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Special Event: atrlcritic | Ed Sheeran's new songs after the upgrade
Member Since: 12/4/2010
Posts: 37,894
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What singles are being released soon? There's Bang Bang, what else?
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Member Since: 9/9/2012
Posts: 59,872
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Quote:
Originally posted by MP2K
Music snob, who are you suggesting then? Nobody is here for Usher.
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The album releases scheduled for July/August are so DEAD, so we should review albums recently released. Lana, Ed Sheeran, Sam, 5 Seconds of Summer, Trey Songz etc. 
Quote:
Originally posted by Doc
What singles are being released soon? There's Bang Bang, what else?
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We should do:
Usher - She Came to Give It To You
Ariana Grande - Break Free
Ed Sheeran - Don't
Drake - 0 To 100 / Catch Up
Iggy Azalea - Black Widow
Azealia is also releasing next week.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 34,855
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Quote:
Originally posted by iHype.
Why is everyone ONLY suggesting indie albums / unpopular albums?
I mean moi doesn't wanna be that person; but I think we'd oughta start reviewing albums by known names. Just to get into those and to get this thread to truly blow up. Not all these unpopular albums just so you can have them get noticed.
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That's true, but there aren't all that many high profile releases coming up. 
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Member Since: 1/1/2013
Posts: 13,978
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One of pop's most prized songwriters, Sia has penned dozens of hits for many of ATRL's faves, and has been featured on a few big hits as well with her distinctive soulful voice being the selling point. Although she has stayed out of the spotlight for a while now, she has finally decided to release her first album (since she has become more mainstream) called 1000 Forms of Fear. Opener of the album, and lead single, "Chandelier" is the obvious highlight of the album, with an incredible chorus that shows off Sia's fantastic vocals, and lyrics that refer to the singer's battle with alcoholism. Sadly, nothing on the album come quite close to it, but that doesn't mean there aren't any other good moments either. "Burn the Pages" is an interesting song that reminds me vocally of Lorde on the verses for some reason, and is about forgetting the past and moving on, and although it doesn't tread new ground for the singer, it still keeps your interest. The same goes for "Eye of the Needle", which is probably my 2nd favorite song on the album. Vocally this is top notch as usual, and the lyrics describe heartbreak, which is a very, very common theme on many songs here. "Big Girls Cry" is one of these songs, and I feel like there isn't enough going on to keep me interested. About half-way through the album, the sunny upbeat "Hostage" is a breath of fresh air, and sonically quite different than anything else on the album, but I do start to get the feeling that the songwriting will not have quite as much variation in topic that I hoped for. "Straight for the Knife" continues in the similar trend. "Fair Game" seems like it will be a forgettable formulaic ballad, but the twinkly piano towards the end gives it something to stand out a bit more. "Elastic Heart" is a song that I loved since I first heard it last year, but without The Weeknd's contribution, I feel as if it's missing something. Metaphors seem to be a common theme here, with the dramatic "Free the Animal" being a prime example (I really liked the glitchy effect they used on her vocals in the chorus). The equally violent metaphorical "Fire Meets Gasoline" is just an okay song, as is "Cellophane". Closer "Dressed in Black" is the longest song on the album, and has a bit too much going on. Overall, 1000 Forms of Fear is a fairly solid effort from Sia. Her vocals are the best things about this album, no doubt about it. The production is usually interesting enough to keep me listening too. The lyrics can be at fault sometimes, with the occasional cliche and overall repetitiveness, but it doesn't ruin the album for me.
HIGHLIGHTS: Chandelier, Eye Of The Needle, Hostage, Elastic Heart
LOWLIGHTS: Cellophane, Straight For the Knife, Big Girls Cry
OVERALL: 6.5/10
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Member Since: 3/8/2012
Posts: 39,015
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Lets do ARTPOP and PRISM
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Member Since: 12/4/2010
Posts: 37,894
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Quote:
Originally posted by iHype.
[CENTER] We should do:
Usher - She Came to Give It To You
Ariana Grande - Break Free
Ed Sheeran - Don't
Drake - 0 To 100 / Catch Up
Iggy Azalea - Black Widow
Azealia is also releasing next week.
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Usher - Not recent enough
Ariana - Not recent enough
Ed - Released this week; yes
Drake - Released this week; yes
Iggy - Not recent enough
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Member Since: 9/9/2012
Posts: 59,872
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Quote:
Originally posted by Doc
Usher - Not recent enough
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It was a week ago?...
And we ain't getting anymore hot singles for awhile so I don't see the problem.
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Member Since: 12/4/2010
Posts: 37,894
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Quote:
Originally posted by iHype.
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I thought about it. But by the time we do Drake, Ed, Azealia, Jessie J, it won't be recent enough.
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Member Since: 9/9/2012
Posts: 59,872
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Quote:
Originally posted by Doc
I thought about it. But by the time we do Drake, Ed, Azealia, Jessie J, it won't be recent enough. |
Why can't we do like 5-10 per week?
It's just 3 minute songs. We don't need a week to do just 2 or 3.
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Member Since: 12/4/2010
Posts: 37,894
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Quote:
Originally posted by iHype.
Why can't we do like 5-10 per week?
It's just 3 minute songs. We don't need a week to do just 2 or 3. |
5-10 is too much for a good amount of people to give quality reviews on each single. This week I think there's been over 30 reviews for Sia's album, and people are still getting their reviews in. It would be nice to maintain that even for the singles. We want people to have ample time to get their reviews in, and doing different song every day or every other day is rushing.
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Member Since: 5/16/2012
Posts: 12,486
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Reading through the reviews (I'm page 8 as of writing this) and it is interesting to me that only a few people noted how awful Sia's enunciation is on the album. I totally agree and I forgot to mention in my review that it is one of the reasons that I kept my score to 9/10 thus denying her a perfect score. Plus, I don't think it has the same cohesiveness as WAB. 
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Originally posted by lovesong
 Review
| Sia - 1000 Forms of Fear | 6.8 / 10 |
Sia has always been a bit of an obscure figure in pop music. Couple that with her latest image portrayal – her continuous covering of her face – and it seemingly adds another layer that is the mystery and intrigue around her. These past few years have seen many audiences become more familiar with Sia’s aesthetic, with her co-penning some of the biggest pop hits, most notably Rihanna’s “Diamonds”. However, this calls into question, just how familiar are we with Sia?
The opening of 1000 Forms of Fear is a soaring anthem “Chandelier”, a strong album opener if there ever was one. Sia’s famously strong vocals laced over a refreshing thrilling dance inspired production. Through and through its very en vogue, everything pop music today stands for, and yet there is this overwhelming urge to compare the song to other vocalists. How would Rihanna sound here? What about Miley? And that is precisely the biggest issue surrounding the album: it becomes a challenge to exactly place who Sia is.
Of course, perhaps the strongest aspect of the album is the lyrical content, one of the easiest moments to get an inkling of what Sia was going for. Looking to the second track, “Big Girls Cry”, a downtempo electronic ballad, you genuinely get the vulnerability of a woman undergoing a tough breakup. The lyrics become synonymous with the pain felt and any masking behind pop identities is broken down to reveal the true emotion. But it’s not restricted to lyrics where we see the truth emerge through. The emotive vocal outro to “Eye of the Needle” is performed with such persuasion that you’re almost taken aback. Again in “Straight for the Knife” we feel a closer understanding of what turmoil may be going on in these relationships. By and far the album’s best moment is essentially the entire second half of the album closer “Dressed In Black” where an almost chaotic yet melodic vocal performance twists and turns the ideas we’ve already become accustomed to in the album. There is a coupling idea of both fear and bravery as we arrive to an understanding of what Sia has to fear. Indirectly, as we get more accustomed to the outright strength of these moments, the veil surrounding Sia is slowly lowered.
And that is where the album becomes slightly confusing. For every honest moment there are songs that simply rely on the same tired pop tropes we’ve become used to. Songs like “Elastic Heart”, “Fair Game”, and “Free the Animal” genuinely sound like someone else should be singing them. These are the issues that arise as we quickly lose the vague connection we had with Sia in favour of almost faceless pop wherein there is no real distinction.
But is that the real intention? Are we really ready to see who Sia is in her entirety, or is that sense of hiding necessary to add more intrigue and interest to an artist? There may be a point to this masking identity here. Sia is keen on separating her pop-writer persona from the true her. It becomes a task to dissect each track on the album to pinpoint exactly what and where the real woman is revealed. And that is the fear. There is frightening feeling of revealing too much about yourself so easily.
Favourite tracks: Chandelier, Big Girls Cry, Eye of the Needle, Straight for the Knife, Dressed in Black. |
Wow, such a great review!
I totally agree with what you pointed out in your second paragraph... I found myself, even as a Sia fan, thinking "Wow, Rihanna would sound amazing here!", "Ooh, I wonder if she wrote this for Beyoncé?", and "This ballad is right up Christina Aguilera's alley. She would have done well with it."
And your description for Dressed in Black and your last paragraph! 
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ATRL Moderator
Member Since: 11/16/2004
Posts: 28,450
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I'll get mine up soon. Wrote some notes but I gotta put it all together now. We have 2 mods scores so far?
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Member Since: 12/4/2010
Posts: 37,894
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Quote:
Originally posted by Lee!!
I'll get mine up soon. Wrote some notes but I gotta put it all together now. We have 2 mods scores so far?
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Yep, just two!
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Member Since: 5/16/2012
Posts: 12,486
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Quote:
Originally posted by ks_dollar
Y'all have done too much on ths album. I would boost its score up but I dont want to
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I... 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 12,760
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Well I thought this was only for new releases so I suggested an album released next week. 
Unless y'all wanna review Weird Al?
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Member Since: 8/18/2013
Posts: 10,540
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Quote:
Originally posted by Sazare
| dddddddddd
.. .1.8
(out of ten) | Sia - '1000 Forms of Fear' . . .Sia's mainstream pop debut showcases all her worst excesses |
| | dddddddddddddd | 1000 Forms of Fear, Sia Furler's sixth solo studio album and her first album since she became an A-list session writer, is also her first true foray into the world of mainstream pop. In the lead-up to the album's release, Furler appeared in various photoshoots and on television programs with bags over her head or with her face turned away from the camera, posturing as shy to the point of meeting the diagnostic criteria for Avoidant Personality Disorder. It's an interesting promotional gimmick, one that Fear unfortunately fails to live up to.
The album starts off at its lowest point with lead single "Chandelier," which boasts a pitiful attempt to emulate Rihanna's Barbadian patois in the verses and a chorus that gives Katy Perry's "Firework" a run for its money in the vocal strain department, all the while exemplifying everything wrong with Sia's songwriting as of late: alternatingly bombastic and lobotomized. And yet, as cacophonous and trite (this theme has been explored miles better by the likes of Tove Lo, Marina & The Diamonds, and Kesha in the past few years alone) as "Chandelier" may be, at the very least it elicits some sort of emotion. Angry, resentful emotions, but emotions nonetheless. The rest of the album just passes by without leaving much of an impression at all beyond the occasional "wow, Sia really needs some more vocal training" and "is she saying words or just moaning?". It's impossible to even critique the lyrics when they're unintelligible 90% of the time.
Meanwhile, Greg Kurstin, who has production credits on every song here, seems to have given Sia his leftover tracks from Tegan & Sara's infinitely better Heartthrob from last year, as the production on all his tracks here are so tepid and lifeless it's no wonder Sia sounds like she's overdosed on Ambien. "Elastic Heart," originally written for the Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack and co-produced by Diplo, stands heads and shoulders above the rest of the songs here; while Sia still sounds pained and borderline narcoleptic, the production is riveting enough to distract you from her over-the-top yarl.
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The album is awful. I couldn't even finish it.
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Member Since: 12/4/2010
Posts: 37,894
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Quote:
Originally posted by Eeveelution
Well I thought this was only for new releases so I suggested an album released next week.
Unless y'all wanna review Weird Al? |
It is supposed to be new releases. Jessie McCartney and La Roux are both releasing next week, who do people want to review? 
We can probably end this soon, do a single, do either Jessie or La Roux's album, and then do Bang Bang. Possibly. We shall see.
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Member Since: 5/16/2012
Posts: 12,486
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Quote:
Originally posted by Doc
It is supposed to be new releases. Jessie McCartney and La Roux are both releasing next week, who do people want to review?
We can probably end this soon, do a single, do either Jessie or La Roux's album, and then do Bang Bang. Possibly. We shall see. |
Both seem good. This is hard.
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Member Since: 2/2/2014
Posts: 3,476
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Let's review PRISM next 
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Banned
Member Since: 4/7/2012
Posts: 14,466
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I wish we didn't have to write reviews. I don't have time to.
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