Expectations is the long awaited, LONG delayed debut album by singer-songwriter Bebe Rexha. She has a long repertoire of hits: "I Can't Stop Drinking About You", "Take Me Home", "Hey Mama", "Me, Myself, and I", her most recent and biggest hit, #2 single "Meant To Be", not to mention all of the other hits that she's penned for other artists. She's dropped three EPs, including the two-part All Your Fault EP; apparently, there was supposed to be a third part that was replaced by this album. Her career as a star spans back to 2014, and it's a wonder that it's taken her so long to drop an album, but here it is, on June 22, 2018. Can it live up to our Expectations?
Expectations tends to stick to Bebe's pop roots, but the span of styles used on this album is quite diverse. Like most new pop girl albums (Anne Marie and Camila Cabello, for example), Expectations consists of a few tracks that exist mostly to show off Bebe's voice, a few tracks that seem more engineered to be hits, and a few tracks that are just Bebe doing whatever she wants.
The album starts with "Ferrari", one of those aforementioned opportunities to show off her voice. To anyone not familiar with Bebe, this is a great introduction to her vocal range; it seems to purposefully include just about every aspect of her voice. The verses have her slower, almost spoken word tones, the prechorus raises to her near-falsetto, the rather strange chorus consists of Bebe belting "I'm a Ferrari, pulled off on Mulholland Drive", and of course, the post-chorus has Rexha using her signature nonlexical "ooohs". This is all improved on the minimalist instrumental, consisting of drums in the chorus and a sparse guitar for the rest of the track. It's a rather interesting concept, to have a full vocal showcase to introduce the album, but I can't fault it.
"I'm A Mess" showcases Rexha's penchant for explosive hooks; it's a bittersweet, almost satirical take on the trope of self-deprecative songs. "Everything's going to be alright / Everything's going to be okay / it's going to be a good, good life / that's what my therapist say"; this is self-awareness at its best. There are some rather weird production quirks in this song, with the choir effect and the dog barking in the background, and these just serve to further cement my opinion that this song is meant to be satire. Still, the powerful chorus and the pure charisma makes this song sound like a potential hit to me, and I wouldn't mind that much at all.
Skipping around a bit, I'd like to address the two rap features. Well, rap isn't the best descriptor; both of the artists featured kind of just sing in a "rap voice"? "2 Souls on Fire", which automatically loses some points from having a number in the title for no reason, is a slightly hispanic tinged western-pop-trap song that honestly can't quite fit in a category, between the guitar melody and the hi hat rolls. Bebe lends one of her best vocal performances on this track, and Quavo sounds very suitable, surprisingly. Still, this whole song just feels too slow, like a buildup towards nothing. It's slightly better at 1.25x speed, but it just doesn't have the impact that it needs. "Steady", featuring Tory Lanez, is even worth. The lyrics are uncreative, it's backed by a very average trap beat, and Tory acts far more as a feature than a duet, unlike Quavo (plus, his voice is nowhere near as interesting). Furthermore, he drops one of the worst lines I've heard all year, "I'm going to keep it 78 plus 22 with you". The chorus is a nice piece of chill pop, but that's the only really memorable part of that track.
"Shining Star", the only explicit song on the album, has SO much wasted potential. The production, again, is very guitar supported; Bebe obviously has a preference. Bebe's voice is great throughout; the second chorus really works with that exotic flavor that her voice has. I'm always a big fan of songs that tell stories, and the story of two completely opposite lovers works so well. However, apparently, Bebe didn't ever take a literature class, because this story has a beginning and a middle, but no end. Instead, she wastes the first minute of the song with a long lo-fi intro, ending the song with another long outro. This song could've been a lot more, even though the current product is satisfactory.
There definitely is some hit potential in this album. We're reminded of the lead single of this entire All Your Fault and Expectations era with Bebe's inclusion of "I Got You". I still adore this song; in fact, I think it's even better now that so much time has passed. Quoting my first review of this song, I still think that the best part about this song is that you expect an instrumental "pop drop" the first time you listen to it, but it ends up pulling a bait and switch and going to a fierce, almost rapped chorus, as Bebe affirms that "we can get high, oh na na na/ we can get low, oh na na na". The explosive chorus is just a delight to listen to, and I've noticed so much more about the production that works so well. I think that "I Got You" is probably one of Bebe's best songs ever, and I daresay that it's pretty much a perfect pop song. Not a perfect song, mind you, but it has the charisma, the freshness, the memorability, the positive message, and the staying power that all pop songs should have.
Furthermore, Expectations includes "Meant to Be", Bebe's biggest hit with a #2 Billboard 100 peak and 31 weeks at #1 on the country chart (and counting!). I... do not like this song much at all. Featuring Florida Georgia Line, it's apparently country just because they sing in "country voices"; there's not even a guitar in this song. It's trite and repetitive and I really don't get the popularity of this one when Bebe has so much better. Even worse, while this album is diverse, there is still a certain tone to it and this just doesn't work in that niche.
Bebe also makes sure to include some homages to her original darker sound. "Mine" is a great piece of pop trap and it's totally a bop. Though the production is kind of generic, with those signature hazy trap moans, there are some pleasing reversed synths and the 808s add impact perfectly. "Mine" is the most sexual song on the album, but I think that Bebe does a really good job at the concept. "Don't Get Any Closer" has an extremely bleak feel, and that's exactly what Bebe wants. This is personified by the extreme contrast between the high, almost monotone intonation of Bebe's voice and the distorted bass during the chorus. It's a neat effect; I just wish that it had a bit more payoff. It almost seems to tease an actual payoff with an abruptly stopping crescendo of drums at the end of the song, which is rather annoying.
My final highlights will be the two piano ballads, "Grace" and "Pillow", that are conveniently placed right next to each other in the tracklist. They both sound surprisingly sincere, especially "Pillow". I'm not one for piano ballads, but someone Bebe is able to pack enough emotion into each track to keep me entertained. Bebe just has a wonderful feel for intonation and how it should work. It's hard for me to say much about songs like this, but I definitely do enjoy them both, even if it's not likely that I listen to them just because of their nature as ballads.
Overall, Expectations is a formidable product, and though it certainly has quite a few shortcomings, I enjoyed it. It's pretty much what I expected from Bebe, so I suppose the album name worked. The album is incredibly diverse, so I suppose there's something here for everyone, but she does sacrifice some of the cohesiveness with this concept. Other than "I Got You", there aren't any amazing songs on here, but other than "Meant to Be", I don't think there are really any bad songs on here. Bebe has shown with the All Your Fault project that she has a lot more potential for great songs, with tracks like "(Not) the One" and "Gateway Drug". I personally think that Bebe's totally unique voice works better with a darker tone, but songs like "I Got You" and "Grace" prove that she's very versatile. Though the album's release sales weren't at all amazing, I think that Bebe still has enough potential to be a top tier popstar. I look forward to hearing what Bebe releases in the future.
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