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Special Event: atrlcritic | Ed Sheeran's new songs after the upgrade
Member Since: 8/6/2015
Posts: 5,766
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Selena Gomez, Revival
Two years after Selena's last studio album ( Stars Dance) and one year after the For You compilation we finally get to hear her second solo effort, the first not to be released through Hollywood Records. Revival is a departure from the EDM sound of its predecessor and is seen as her most mature album to date (with Gomez citing Janet Jackson and Christina Aguilera as her main inspirations). But in the end, did the album live up to its hype?
- Revival - just another confirmation of the fact that Selena still lacks creativity and originality. I could think of many other pop girls who could sing it nowadays, it fits the subtle r&b trend quite well. Tinashe or Jhene Aiko would do it justice, I guess, now it's just too bland and uninspired for me. 4/10
- Kill Em with Kindness - I still cackle a bit at this title but to be quite honest it's a really cute and kind track. I really like the fact that the EDM influences did not dominate the entire thing but are rather a pleasant background addition. 6/10
- Hands to Myself - the best song of 2015 (according to its producer, Max Martin)... is simply underwhelming. The verses sound similar to other songs on the album and breakdown is quite weird but not atrocious, I guess? All in all, it's a decent song but definitely overrated. 6/10
- Same Old Love - it should've been re-worked and put on Charlotte's Sucker. It would fit quite well in the throwback sequence of tracks, between Die Tonight and Caught in the Middle. But at least we have this really good Selena's own version. 7/10
- Sober - a "you love me only when you're drunk" type of song. Neither bad nor good, quite filler-ish. 5/10
- Good for You - I'm honestly still shocked with how good it is. Revival's lead single was Selena's second (after The Heart Wants What It Wants) step towards maturity (the key-word when it comes to her new album) and elegance. It's also her best song to date, it showcases her vocal skills perfectly, the production is otherwordly and the melody is just heavenly. Even the A$AP rap parts stops being annoying after a little while. 9/10
- Camouflage - cannot say I dislike but it's just a typical, unoriginal and quite generic ballad. It could be one of the best tracks on the record if Selena provided more emotion in her vocal performance, now it's just another slow song which could be sung by almost everyone out there. 5/10
- Me & the Rhythm - whew, lord, I live for the disco-influenced sound! Like, I could do with the chorus being a bit stronger (am I the only one who thinks a bit of a deep house production would do wonders?) but it's still such a great bop. 7.5/10
- Survivors - it's the kind of a song I don't mind as it's not bad but I always forget how it sounds like unless I'm listening to it. I could see it becoming a radio hit but I would definitely change the station if it became overexposed. 5/10
- Body Heat - Selena + Latin influences never works. The cover Bidi Bidi Bom Bom was the first evidence, here we've got the second one. The third will come a few tracks later. 3/10
- Rise - if it wasn't for the cheerful and up-lifting chorus, it would be a completely forgettable filler. The lyrics are kind of cute. 5/10
- Me & My Girls - how is it that Selena's Me & tracks are so amazing? This cheeky, aggressive, even a bit dark song is just an eternal bop. Everybody dance now. 8/10
- Nobody - eh, a title track type of situation. It's pretty boring and uninteresting, especially after the wild party anthem before it. 4/10
- Perfect - Perfume (2015 Remix)? Selena wonders whether she's good enough for her lover. And she's not - her rival is just too perfect! A cliche if I'm being cutthroat. 4/10
- Outta My Hands (Loco) - Go to Body Heat. This is evidence #3. 3/10
- Cologne - the closing track for the international deluxe edition of the album is just there. It's just inoffensive, yet boring and uninspired. It works quite well at the end of the album though. 3.5/10
Verdict: Revival is far and away Selena's best album, that goes without saying. Finally she managed to release something which doesn't sound like a typical Disney girl album. Even though she still feels like she somehow lacks personality (Rock Mafia impact?), she's definitely going the right way. The biggest highlight of the album is for sure its top-notch production, subtle, humble, perfectly matching pop, electronic, PBR&B and disco influences. On the other hand, what went wrong? Most importantly, she still needs to work on her originality and creativity. Revival is not a record only Selena could craft, it could have been recorded by many other B- or C-listers as well.
Rate: 6/10
Highlights: Good for You, Me & My Girls, Me & the Rhythm
Lowlights: Body Heat, Outta My Hands (Loco), Cologne
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Member Since: 6/20/2012
Posts: 8,593
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CONFIDENT (STD)
1. Confident: the only turn-off about this one for me is the fact that it is a single; I think it's a great album opener and a solid representation of where her music is today. Nevertheless, I don't think it's a great single, definitely not as a second single.
2. Cool for the Summer: it's different, it's fresh, and it did what it was supposed to do. Smart single choice, and smart placement on the album.
3. Old Ways: this song is my jam. I am in love with the drop as well as the theme of the song. The best part about it is when she sings "the best part about it".
4. For You: huge chorus, it feels like church. One of Max Martin's better songs.
5. Stone Cold: the vocal runs, the belts, the high notes, etc... She left the haters thinking "but why can't my faves pull this off  " yet yelling "all I hear is screaming, it's all over the place".
6. Kingdom Come: second best song on the album. I'm obsessed with the chorus. Iggy's part definitely suits the song too. I couldn't have asked for better. Single worthy.
7. Waiting For You: third best song on the album. The sassy lyrics give me the need to get out of my seat and break a mirror. Sirah was a great feature choice too. Single worthy.
8. Wildfire: fourth best song on the album. It's just so warm, it's like a pillow that you wanna cuddle with and sleep. Could have been a 1989 track. Single worthy.
9. Lionheart: best song on the album, hands down. The production, the lyrics, the vocals, the emotions, the message, the chord progression, the belts, etc... It's just the perfect package.
10. Yes: terrible song. I deleted it fat when I got the album.
11. Father: this is how you write a song, others should learn. Demi served yet another emotional heartbreaking track that left us all speechless. Wow.
Album rating:
97%
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Member Since: 6/20/2012
Posts: 8,593
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REVIVAL (STD)
1. Revival: terrible album intro. It tried to be something that it failed to become. I also always hate it when artists talk in their songs, it's very cringe-worthy.
2. Kill Em With Kindness: some songs can pull off one-sentence choruses, you know... "who run the world? girls"/"what's wrong with being confident?" — this song is definitely not one of them.
3. Hands to Myself: it's definitely a highlight on the album. I love how starts in whispers and gradually becomes a good pop song. Max Martin did a good job on this.
4. Same Old Love: another highlight and a great single choice.
5. Sober: extremely overrated but I can see why people like it. It's not too bad after all.
6. Good For You: best song on the album, unique production and simple lyrical quality.
7. Camouflage: I like the emotions it tries to deliver, definitely another highlight.
8. Me & The Rhythm: I don't know. It sounds like it could have easily been on Stars Dance. I don't like it and I don't get the hype.
9. Survivors: terrible song. It gets better towards the end but it's also another very overrated one. I don't know what Steve Mac was trying to do.
10. Body Heat: I just hate how the album kept getting worse towards the end. This song is terrible.
11. Rise: "like the air you can rise" — what? I feel like there are many different things that rise that would have conveyed the idea far better than "air", I didn't enjoy the song. It left a terrible bad impression closing the album.
Album rating:
28%
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Member Since: 8/6/2015
Posts: 5,766
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Demi Lovato, Confident
Always quite succesful but never really huge. Always had a fanbase but it was never as dedicated as other pop girls. Always trying but never really managing to satisfy either the critics or the GP. Demi Lovato's career was always kind of hit or miss and Confident does not change the fact. It's just another miss.
Demi's career can easily be devided into the periods - pre- and post-meltdown. Before the unfortunate events in her life, she used to record inoffensive but cute pop rock albums. Something perfect for a 'Disney girl'. However, when she finally recovered, she decided to change her direction. The first result of that was Unbroken - a pleasant collection of pop, r&b and dance-pop tracks which weren't anything revolutionary but worked perfectly as quick little bops. However, the worst was about to come. DEMI, released just two years after Unbroken, was an unbearable try-hard mess with generic and dated production, terrible melodies and Demi oversinging every single track. Unfortunately, Confident follows this route.
What hurts the most, is probably the fact that this girl really has potential. Just listen to Father - by far the most touching and emotional song on the record. It's not as sublime as For the Love of a Daughter but it's still a sad, beautiful ballad. Lovato excels in this type of songs. However, the rest of the album is filled with extremely uninspired, uninteresting, boring and in worst cases, like the dull title track or the headache-inducting For You, simply terrible songs. Neither songwriting nor production helps - the former is lazy for the most part, while the latter is generic and lacks any creativity or orginality. There are just too many evidences: the lead single Cool for the Summer sounds like Jessie J's Domino, Lionheart chorus reminds me of We Are Young and finally, Kingdom Come, which is possibly the worst, most dire and dreary track not only on the record but also of the entire 2015, sounds just like any Iggy Azalea song. The only difference being it has an even weaker rap part. Any non- Father standouts? Probably Yes but even that gets boring and repetitive after a few listens.
All things considered, Confident is just as bas as its predecessor, DEMI. It lacks interesting melodies, good production, inspiring lyrics or - what's probably the most transparent - it lacks emotions. All of these were just sung (often screamed or oversung) but the listener feels doesn't feel like there's actual feelings behind it. That leads to another sin of the album - all the way through it seems forced and not natural. A huge disappointment and one of the most pointless records of the year.
Rate: 2/10
Highlights: Father
Lowlights: Kingdom Come, For You, Old Ways, Confident, Waitin for You
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Member Since: 5/22/2011
Posts: 21,227
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I'm putting in a request for Carrie Underwood's 'Storyteller'. 
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Member Since: 1/3/2014
Posts: 18,157
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Quote:
Originally posted by Mezik
I'm putting in a request for Carrie Underwood's 'Storyteller'. |
I second this 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 68,548
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Wow at the impartiality of the Confident and Revival reviews of the Demi stan up there. I hope the OP won't count them, blatant trolling and barely review material 
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 68,548
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Quote:
Originally posted by gagacasanova
I second this |
I third this!
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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Confident and Revival will end on Sunday. Get your reviews in!
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Member Since: 8/7/2015
Posts: 7,267
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Quote:
Originally posted by KillingYourCareer
Wow at the impartiality of the Confident and Revival reviews of the Demi stan up there. I hope the OP won't count them, blatant trolling and barely review material |
There are 2 under 5/10 score for Demi and only 1 under 5/10 review for Revival, and there is only one Lovatic who gives Revival a bad review, so TRY AGAIN
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,973
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You should have Hello up for review tomorrow. Don't wait until the hype is gone
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Member Since: 4/4/2014
Posts: 17,141
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I request that we do Carrie Underwood's Storyteller album
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 68,548
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Quote:
Originally posted by Danial
There are 2 under 5/10 score for Demi and only 1 under 5/10 review for Revival, and there is only one Lovatic who gives Revival a bad review, so TRY AGAIN
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Can you read or? I was talking about that one lovatic who posted blatantly biased and badly written reviews.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 68,548
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I'm also requesting Adele's Hello!
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 13,761
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Quote:
Originally posted by Superpower
You should have Hello up for review tomorrow. Don't wait until the hype is gone
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Quote:
Originally posted by KillingYourCareer
I'm also requesting Adele's Hello!
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yeah, now would be apt for hello (third request)
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 8,420
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demi lovato - confident review.
okay so i listened to confident on youtube because obviously i won't buy it (  ) so yeah. first things first, not all the songs are trash, just most of them. cool for the summer is trash. confident is semi-trash. however, stars is actually okay apart from the messy instrumental chorus which doesn't even sound like it fits. it actually has a nice melody before the chorus but demi kinda ruins it by oversinging. mr hughes is an amy winehouse rip off which is actually good because demi doesn't sound like demi on it... a myah marie tea. kingdom come isn't too bad, but only because it's a shameless dark horse/black widow rip off and i like both of those songs (but they're both better than kingdom ***). moving on to the trash album cover. well it's trash. the title is a bit trash too. also her name demi lovato is kinda trash. change those things and i might actually accidentally buy the album before i realise it's full of demetria's vocals. okay and the last song i want to mention is stone cold. i only listened to about 33 seconds of this but it wasn't that bad if you ignore the oversinging. okay bye demi.
score: 2/10
Selena Gomez - Revival review
The Mexican Madonna has done it again with another slay  Good For You is so agjsgak good and Same Old Love has grown on me so much. Me & The Rhythm is a very excellent promo single and will smash if it's released as a single. Another standout is Sober, which will be Selena's first #1 The Latina Latoya also has provided some bops with Outta My Hands (Loco), Kill Em With Kindness and Hands To Myself  Cologne is also really cool and really interesting. The Acapulco Adele was not only #1 with SPS, but also #1 with just sales Also her album cover is  Me & My Girls is the only song I'm not a fan of. Well done Selena Rise is highly underrated, and Survivors is also cool. Camouflage I used to hate but now I like it. It's cool. And interesting. Thanks bye
Score: 10/10
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Member Since: 8/6/2015
Posts: 464
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Quote:
Originally posted by MillionLights
demi lovato - confident review.
okay so i listened to confident on youtube because obviously i won't buy it ( ) so yeah. first things first, not all the songs are trash, just most of them. cool for the summer is trash. confident is semi-trash. however, stars is actually okay apart from the messy instrumental chorus which doesn't even sound like it fits. it actually has a nice melody before the chorus but demi kinda ruins it by oversinging. mr hughes is an amy winehouse rip off which is actually good because demi doesn't sound like demi on it... a myah marie tea. kingdom come isn't too bad, but only because it's a shameless dark horse/black widow rip off and i like both of those songs (but they're both better than kingdom ***). moving on to the trash album cover. well it's trash. the title is a bit trash too. also her name demi lovato is kinda trash. change those things and i might actually accidentally buy the album before i realise it's full of demetria's vocals. okay and the last song i want to mention is stone cold. i only listened to about 33 seconds of this but it wasn't that bad if you ignore the oversinging. okay bye demi.
score: 2/10
Selena Gomez - Revival review
The Mexican Madonna has done it again with another slay Good For You is so agjsgak good and Same Old Love has grown on me so much. Me & The Rhythm is a very excellent promo single and will smash if it's released as a single. Another standout is Sober, which will be Selena's first #1 The Latina Latoya also has provided some bops with Outta My Hands (Loco), Kill Em With Kindness and Hands To Myself Cologne is also really cool and really interesting. The Acapulco Adele was not only #1 with SPS, but also #1 with just sales Also her album cover is Me & My Girls is the only song I'm not a fan of. Well done Selena Rise is highly underrated, and Survivors is also cool. Camouflage I used to hate but now I like it. It's cool. And interesting. Thanks bye
Score: 10/10 |
Wow, really objective and technical. Good for you, I guess.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 43,331
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Now starting:
Adele - Hello
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Member Since: 8/6/2015
Posts: 18,803
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ATRL Senior Member
Member Since: 1/21/2012
Posts: 13,593
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Selena Gomez - Revival
-Revival starts with the song by the same name, which did not catch my attention. It sounds very monotonous and the production was mediocre at best.
-Kill Em With Kindness is a lot better, but the best part of the song is right after the chorus where the instrumental begins. The beat is pretty damn good. Selena's voice works alright with the song but again - it's very monotonous.
-Hands To Myself doesn't sound like Selena at all, but that's alright. It's a nice change. It works for the song.
-Same Old Love is one of the better songs of the album. It shows a lot higher vocal range than nearly every other song of the album. It's refreshing.
-Sober's production is amazing. The lyrics are pretty good too. Selena sounds good in it too. Just an overall pretty good song.
-Camouflage doesn't seem to work for me. It's meant to be an emotional song, but I don't really feel it.
-Me & The Rythm is part of a long list of (I only need Me & <insert something here>). I'm a little tired of the concept. Admittedly though, the rythm is pretty damn good.
-Survivors has a great Chillstep vibe to it, but Selena sounds incredibly bland, and - once again - monotonous on it. A bit of a shame.
-Body Heat is an interesting song. I wouldn't be able to say what genre it is. It takes some from a whole lot of genres and puts it together succesfully.
-Rise's sounds genuine, but the singing sounds a little robotic to me. The production sounds a bit lazy too, although I do like the beat.
Good For You is Selena's big lead single, which is just overall a good, soft song, which means it fits Selena perfectly. Still my favorite of the album.
Overall it seems the best part of the album is the instrumental and the great production in nearly every song. I feel like most of the songs could have been done better if someone else sang it, apart from a select few which seem to be perfect for Selena. I can appreciate a song with a good beat, but the singing often doesn't add a lot on Revival. Selena admitted before that she's insecure about her singing, and admittedly she's improved a lot, but I don't feel like it's there just yet.
Score: 4/10
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