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Special Event: atrlcritic | Ed Sheeran's new songs after the upgrade
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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Quote:
Originally posted by Flame Beat Z000
There you have it, my first attempt at critic reviewing in this thread. I enjoy reviewing this album and listening to it feels good. At times, I don’t think I made clear explanation on my thoughts on the album tracks and I got kinda of frustrated a bit on not providing more descriptive wording on this review and the environment I’m in ( too noisy and hot). My thoughts on Timebomb is too repetitive and this review seems to be more of a track-by-track review than an actual critic review. I guess that was easier for me to do as I have done track-by-track reviews in the past on some album threads along with my Best ofs and my personal countdown. I tried my best and next time, I would put a better analysis that I feel confidence with. At least, I won’t have to worry about not meeting the minimum word requirement. Maybe, there might be a word limit in the future. This took so much time to do and I put more effort on this than I did on my English literature essay.
Any advice on how to structure my reviews is welcome. I will work on typing up reviews for Tinashe’s and Hozier’s albums over the weekend so stay tuned.
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There will never be a word limit. The more detail and insight, the better. 
You write reviews like I do, both in length and in style. 
Your review: 1,334 words
This review of mine: 1,334 words
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Member Since: 8/28/2012
Posts: 34,863
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I'll do Hozier later today.
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 37,294
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 | After he left the most of us impressed with his amazing "Take Me To Church", we finally hear Hozier's self-titled debut. The album was not impressing for me, being let down in most of the parts. It was really boring. But, his voice saved us. This guy has talent and I'm sure many people love him, but this album was just not for me. The tracks I enjoyed the most, except "Take Me To Church", were "Work Song" and "Angel of Small Death" which have a different sound than anything on the album, but also stay in the same theme and even sound as the rest of Hozier's work.
Overall, I think this album is okay, but I expected it to slay me more and not just a bunch of tracks being thrown there. However, his voice is incredible and if he does the right choices, he will be successfu and that would be amazing. |
Score: 5.9/10
Other reviews
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ATRL Contributor
Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 40,803
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9/10
 Track by Track ratings
My Gun - 9/10
Like Em Young - 8/10
Talking Body - 9.5/10
Timebomb - 9.5/10
Moments - 8.5/10
The Way That I Am - 9/10
Got Love - 9/10
Not On Drugs - 9.5/10
Thousand Miles - 8.5/10
Habits (Stay High) - 10/10
This Time Around - 8.5/10
Run On Love - 7/10
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This is my first review, and excuse me if my english is bad, it's not my first language.
First of all, I love how the album is divided into "chapters", and I love all the songs on this album,
The first part of the album, THE SEX. It starts with My Gun, one of the best songs, the instrumental is great. The next one is Like Em Young, a cute bop but nothing special. Then we have Talking Body, a hit, it's one of my favorite songs on the album, its chorus is great. Timebomb, almost the same as Talking Body, it makes me feel happy.
Now, we have THE LOVE. It starts with Moments, a relatable song, it's great, but not one of my favorites. The next one The Way That I Am, it's a really good song, and the piano version is even better. Got Love, another great song, with a very good chorus. Not On Drugs, one of the best songs, the prechorus (I'm queen of the clouds...) is always stuck in my mind, and I love the bridge.
THE PAIN. Thousand Miles, it's got an explosive chorus that I really like, but it's not one of the best songs. Habits (Stay High), it's the BEST song on the album. When I first heard it, it didn't do anything special to me, but it grew on me and now I'm always listening to this song. Habits made me hyped for the album and now I stan for Tove Lo. I love the intro, with the 'oh oh', and the chorus is so ****ing good. This Time Around, I think it's a grower, and it's good. Run On Love, it's an okay song.
It's a very good album, and one of my favorites this year. |
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,973
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5.9 
C'mon guys, be more generous. Let's give Hozier a score higher than his 82 metacritic score.
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Member Since: 1/4/2014
Posts: 3,513
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Tove Lo - Queen of the Clouds
Ever since I first heard Tove Lo, I've anticipated her debut album. She flew under my radar from time to time but she always found her way back. Tove Lo is extremely talented and I'm really curious to see in which direction her career is gonna go. She's definitely on the right path; she has had a moderate hit, is generally liked and delivers good music. I hope we are only going to see great things from her and "Queen of the Clouds" should be the start of that.
First overall impression: Hmmmmm. This is hard, I really don't know how I feel about it at this point. It's definitely a great album but some part of me also expected more and is even a bit disappointed. However that's probably not entirely fair as I might have had way too high expectations for this. After all I think it's an amazing album and most (pop) artists never get close to even create something like this so Tove Lo really delivered with "Queen of the Clouds".
Track-by-track review: My Gun - Great opener. Tove Lo at her best, clever lyrics, nice production and just a fun song to bop along to. The alarms in the background also give me "Ring The Alarm" teas, which is never bad since it's one of my favorite songs from Queen B. 9
Like Em Young - Decent enough song, which could be a standout track on any other album but actually kinda fades away on "Queen of the Clouds". The bridge is definitely the highlight of this song. 7
Talking Body - This is a hard one because pretty much everything is perfect about this song except for the lyrics. I just try to listen to this without paying attention to what she's saying. The chorus is so cliché and overdone plus the rest is not any better. I do like the production and Tove Lo's vocals so it's a bit of a mixed bag. 6
Timebomb - This song surely has potential but it seems a bit unfinished. It sounds like they wanted to do more with it but didn't quite get there. Once again it's the chorus that puts me off. I love the verses and the pre-chorus, they build up great momentum but the chorus is so anti-climactic and does nothing. 7.5
Moments - Masterpiece. 10
The Way That I Am - I love the combination of this track with "Moments", they fit very well together. This one is a bit darker and has a different undertone but stands strong after the best track of the album. While it's obviously not as good, the song itself is also one of the album's best. I do think the end is a bit overproduced though. 8.5
Got Love - "The Love" is by far my favorite part of "Queen of the Clouds", the four songs really feel like one. "Got Love" slows us down a bit after the harder and grimmer "The Way That I Am" but in a good way. The pacing is on point and it feels like they really thought this one through. 9
Not On Drugs - "The Love" chapter ends with another standout track. "Not On Drugs" is incredibly well done, sometimes you have these songs where it all just fits. The vocals, the lyrics, the production,... Everything has its single purpose but somehow it all intertwines perfectly. That's exactly the case for "Not On Drugs". 10
Thousand Miles - This is a great transition from "The Love" to "The Pain", you immediately feel the change of heart. While the song is not really anything special, it sets the tone for the remaining songs. It's a good but simple song, nothing more and nothing less. 7
Habits - I wasn't sure how the song would fit on the album but they made a good choice to include it once again. It's a beautiful song and easily one of her best. I would still pick this version over the remix any day. 9.5
This Time Around - I simply adore this song, there's something different about it. It's nothing like anything else on the album. Especially Tove's vocals get me here and there's some weird catchiness to the chorus. 9
Run On Love - This does nothing for me, some parts are cute and fun but overall Tove could have easily cut this one. I just don't understand what they were trying to achieve here. Are they trying to make another hit for her or is it simply a filler? Or is this supposed to be a club song cause I don't exactly see me partying to this. Luckily the production is good which saves it from having no point at all. 4
So what's left to say? "Queen of the Clouds" is a great start for Tove Lo, it pleases me that she likes to think out of the box. This girl clearly has a lot of potential to fully breakthrough and obviously there are things she still has to work on but she's getting there. Her songwriting can use some improvement at times and I'd love for her not to hide behind a big production once in a while. I love the fact that the album is split into different chapters though and overall Tove just showed she's capable of some amazing stuff and a force to be reckoned with.
8/10
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,973
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To be honest, when I started playing Tove Lo's debut album Queen Of The Clouds, I was expecting to meet a girl with identity issues regarding her sound. But I was pleasantly surprised that this album has a clear vision and sound. Tove Lo has her own distinct sound and style. She's her own person. The album is an explosion of sound with lots of bass and percussions and sexually charged stories. The instrumentals are top notch and rivals some of the veteran Pop girls albums. The lyrics are great, very sexual and very catchy. The only thing lacking a little bit are her vocals. They are fine in Habits, Moments, The Way That I Am but her limitations are even more exposed in Timebomb, Talking Body etc... But overall, this is a very solid debut album and it's already on par with Katy Perry's or Miley Cyrus's last offerings. Speaking of Moments, it's my favorite song from Queen Of The Clouds, the euphoric beat, the very relatable lyrics and that super catchy chorus, oh my! It's Pop Perfection.
Like Them Young is a certified bop, it's catchy but weird enough to be cool.
Talking Body is another banger, sexy, and catchy.
Moments shows her insecurities which is needed because the album oozes confidence. The beat is amazing and again catchy hook. Its sexy, maybe a little vulgar but it's honest. It also reminds me of Neon Hitch.
The Way That I Am has a great piano riff and the way the piano and the drums come together is amazing.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 37,384
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Hozier - Hozier
The album begins with Hozier's rising hit single Take Me To Church, a song that took about two months before I caved in and bought it. The lilting chorus is the obvious highlight of the song. Its a solid alternative cut, but doesn't strike me with the same immediate resonance as a song like Gotye's Somebody That I Used To Know. Track #2 was a disappointment. However, Jackie and Wilson, the third song on the album is a welcome relief, easily blowing the first two songs out of the water. It reminds me of early John Mayer, mixing folk and rock with reverbing harmonies. Other highlights of the album include "To Be Alone", "Work Song", and "From Eden". In some ways, the album takes everything I loved about the music of the late 90's/early 200's and presents it in an updated, more commercial way. Still, some of the songs are hard to get through. This is the dilemma with many alternative artists; they want to provide quality, catchy music with substance without losing their artistic integrity. I believe Hozier has a future ahead of him in the industry, even if no song ever strikes the general public the same way Take Me To Church will.
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Other Reviews
SINGLES
Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj - Bang Bang 9/10
Carrie Underwood - Something In the Water 10/10
One Direction - Steal My Girl 4/10
ALBUMS
Tove Lo - Queen of the Clouds 8.5/10
Tinashe - Aquarius 9.5/10
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Member Since: 11/18/2011
Posts: 5,396
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Tove Lo - Queen of the Clouds
Release Date: September 23, 2014
"I can get a little drunk, I get into all the don'ts, but on good days I am charming as ****."
Tove Lo’s song, Habits, had an extremely interesting chart run in pretty much the whole world. The original was out for quite a while and the indie crowd was into it, then the Hippie Sabotage remix came around and it seemed to blow up in the online community more than Habits itself. The remix even charted high in major countries, such as getting top 10 in the UK. In the US, the remix was lingering in the 60s-80s area on iTunes ever since March. Then, suddenly, the original got put to pop radio and the original song shot up the charts and just hit top 10. Very interesting indeed.
Outside of her hit song, Tove is a Swedish pop musician whose music has a lot of focus in love, heartbreak, sex, and getting high and/or drunk. She has been around for quite a while and her Truth Serum EP that came out last year was pretty much perfection with every track. Outside of the singles that came out of that, Over and Paradise were my personal highlights. Queen of the Clouds come out perfectly in time with Habits smashing the charts and, while it takes note from the EP, almost tries too hard to be too similar to the EP without as good music.
Her debut album is divided up into 3 separate sections: The Sex, The Love, and The Pain. It’s pretty indicative how each part of the album will sound and works well to make the album feel like going through the ups and eventual downs of a relationship. The lyrical content of each section fits quite well in each section. Although the issue I have with the album division is that the production doesn’t seem to be consistent in each section, namely with something such as Like Em Young feeling like something from The Love.
There are some great tracks in each section that fit extremely well. Timebomb, which is reminiscent of previous tracks such as Over and Paradise, has Tove lyrically running through the verses leading up to a catchy and explosive chorus. Talking Body is lyrically cool and casually sexy. Moments is probably my favorite lyrically as Tove lays out some things that she isn’t like being pretty (which is a total lie), but also conversely being confident on the small moments of her charm.
As stated before, Like Em Young is too out of place on the album and just not too great. The Way That I Am, while being pretty good in showcasing Tove’s vocals, has a lame faux-dubstep production and boring lyrics. Got Love and This Time Around, while fitting in the album, are pretty boring as well.
Queen of the Clouds has potential for greatness, but it’s fogged up with tracks that are too similar to older songs towards the end. Perhaps this had to do with the album being too cohesive with the three themes. However, the high points of the album and the Truth Serum EP are indicative that Tove has great potential to make a great album in the future.
6.7/10
★★★★★★✩✩✩✩
Top Tracks: Talking Body, Timebomb, Moments, Habits
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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I'll end QOTC and start Tokio Hotel tonight (though I'm only expecting 3-5 reviews for TH).
Updates will be a little slower because I'm in NYC on vacation for the long weekend.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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Okay, so there have been a LOT of reviews coming in for Queen Of The Clouds.
Due to the demand, I am extending the review period for QOTC until tomorrow night.
Get your reviews in!
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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*Unofficial*
| Kings Of Suburbia - Tokio Hotel
Tokio Hotel | Island | Release Date: October 6, 2014
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73 | Member Score
Generally Favorable Reviews
based on 5 Reviews | ddddd. | dddddd
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N/A
based on 0 Mods |
| | dddddddddddddd | Summary: The fifth album from the German rock group. | Record Label: Island
Genre(s): Rock |
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| Member Reviews | | d | .iPositive: ████████████████ 4 | | d | ....iMixed: ████ 1 | | d | Negative: 0 |
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| | Mod Reviews | | d | .iPositive: 0 | | d | ....iMixed: 0 | | d | Negative: 0 |
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Banned
Member Since: 9/1/2012
Posts: 10,317
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They're still a thing? 
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Member Since: 2/5/2014
Posts: 29,111
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Cool. So we are reviewing it. Let me get to listening...
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Member Since: 4/22/2012
Posts: 33,490
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Tokio Hotel - Kings of Suburbia: 8.5/10
Kings of Suburbia is the new and fifth album from Tokio Hotel, a band that had long been forgotten and not been expected to ever make return by most people. Starting out as the poster boys of German emo, they conquered the market over night with a sound that was catchy yet different and dark, dramatic yet relatable lyrics, expressing exactly what thousands of teenagers were going through. Their image was unique and cleverly marketed to appeal to a broad target audience. The fact that they attracted equally as many haters as fans didn't matter, because soon they had their break through in non-German speaking markets and found success in other parts of Europe, South and North America and even Asia. They started releasing their albums in both German and English to cater to the now international fan community, toured the world and earned countless awards and certifications.
They were barely 20 when they reached the height of their career but also the point where it all became too much; the weight of their fame threatened to destroy them, tabloids, paparazzi and stalkers preventing them from having a private life and eventually affecting their families, too. That's when the twins – undoubtedly the face of the band – decided to leave behind their home country and moved over night to Los Angeles, to experience a life of total anonymity and normality. They left the public eye to grow up on their own terms, to do all the things young people do without being judged for it, and to find back to themselves and their identities as artists.
Four years later, they have completed their reinvention and the result is an album that at first glance might seem like a disappointment for many, but actually turns out to be quite an amazing development for the band. Kings of Suburbia allows them to re-position themselves in the contemporary music scene while keeping the one thing that has always made them stand out among their peers – authenticity. The songs are inspired by their experiences living in the US, L.A.'s party scene and club culture, as well as the general feelings one encounters in the early twenties: confidence, freedom, falling in and out of love and the occasional moments of hurt and insecurity.
Sonically, this manifests itself in the heavy use of synthesizers and keyboards; many songs are built around beats, due to the approach they took to the writing process this time: instead of composing by jamming together as a band, tracks were mostly conceived and crafted by Tom on the computer, before 'real' instruments were recorded later to add a more organic feel. That doesn't mean that they've completely abandoned their rock sound, though, as Tom's riffs are still very much present in the modern day version of Tokio Hotel. They're just not as obvious anymore, they're more subtle, intertwined with the synth melodies to reveal themselves only after a couple of listens, but it actually adds depth to the album and gives it room to grow, just to have something new to discover even after so many listens.
The most obvious change, however, would have to be in Bill's vocals. Edited in more or less every song, it has led to a lot of criticism, but I think it enhances the songs and adds a new dimension to them. Of course it will be a challenge for them to recreate these effects live, and in the first few performances there seem to have been some struggles in that department. But I am sure with time they will figure out how to work with it, and when performing the songs acoustically, Bill actually managed quite well so he has shown that he can still sing and does not depend on auto tune.
The lyrics are nothing too special, but to be honest they have always been a bit on the simple side so I wouldn't call it a decrease in quality. The production is what propels this album, it's a mixture of things we have already heard before elsewhere, but never in this particular constellation. Tokio Hotel have managed to create a collection of songs that is somewhat diverse in style (dancepop, electronica, chillwave, disco, rock) and reminiscent of artists such as Robyn, Placebo, Adam Lambert, Depeche Mode, David Guetta, Empire of the Sun and Breathe Carolina just to name a few; yet the album is still cohesive and representative of Tokio Hotel as we know them, inspiring, captivating and genuine. It is a record that takes you into their world and gives an intense impression of what happened during those years they spent in 'hiding', a record that could be played in a club, at a party, or alone at home – it's so multi-faceted that you can get out of it whatever you want, it's so multi-layered that it keeps surprising you with new little details, it's so infectious that once you catch a glimpse of this pure, raw, youthful energy, it's hard to flee its grip again.
There might be a few dull moments, but the album always recovers quickly, catching your attention again with an unexpected beat or breakdown. There are also two ballads which are quite effective in providing a break from the pumping electronic sounds and letting you reconnect with the more emotional side of their music. It might be one of many dancepop albums in today's music landscape, and it's much lighter than their previous releases, but they had to come out with something different or else it wouldn't have been real.
Generally, I think with this album, Tokio Hotel have successfully reached the next level in their career, shedding themselves of the emo teen band image and presenting themselves as matured (yet still goofy) young men, who are able to use their creativity to express their thoughts and feelings in a still authentic and relatable way.
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Member Since: 4/11/2012
Posts: 19,069
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Can we review Froot? The single thread has been insanely popular so there's probably loads of people who would contribute.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 27,248
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I third Marina and second Jessie!
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 37,384
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I third Jessie 
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Member Since: 3/14/2013
Posts: 37,294
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I fourth Marina & Jessie 
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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Are they both out? If so, they'll both be 14th - 17th.
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