 'You R In Love' has arpeggios and reverb drums for days, which can only be a good thing.
Feel free to make requests, I guess? Upcoming interviews I'm going to *try* to do are:
• Blackout
• Honeymoon (whenever it's releaesd)
• Delerium