Sky's Music Reviews

Blue Lips is Swedish singer-songwriter Tove Lo's third solo album, released on November 17, 2017. It is the second half of a two piece concept album; the first half is last year's Lady Wood , which is one of my favorite albums. It features the final two chapters of the concept album; Light Beam and Pitch Black. It was a hard choice to decide to review this album. This is simply because Tove Lo is definitely my favorite artist ever; Queen of the Clouds is my favorite album. Thus, I figured that I would be too biased. However, after listening to this album many times, it seems like I am in the right mindset to accurately review it. It certainly has flaws and strengths that I can address through a mostly unbiased lens. I'm going to return to my older format of reviewing for this album, track by track, because it's mostly chronological. I'd like to address the cover. It's frankly horrible, and I didn't want to really put it on my blog because my parents re...

Reputation is "pop goddess" Taylor Swift's sixth studio album. It was released yesterday, on November 10th, 2017. Taylor made the rather predictable choice to keep this album off of streaming services for at least a week, in order to boost sales. That effect definitely happened; about 700,000 sales on the first day of its release. It could've been worse, of course; the rest of Taylor's catalog was only recently added to streaming services, after over a year as purchase exclusive. Thematically, I never really had high hopes for the concept that she was trying to push with this album. When I heard "the old Taylor is dead" lyric from the lead single, I knew that there were two possible options for the sound of this album. One: Taylor can actually recreate herself with a new, darker and more raw image. Two: Taylor can act like she's totally reinvented with a few darker tracks, but for the most part, stick to her normal, safer sound. Of course, she...

I wrote this on another website but I figured that it would fit just fine here. I consider myself to be a pretty big Kiiara fan. I love low kii savage , and "Whippin" is also great. But with all that being said, my opinion on Kiiara was getting worse and worse. I thought that she'd keep dropping basically the same song over and over; just that dirty sounding, vocal-chopped EDM track. Then, she drops this. And all of my faith is restored. This song is quite frankly amazing, one of my top songs this year, and my favorite Kiiara song (maybe tied with Feels). It gives me new hope for Kiiara; it displays how she can be versatile if she wants to, how she doesn't need to totally rely on producers, and how great her voice is. First, I'm not going to say that the production is anything bad at all. In fact, it's quite amazing. The beautifully crooning violin, that elegant piano riff, and the little vocal cut after "bricks" all combine together with the...

Poppy.Computer is the debut album by viral internet persona Poppy, formerly known as That Poppy. It was released on October 6th, after three promo singles and two lead singles, though it is only 11 songs left. Sonically, it employs a variety of styles. Bubblegum pop is the most prominent, but there are a few rock and acoustic sounds.  It's her second project, after her debut EP Bubblebath , containing "Lowlife" and "Money", both extremely good pop songs. Poppy has been signed to Diplo's label, Mad Decent. In my book, that means that Poppy has reached the "big leagues"; she's not an independent artist anymore like she was on  Bubblebath .  However, this really does not seem to have any effect on her music. It's still quirky, even more so than before. There are some major standouts on this album. The first "real" single, "Interweb", has a really mystical feel with some great production. The whole song is downtempo, b...

GEMINI is Macklemore's first solo studio album in a very long time, following the two joint albums with Ryan Lewis, The Heist and This Unruly Mess I've Made . The former was what made me a Macklemore fan in the first place; I always adored his unique, over-enunciated rap flow, and great blend of socially conscious and "fun" songs. Unlike Macklemore's first studio album from 2005, The Language of My World , GEMINI , released on September 22nd, 2017, does not contain powerful political undertones. Instead, this album is characterized by an overlying feel of joy and happiness. Now, I'm not sure exactly why Macklemore thought that this was the path to take. He's always been very socially conscious, and it seems like society would reflect with those issues now, in our period of social turmoil, more than ever. He tackled issues like his white privilege, his vision for his child, and more on This Unruly Mess I've Made.  I believe that it was a very bad d...

"dont smile at me" is the debut by the absolutely amazing singer-songwriter Billie Eilish, released on August 12th, 2017 (a date I had on my calendar for a long time). This is my favorite project from this year so far and I'm so happy to review it. A little bit about Billie Eilish; she was homeschooled for most of her life, just like me, and she's 15. She was only 13 when she sang "Ocean Eyes" from the EP. It just dazzles me that someone two years younger than me is more talented than not only me, but the vast majority of people. Her voice is soulful and versatile, and her songwriting is so very mature. Her brother, Finneas, was a minor Glee actor, but at 17, he found his true calling with producing and songwriting. He produced this entire EP all by himself and co-wrote every single song. The two together just can't be stopped. They remind me a lot of Karmin, but strangely, all representation is given to Billie; perhaps Finneas is just content with b...

It's been WAY too long! I gotta get back on schedule. Nervous System is the debut EP (or mini-album, as she called it for some reason) from songwriter/singer Julia Michaels. It was released on July 28th, 2017. Julia Michaels built her reputation by writing many, many pop tracks, for just about every artist that you can think of. She helped make so many songs Billboard hits, so she definitely has quite a bit of reputation to stand on. Every track except the first one is produced by Mattman & Robin, and curiously, Julia is not the sole writer; she has 3 other co-writers on every single track except the final one. Even though Julia has helped lots of other artists, the GP didn't really know her name until her lead single, "Issues". Her voice is rather strange; it's lilting and kind of squeaky, but at least she's different sounding. Other than that, this is a very stereotypical pop song; if you looked up "boring pop", this would be it. Do keep ...

From the Outside is the debut studio album by American pop-rock band Hey Violet (at least under this moniker), released on June 16, 2017. Hey Violet originally began as Cherri Bomb, a punk rock band, until they eventually morphed into their current situation, with a few members rotated out. Hey Violet originally was a 5 Seconds of Summer side act, but it'd be so wrong to write them off like that. Hey Violet has far exceeded 5SOS in my eyes, from their first EP, Brand New Moves, to their current state. Stylistically, it's hard to pin down exactly what genre this album is. Though classified as "pop rock", the album is rife with EDM and pop influences, as well as a few standout tracks with different styles; there's even one that almost seems to have a Victorian style. "Break My Heart" is a pretty good taste of the blend of styles that Hey Violet utilizes. This is the second single from the album. The verses are supported by electric guitar instrumenta...

I wrote this very large post for a different forum, and I wanted to share it with you guys. It took me over a week to write and research. I hope you enjoy, and I apologize about the bad formatting! Zella Day is a criminally underrated treasure, and I’m so excited to share her music with popheads. I’ve stanned her since Winter 2015 and I hope to introduce her to as many people as possible!** Zella Day Kerr (yes, that’s her real name, and it’s amazing) is currently 22 years old, hailing from the modest town of Pinetop Arizona. Music runs in her blood; her mother sung in a jazz trio band, and Zella always lists her as one of her influences, along with a vast variety of other musicians, including Bob Dylan, Frank Ocean, and Queen. Her family owned a coffee shop, and that is where her musical career began; she would play cute little songs on her guitar in the coffee shop to entertain guests. Some were classics, and some were her own songs.  Zella always knew that music was her...

hopeless fountain kingdom  is alternative (or at least, that's what she likes to be called) singer-songwriter Halsey's second studio album. Released June 2nd 2017, this album comes hot on the trail of Halsey's recent commercial success; the MASSIVE collaboration with The Chainsmokers, topping the chart for so many weeks. Though I'm certainly not a fan of that song by any stretch of the word, I do indeed respect the success of "Closer" and can see the appeal. For this album, Halsey told us that she wouldn't go full pop; that she would still be alternative, and she did stand by these words, for the most part. hopeless fountain kingdom , or HFK, for short, is a great alternative synth-pop album, albeit confusing at a lot of parts. She promoted this album by releasing videos and teasers comparing the album to Romeo and Juliet; at least, a more modernized version. Supposedly, the story depicted a relationship based on that Shakespearean tale, but the way that...