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Special Event: atrlcritic | Ed Sheeran's new songs after the upgrade
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,973
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Let me write a Selena review real quick
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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Quote:
Originally posted by Superpower
Let me write a Selena review real quick
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Wish granted, I'll end it at 10pm 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,973
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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^ That was quick. I could never write a review that fast 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,973
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Quote:
Originally posted by alexanderao
^ That was quick. I could never write a review that fast |
I already knew what I wanted to say since last weekend. Flawless song 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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| The Heart Wants What It Wants - Selena Gomez
Selena Gomez | Hollywood | Release Date: November 6, 2014 | Review Period: November 11, 2014 - November 14, 2014
|  | dddddddddd
75 | Member Score*
Generally Favorable Reviews*
based on 4 Reviews | ddddd. | dddddd
8.0 | Experimental Top Critic Score
Generally Favorable Reviews
based on 2 Top Critics |
| | dddddddddddddd | Summary: The lead single from Gomez's forthcoming greatest hits collection. | Record Label: Hollywood
Genre(s): Pop |
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| Member Reviews | | d | .iPositive: ████████████████ 3 | | d | ....iMixed: 0 | | d | Negative: █████ 1 |
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| | Top Critic Reviews | | d | .iPositive: ████████████████ 2 | | d | ....iMixed: 0 | | d | Negative: 0 |
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The Heart Wants What It Wants results.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,973
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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Those are some good results for the song  maybe I should give it a listen...
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Member Since: 8/10/2012
Posts: 7,072
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Where are all the promised/planned BLUE reviews? 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 39,572
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Broke With Expensive Taste, for better or for worse, is one of the most iconic debut albums in a while, without even factoring the music itself into the mix. After endless delays, she released the album suddenly and unexpectedly. But how do the songs stack up?
Very well indeed would be the answer. Gimme A Chance has a very interesting Latin breakdown; Ice Princess makes the case for single treatment; the singles all sound extremely good in context - even Chasing Time makes sense as the poppiest of the bunch.
Granted, there are mistakes - Luxury and BBD are completely unnecessary, 212 sounds completely out of place and the album sometimes sounds like a watered down version of M.I.A.'s Kala (see: the lovely yet somewhat sparse opener Idle Delilah), but these are easily outweighed by highlights such as Wallace, a brilliant diss track with both killer verses and undeniable hooks.
Just when people had written her off, Azealia has proved she still has fight in her yet. It may never come to fruition, but the pieces to the puzzle are all there. It's up to her to put them into place.
9.7/10
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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Azealia Banks - Broke With Expensive Taste
Azealia Banks became more known for her twitter feuds at one point. She was kind of the break out star of 2011 with her debut single "212" a house-rap song that showed a great deal of promise. Azealia was set to release her debut, 'Broke WIth Expensive Taste,' but the album never came and for awhile, it looked like it never would. Her countless twitter feuds and complaints with her label made it seem like her music would never make it out of the label's vaults.
However, things changed when she split from her label. It seemed like she was getting things together. She started releasing singles (Heavy Metal And Reflective and Chasing Time), and with videos too! It gave hope that 'Broke With Expensive Taste' might be more than an urban legend. And in true Azealia form, she just dropped the album out of the sky with little warning after years of waiting. It was a smart move, it would encourage the internet to rush to listen to the album all at once before any one opinion and narrative could take root on her new album. Her surprise release wasn't so much a gimmick, as a way of letting the music speak for itself, before she opened her mouth and let other people be turned off by the things she had to say about it.
It's great that she let the music speak for itself because she released an album of the year contender. Say what you will about Azealia the person, but Azealia the artist is one of the most well thought out artists working today, as shown by her album. Listen to the way that the album flows almost seemlessly from one song to the next (despite the many different styles and themes of the album), listen to the way that she'll change up her flow just as you begin to get into the groove she is, listen to how she steps back numerous times on the album to just let the excellent beats speak for themselves, throughout she really does not let a beat go wasted or let her singing or rapping go unnoticed. Everything feels deliberately put together and fine-tuned and stylish.
As I said in my review of Heavy Metal and Reflective, Azealia sounds like she's just getting started. It's clear that she was prepping us for what was to come, on 'Broke With Expensive Taste.' Where HMAR was more of a display of her rapping, she shows off her sense of humor on "Nude Beach a Go-Go," her singing on "Soda" and her anything goes attitude on "Gimme A Chance." She covers a lot of ground on her album, but it never feels scattered and it's always enjoyable. The 50+ minute runtime whips by so quickly that by the time Miss Amor and Miss Camaraderie come around, you're ready to go through the whole album again. Hopefully Azealia doesn't wait as long before her net one.
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Grade: A
 My Reviews
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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iamamiwhoami - Blue
Blue is the third album from experimental pop outfit iamamiwhoami. At it's heart, the album is a synthpop album and has plenty of catchy moments. Blue is very cohesive as a album, in sound and style. So much so, that it becomes difficult to single any particular track as a highlight. In addition, the album is very inaccessible even though it is synthpop. Joanna Lee's vocal is an acquired taste to say the least, it's a thin squawk that takes getting used to and can grate over the course of the album and the album's cohesive style can get a little monotonous over the album's run-time.
The highlight of the album though would be the visuals that are provided alongside the songs. One of the most commendable things about iamamaiwhoami's project is the incorporation of nature into the visuals they provide for their songs and you often get stunning visuals accompanied by watery images for this album. The visuals are the best way to get into the album, but still occasionally can contain themes that are difficult to digest such as the recurring men in black body suits and the various dances Joanna does that can make the visuals hard to get and can be a turn-off. Still though, the music is solid and it's an interesting project, but the emphasis on art and style can make the album difficult to get into. You'll get out of the album what you're willing to put into it, it's whether or not you're willing to devote the time to get into it.
__________________________________________________ ______________ My Reviews
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 4/24/2011
Posts: 8,547
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iamamiwhoami - 'BLUE' --- (10) --- RECOMMENDED ALBUM
Genre: Electropop, Art Pop, Synth Pop, Dream Pop, Downtempo
(To whom it may concern.; November 11th, 2014) //
It was January 18th, I think. I was on Facebook, scrolling through things, when I found out that the Swedish audio-visual masters iamamiwhoami had posted a picture that day. It was the cover for their brand new song "Fountain", which they posted in full in YouTube a few days later (with a video and everything, as usual). It was a heavily emotional dream-pop track that had an enjoyable atmosphere, and an epic synth lead.
Since the release of 'Bounty', their second album, up until now, I became a huge fan of their work, listening to their music daily and following everything they were doing - which, by the way, wasn't much, until that moment, where they caught my interest again, with that amazing song. "Hunting for Pearls" and "Vista" shortly followed it, they were both catchy and amazing Electropop songs, accompanied by great videos, but we still didn't know what that was a part of, it was going to be from a new album, or just an "interlude", for a new era.
In fact, it was from a brand new album, which is called simply 'BLUE', a perfect representation of both the videos aesthetic, and the song's emotional vibe. Now, after releasing a couple of singles, we finally have Jonna Lee and co.'s full third album - so, what to expect from it?
First, the album as a whole, has a more "accessible" sound - something they haven't done before. "Tap Your Glass" and "Chasing Kites" are the closest they ever got to making actual, pure Pop music. But, nevertheless, they still have time to apply the usual quirkiness and intelligence they put into all of their work, no matter what they are trying to achieve.
Still, there are really experimental songs here, like for example, "Thin" which has an eerily calm beat for the first half, and near the middle, changes completely into an 80's-like synthesizer-heavy track, or "Ripple", which, despite the fact that has an Electro House-like beat (reminiscent of their song "u-2"), Jonna's vocals and the whole atmosphere itself just elevate it into a higher level of greatness.
And it has lots of emotional moments too, like the previously mentioned "Fountain", or the sort-of-title-track, "Blue Blue", but the darkest song here, and probably the most emotional in the whole bunch is "The Last Dancer" - I mean, let's analize it, the lyric "What a beautiful to die" can be pretty uncomfortable for some, but since it is sung over this calm, emotional, nostalgic Synthpop sound, it has a beautiful, almost poetic vibe.
And it closes with the song "Shadowshow". You may have probably heard this song before on 'IN CONCERT', a sort-of-live-show they gave in 2010, which included burning a fan alive and Jonna rolling around his ashes, under the name "." (yes, just a simple dot), but this version is really different, since it really captures that darkness found in its lyrics, while being true to the concept of the album as a whole.
Jonna Lee and Claes Björklund have proved, again, that they're probably the most versatile and intelligent Electronic Pop acts all of time. Staying true to their influences, while being innovative and releasing amazing music. This release hasn't got a single song that is not worth a listen, specially if you like this kind of sound. I'd like to believe, that, in the future, 'BLUE' will be looked as one of the most iconic albums of the genre - just like The Knife's 'Silent Shout' or Ladytron's 'Witching Hour' - because, in my opinion, they deserve all of the recognition they can possibly get, and more.
You'll like it if you like: Björk, Fever Ray/The Knife, M83., CHVRCHES, Grimes
Highlights: The whole album. Seriously.
It is seriously one of my AOTYs. I loved it.
Honestly, TRF.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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All right, let's see what the scores are.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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| Broke With Expensive Taste - Azealia Banks
Azealia Banks | Independent | Release Date: November 6, 2014 | Review Period: November 9, 2014 - November 15, 2014
|  | dddddddddd
83 | Member Score
Universal acclaim
based on 9 Reviews | ddddd. | dddddd
8.7 | Experimental Top Critic Score
Universal acclaim
based on 5 Top Critics |
| | dddddddddddddd | Summary: The long-awaited debut album from the American rapper. | Record Label: Independent
Genre(s): Rap |
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| Member Reviews | | d | .iPositive: ████████████████ 8 | | d | ....iMixed: 0 | | d | Negative: ██ 1 |
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| | Top Critic Reviews | | d | .iPositive: ████████████████ 5 | | d | ....iMixed: 0 | | d | Negative: 0 |
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Broke With Expensive Taste results.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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BLUE review period extended by one day due to a total of 4 reviews, below the required threshold of 6.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 37,384
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We NEED to review Bed of Lies
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Banned
Member Since: 4/13/2011
Posts: 18,738
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Quote:
Originally posted by alexanderao
| Broke With Expensive Taste - Azealia Banks
Azealia Banks | Independent | Release Date: November 6, 2014 | Review Period: November 9, 2014 - November 15, 2014
| | dddddddddd
83 | Member Score
Universal acclaim
based on 9 Reviews | ddddd. | dddddd
8.7 | Experimental Top Critic Score
Universal acclaim
based on 5 Top Critics |
| | dddddddddddddd | Summary: The long-awaited debut album from the American rapper. | Record Label: Independent
Genre(s): Rap |
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| Member Reviews | | d | .iPositive: ████████████████ 8 | | d | ....iMixed: ██ 1 | | d | Negative: 0 |
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| | Top Critic Reviews | | d | .iPositive: ████████████████ 5 | | d | ....iMixed: 0 | | d | Negative: 0 |
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Broke With Expensive Taste results. |
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Member Since: 9/3/2011
Posts: 28,911
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I really want to review Blue, but I am a really poor writer
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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Let's get some more requests in. If you need some inspiration, check out the Music News section or the iTunes/radio charts!
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