In my opinion, sort of.... It has to be critically acclaimed to an extent. I am not here for the St. Vincents/Radioheads or Post-Vespertine Bjork. I still need a melody to get hold of.
It's not super important to me but it's nice to know that music I listen to is liked by critics. But at the end of the day, I listen to whatever I want, regardless.
If you're into smooth R&B, and critics/random people say it's amazing, it definitely matters. A critics view on albums are very accurate and valid. But if you don't listen to that type of music, then it doesn't matter.
But when it's bashed by critics and random people, it definitely doesn't deserve a listen (unless you're a stan, of course). For example, if you love horror movies, but everybody said they hated 'Devil Inside', would you watch it?
I don't really pay attention to what critics say, even tho we tend to think alike. Case and point: I just listened to two of Adele's singles yesterday for the first time because I thought it was Bruno Mars singing when I heard clips of it. Both of her albums are critically acclaimed, but I didn't rush to listen to either. It'll probably be awhile before I listen to her albums.
Even with movies I don't rush to see them if critics are making noise about them. I saw The Black Swan for the first time last month. I'm not against critics, I just like to discover things on my own.
What they say does matter, tho. That Pet Dragon movie was failing until critics stepped in and gave it great reviews.
Music reviews are not my first choice in seeking out new music. However, if I find a really well-praised album on Pitchfork or elsewhere, I might check it out. The main factor though is that I am already familiar with the project in some off hand way. I generally won't check out something completely new unless it has continuous buzz.
But it has to matter to my fave.l wanna feel like she/he is sensitive about his/her **** whatever my fave got the critical acclaim or not.you should always look for excellence.
It matters in the real world, but reviews shouldn't persuade people not to by certain music unless it's universally panned. They're basically a way to measure and compare albums in ways charts and whatnot can't. They are a great way of exposing me to good new music, you just have to know that there are other parts of the equation.