ALICIA
#singsongsaturday is back, and so is alicia keys with her new, long-awaited album. here's
what kaseyhope101 thought of it!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Time Machine
- Wasted Energy
- Me x 7 ★(zu's fav!)
- So Done
- Gramercy Park
- Perfect Way To Die
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Truth Without Love
- Authors Of Forever
- Show Me Love
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Underdog ★(kc's fav!)
- Jill Scott
- Good Job
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
- Love Looks Better
- You Save Me
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
- 3 Hour Drive
kc's takesies : i actually really liked this album when i first listened, but i think that's because i was really excited for it and i just really like Alicia and her voice. i was biased to it. now i can see a lot of the criticisms people had for it more clearly. every song is a little bit corny and is either bordering on enjoyable or boring. it was either a little bit corny but i bopped to it and thought it was pleasant, or it was just corny and fine, and then there were a few where i just have no desire to hear it again, because i was just tired. it wasn't a bad album, and i think it was actually generally pleasant enough to listen to, but the girl was not on fire
here, this was far from her best most memorable work, but it has some good songs!
zu's review: i wasnt gonna say it but it has to be said. this album was basically people crying over hillary losing as an album. i will say the music was phenomenal(sp?) i loved the sound. but some of tne subject matter was really cringe. the only social justicey song that i actually felt something about was perfect way to die. besides that, me x 7 and wasted energy are bippity bops! alicia lined up some really good features, and i surprisingly enjoyed khalid... overall the album was okay
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ½
Spell My Name
#singsongsaturday
Singsong September part 3! kaseyhope101 and i listened to the new toni braxton* album* and here's what had to say!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Dance ★(kc's fav!)
- Spell My Name
- Happy Without Me ★(zu's fav!)
- Nothin' (Bonus)
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Gotta Move On
- O.V.E.Rr
- Saturday Night
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Do It
- Fallin'
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
- Do It (Original Version)
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : so often with older artists who made music that was popular in the 90s or 00s, their new music sounds... bad, dated, boring, etc. etc. etc. and it just doesn't click anymore... but WHEW! this was A GOOD album. one of my favorite listens in quite a while, actually. maybe it's just me and everyone else hated it, but WHEW! even if it's just me i'm about to download some of these songs onto my phone i LOVED this. the bops bopped, the power ballads were masterpieces, only like 2 or 3 misses for me. i think even the songs that didn't click now might grow on me, like, this album was way better than i anticipated omg maybe i'm a Toni Braxton stan... this gets a KC's gold star!
zu's review: no one can knock toni's vocals. she sings beautifully and her talent shines in this album! HOWEVER... a lot of the songs on this album are forgettable. it was only ten songs long but at times it felt like a drag. idk, it stimulated my heart but not my mind. happy without me spoke to me tho. overall id say thus album is good, just not great.
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★
* i rly copy and pasted from the troye ep review and wasnt clocked for some reason!
In A Dream
#singsongsaturday
Singsong September part 2! kaseyhope101 and i listened to the new troye sivan ep and here's what had to say!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Take Yourself Home ★(kc and zu's fav!)
- Rager teenager!
- IN A DREAM
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- could cry just thinkin about you
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Easy
- STUD
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : i like his edgier songs. they're melodramatic and goofy but they are right up my alley! the rest of it was kind of mid to insufferable to me 🙁. i don't see the vision, but i'm happy for the people who do. it was cute, i guess! i think i liked half of the songs, but im probably never going to listen any of them ever again!
zu's review: i liked this ep! the sound is haunting and dramatic and at times nostalgic, and i appreciate troye's vulnerability here. easy reminded me of that hellogoodbye song i love. the only song that gave me pause was stud, cuz i was taken aback by his sudden vapidity but if my ears facetuned the track as more of an addendum on himself then i can still pop my pussy ig. woohoo!
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★
Crave by Kiesza
it's time to play ketchup! kaseyhope101 and i open our singsong september 5-night special with crave by kiesza, another canadian pop harlot the likes of carly rae jepsen. how did miss honey fare?
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- All Of The Feelings ★(kc's fav!)
- Crave
- Can't Be Saved ★(zu's fav!)
- Love Me With Your Lie
- When Boys Cry
- Dance With Your Best Friend
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Run Renegade
- Sky Ain't The Limit
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Love Never Dies
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : i've never listened to Kiesza before, so i didn't know what to expect, and... i have to admit... overall, this wasn't bad, it's cute. i'm just not going to rush to relisten to it ever. none of the songs were bad. sometimes she tried to branch out of the poppy upbeat vibe and it felt jarring and i feel like a lot of the pop girls are doing a similar vision better, but overall this was not bad, it was good. maybe Kiesza made points‼️
zu's review: i really enjoyed this album! i had never heard any of her other songs besides hideaway, so i knew whatever i heard was gonna hit me on my blind side. but this goes awf! the only eye roller for me was love never dies. but otherwise i enjoyed it in its entirety! dance with your best friend particularly was a fun detour to end things off.
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
#singsongsaturday
Smile
#singsongsaturday
hiiii! this album review was supposed to come out longass time ago but i was a lil busy on top of this album being boring af upon first listen. anywho, here's what kaseyhope101 and i thought of kitty purry's newest album!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Never Really Over
- Teary Eyes
- Resilient ★(kc's fav!)
- Champagne Problems
- Tucked ★(zu's fav!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Cry About It Later
- Not The End Of The World
- Only Love
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Daisies
- What Makes A Woman
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
- Smile
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : this album was, like... cute. it was cute on the verge of corny sometimes. i only think the only BAD song is Smile, that song just sounds like it was made for Target commercials, but even the songs that are just mid to me, A LOT of this album was a little bit corny... but that's okay ! it had some real cute bops. in the words of one of her fans in the YouTube comments "i love that she isn't making songs for charts anymore !"
generally, i did enjoy this just fine. it definitely isn't the album of the year, but it's inoffensive. not necessarily many songs i would go out of my way to have on repeat, but there's a lot of songs i wouldn't skip if they were on a playlist. it isn't as innovative as old Katy, but it's a cute moment !
zu's review: this album is the epitome of guilty pleasure music. katy has great vocals and music on this album, and i hate to say it sometimes excuses the terrible lyric writing. ofc sometimes it was too obnoxious not to justifiably rate it well, but this album is definitely a grower and not a shower!
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★
Jaguar #singsongsaturday
for today's singsong saturday album, we'll be diving into jaguar by victoria monét! serving the most petite album we've reviewed thus far, let's get right into it! here's what me and kaseyhope101 thought:
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Moment
- (Big Boss)
- (We Might Even Be Falling In Love)
- Jaguar ★(kc's fav!)
- Experience ★(zu's fav!)
- Go There With You
- Touch Me
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Dive
- Ass Like That
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
(none)
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : oh, this is so good. i love Ari, but Victoria must be setting her up, because these songs are better than every song she wrote for or with Ariana. the main criticism people have is that it's too short, but don't fret ‼️ this is just part one of her three part experience ‼️ this was such a strong, to my knowledge debut? project. i'm excited to listen to her future releases, because i'm a big fan of this all. the beats, and i also think it's very impressive that half her songs are about s3x, but they all sound vastly different and standout on their own, like you go sis ‼️ very good, i'll be listening to this until i'm tired of them all. KC's gold star 🌟🌟🌟
zu's takesies: i liked this album! i think victoria proved here she is quite a clever songwriter. i dont have much to say about it. it was quite short, and it didnt necessarily make me feel like i wanted more. nonetheless, the spare tracks on this album will ne reappearing in my youtube playlist!
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
#singsongsaturday
bernadette peters' stepdaughter is back with her 7th album...im assuming? i mean her album is called b7, do im just assuming it's the seventh one. so yeah here's what kaseyhope101 and i thought!
TRACKLIST TIERS (in tracklist order!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Unconditional Oceans
- Rather Be
- Borderline
- No Tomorrow ★(kc's fav!)
- Say Something
- I Am More
- Bye BiPolar ★(zu's fav!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Saving All My Love
- All My Life, Pt. 1
- All My Life, Pt. 2
- High Heels
- All My Life, Pt. 3
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Love Again
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
- Lucid Dreams
- Baby Mama
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : well... i did LIKE it. but some songs just didn't click for me at all. i actually gave the vast majority of the songs +'s and gave 0 -'s, but at the same time i expected more from my Queen of Manslaughter Brandy Norwood. every song i've heard from her before listening to this album has been 0 misses and immediate hits for me, and listening to this album, it had QUITE a few songs that didn't click for me at all. i wanted this to be an album of the year contender, but it isn't even top 5 for me. but i did like it a lot. Brandy can SING, Brandy writes HITS. the songs that DID hit, hit HARD for me. i will be relistening to this one, but i also think i will be listening to her other albums first, because i want to be a Brandy stan. stream Moesha on Netflix now !
zu's review: i did like this album, tho it was nothing spectacular. i found that a lot of the songs ran together, which is fine tbh cuz when she veered away from the standard r&b it wasnt necessarily for the better. i like chance the rapper but that feature was atrocious. also, the trickling water on lucid dreams was... a choice, to put it lightly. again, i liked the album, however all i can envision remembering about this album in a month is her boldly using the r word i am more and the song bye bipolar.
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★
0 Kaseyhope101, Jul 25, 2020
Folklore is my #3 favorite album of the year, zuelke hates the bitch #SingSongSaturday
https://tengaged.com/blog/Zuelke/9203116/folklore-singsong-saturday-w-zu-kc
folklore by Taylor Swift
#SingsongSaturday
surprise motherfucker! taylor dropped a new album out of nowhere, and of course kaseyhope101 and i had to pop a listen! who'd you think we were gonna listen to, neon trees?
here's what we thought!
TRACKLIST TIERS (in tracklist order!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
(none)
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- the last great american dynasty
- my tears ricochet
- mirrorball
- seven
- betty
- peace
- hoax
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- the 1 ★(kc's fav!)
- cardigan
- exile
- august
- this is me trying
- illicit affairs
- invisible string
- mad woman
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
- epiphany
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : at first i didn't want to do this because i thought i'd be biased towards Taylor, as a fan since i was 8 years old... but then i realized... i'm not biased towards Taylor. when she releases an album or song i hate, i never force myself to like it. i literally get mad and vocally express hatred for them. so, despite being a "Swiftie", i can look past my stan goggles and objectively look at her work without being too incredibly biased.
i really absolutely LOVE the lyrics to this album. even the songs i don't like as much, i do think have TERRIFIC lyrics. this her best album LYRICALLY, i think. and that IS what she's best known for, so... i think this was definitely for people who prefer Taylor as a SONG WRITER rather than a pop star. it's almost ENTIRELY stripped down and has a very minimalistic production a lot of the time. which is why i get why its very polarizing to the girls and gays because it is the antithesis of anything she's released since... her debut, basically. but at the same time i think this is her most authentic album as an artist. i think this is the stripped back lyrical album SHE'S wanted to release since her debut, basically. not focussed on the charts, focussed on HER music.
at first i was mixed, because upon first listen... the stripped back vibe made a lot of the songs blend together for me and there were clear standouts and the rest had me unimpressed, but then when i relistened and i actually listened to the words and the songs, i can appreciate basically all of them, honestly. even THE WORST SONGS on the album, i appreciate the lyrics and what they bring to the table. THIS ALBUM made me curious for what Taylor does next, because she never fails to surprise me. she knows what she's doing.
ALSO, can we appreciate how Taylor can completely rebrand with ease? she does it for every era, but i'd say this is the most drastic shift in music since her iconic shift from country to pop. THIS was the Taylor album for the people who hate Taylor Swift, because she has completely rebranded her style into something entirely new, and i... am here for it? i think? if she just goes back to pure pop next, maybe i would be like "well she could've just kept this then?" but i do kind of love this aesthetic she's managed. it..
Brightest Blue
#singsongsaturday
PART 3 - BRIGHTEST BLUE BY ELLIE GOULDING! did you know it's pronounced GOLD-ing? i didnt know that until today! anyway, i and kaseyhope101 listened to her album and here's what we thought of it!
TRACKLIST TIERS (in tracklist order!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Tides
- Wine Drunk
- Flux
- Brightest Blue
- Overture
- Close To Me
- Hate Me
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Power
- How Deep Is Too Deep
- Cyan
- Love I'm Given
- New Heights ★(kc's fav!)
- Ode To Myself
- Woman
- Bleach
- Slow Grenade ★(zu's fav!)
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Start
- Worry About Me
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : let me start out by saying, learning Ellie Goulding didn't retire was a pleasant surprise. i did not know she had a new album coming out until, quite literally, i saw it came out already.
song by song? i basically loved this album. no songs are definitively bad to me, i could see myself relistening to this plenty of times and jamming in the future to come... it is definitely contender for my favorite Ellie Goulding album, but i'm still a Halcyon Days loyalist right now.
song by song, this album kind of slaps, but upon first listen, sometimes they sort of blend together and struggle to stand out in the scheme of things. hopefully upon a relisten or so, that will change.
im just happy Ellie is releasing music because i used to stan!
zu's review: this album was slow to start. i was checking my wrist almost halfway through the album until suddenly the beat dropped on tides and i was IN IT the whole rest of the way. miss GOLDing still has that touch! her sound is quite similar, some of the latter songs sound like something id hear in a 2013 montage. classic ellie! https://twitter.com/brlghtestblue/status/1284455875395158019?s=21
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
Legends Never Die
#singsongsaturday the triple review week kicks off with part 2 - legends never die by juice wrld, our second posthumous album review of the year. kaseyhope101 and i have listened... were we all about that juice?
TRACKLIST TIERS (in tracklist order!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Righteous
- Come & Go
- Up Up And Away ★(kc's fav!)
- Man Of The Year ★(zu's fav!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Anxiety (Intro)
- Tell Me U Luv Me
- Get Through It (Interlude)
- Stay High
- Juice WRLD Speaks From Heaven (Outro)
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Conversations
- Titanic
- Bad Energy
- Blood On My Jeans
- Hate The Other Side
- Life's A Mess
- Fighting Demons
- Wishing Well
- Screw Juice
- Can't Die
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : i wasn't sure how i would feel about this one but i actually really liked it. some songs were thematically repetitive and can definitely blend together, but overall i really didn't HATE any of it. it was actually really good to me. the sound of it was a lot different than i'd expect, and it honestly has a lot of bangers. i think i'm gonna have to relisten to A LOT of these and pick up on more of the lyrics and songs that maybe i slept on during my first listen. RIP mr. juice ! a hit maker !
zu's review: so...let me start off by saying that while i do aim to respect those who have passed on, i do have some criticisms about this album. so im just going to do what i did with mac miller and assume that it was out of juice's control whether the less enjoyable songs on this album were released. it was rather overlong. fortunately, the songs that were good were REALLY good. i will say i had a bit of a bias when he leaned into the emo side a bit more cuz that's a source of nostalgia for me. as a body of work, i cant help but feel like the people publishing his music just put all of his unreleased work out there, and imo some things are better left in files. then again, who are they to curate a dead man's work, i suppose.
what irked me was the demons trope and obsessant mentions of codeine almost every other song. it seemed he was word vomiting and those tracks were rough drafts of things he wrote on a whim. again, i feel like the fat had to be cut from this album, but it's hard to do with juice wrld gone. may he rest in peace <3
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ½
Inner World
#singsongsaturday is back after a two week yatus with an extra special TRIPLE ALBUM REVIEW DAY!
kaseyhope101 and i found our Inner World with the debut album of the Dalai Lama...did we like what we saw?
TRACKLIST TIERS (in tracklist order!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Purification
- Humanity ★(zu's fav!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- One of My Favorite Prayers
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- The Buddha
- Compassion
- Courage
- Healing
- Wisdom
- Protection
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
- Ama La
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
- Children
kc's takesies : The Dalai Lama really created (Inner-)World Peace with this one !
some tracks i vibed with the instrumental and it was really soothing, sometimes it was boring, and then sometimes the stuff he was saying made me really mad... but overall, he really came with the messages at the end ! Dalai Lama snappedt there !
can't believe the Dalai Lama has a debut album before Normani 😐
zu's review: never in my 6 and a half months of reviewing albums have i bewitnessed a greater dichotomy between instrumentation and vocals... seriously, i could have really enjoyed this album if dalai lama never spoke whatsoever, ever. ever. this was an album of interludes. leave the talk-singing monopoly to selena gomez. it's so sad cuz the actual music is...for a lack of a better phrase...music to my ears. i can feel myself floating away on a cloud of cherry blossom petals, and then all of a sudden grandpa lama disturbs me and i plop right back on my ass. not to be dramatic but i hope china annexes nepal.
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★
it's time for #singsongsaturday - but on sunday!
kaseyhope101 and i dive into the new album by jessie ware. how does it fare?
TRACKLIST TIERS (in tracklist order!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Spotlight ★(kc's fav!)
- Soul Control
- Save A Kiss
- In Your Eyes
- Step Into My Life
- Read My Lips ★(zu's fav!)
- Mirage (Don't Stop)
- Remember Where You Are
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- What's Your Pleasure?
- Ooh La La
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Adore You
- The Kill
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
kc's takesies : deciding how i felt about this album was very much a rollercoaster. i had never heard a Jessie Ware tune before, but right from the start i was SHOOK by the beat change and was LIVING. it never fully got me feeling the same way after that, it lost me sometimes throughout, but overall there were no BAD SONGS, in my opinion. i could see myself relistening to this, like i may be a Jessie Ware fan now? which i NEVER expected going in, i was actually dreading listening to this... but turns out... i can't judge a book by her album cover !
zu's review: going into this i had no idea what to expect as i had not even heard of the bitch before, but woah... this album was GOOD. she has a sound that i dont have the musical genre knowledge to put into words, but if i had to describe it it would be rina sawayama meets jackbox party lobby music. and that is by no means bad. i felt the same way i did discovering lana del rey in 2013; her style is older, and yet fresh. i was and am still intrigued. superb!
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★ ½
chrissy teigen's husband released an album, and kaseyhope101 and i listened to it! here are our takes.
TRACKLIST TIERS (in tracklist order!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Wild
- Favorite Place ★(zu x kc's fav!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Ooh Laa
- Slow Cooker
- Don't Walk Away
- I'm Ready
- Always
- Never Break
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- Actions
- I Do
- One Life
- U Move, I Move
- Focused
- Conversations in the Dark
- Remember Us
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
(none)
KC’s takesies : i was going to relisten to this to assure my feelings, but this was so... aggressively not interesting to me, that i just decided to never revisit it in my entire life after this one (1) time. after the first few songs i thought this album was going to be an entire album of /‘s , and it essentially was, but some times there’ll be a very short lived streak of +’s that i think the album almost will turn around and redeem itself, but ultimately fails to do so before long. maybe my bar was too high. this entire week i’ve been having Ungodly Hour by Chloe x Halle on repeat, so maybe my bar for music has gone entirely above and beyond the creative abilities of John Legend. but, regardless, this did not Do It (by chloe x halle) for me. it just didn’t. at least John Legend will always be sexy, because his music may never be for me 😩 . at least i didn’t HATE any songs, they just mostly struck disinterest with me
zu's review: yawn... this album was awfully pedestrian. dont get me wrong, john legend sings beautifully and basically carried almost every song from being awful just with that quality alone. but the subject matter was so dull and the sound was way too commercial for something that will probably never get radioplay. that is why i appreciated favorite place so much because it was so unabashedly about eating chrissy teigen out, whereas every other song alluded to something naughty with quadruple entendres in order to keep it PG. to sum up, john legend is a voice with no message.
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ½
#SingsongSaturday
kicking off part 2 of zu x kc's two part black lives matter ✊🏻✊🏼✊🏽✊🏾✊🏿 review week is lil boat 3 by lil yachty!
TRACKLIST TIERS (in tracklist order!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
- Top Down
- Wock In Stock
- Split/Whole Time
- Black Jesus
- Lemon Head
- Don't Forget
- Westside
- Till The Morning
- Whew' Chile ★(zu x kc's fav!)
★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
- Demon Time
- From Down Bad
- Can't Go
- Concrete Boys
★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆
- T.D
- Pardon Me
- Love Jones
- Up There Music
★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆
- Range Rover Sports Truck
★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
- Oprah's Bank Account
kc’s takesies : so... i am unfamiliar with the work of Mr. Yachty, i have heard of him before, but never listened. but overall, this had a few tunes ! i relatively enjoyed it, like i would relisten to some of these songs for sure ! do i think i’m going to become a Lil Yachty stan? very much not that , but i could casually listen to this while doing nothing in quarantine. i am not going to hype this up any more than just saying i think it was quite decent. i didn’t dislike it at all. i really didn’t hate it ! send review.
zu's review: i enjoyed this piece! i have a bias toward over the top autotune so no shocker that i did. a lot of the songs had at least one really funny, edgy xd rawr lyric that made me chortle. however, i will say it seemed like in some of the songs it was supposed to sound...off putting. like future's whistling on pardon me almost ruined it for me. there are some other examples that i dont care to remember but it seemed like a recurring trope... all around good album doe!
FINAL ALBUM RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★
#SingsongSaturday
