Sabrina Claudio - Christmas Blues ALBUM REVIEW

-
It’s the holidays! Yes, this is an unconventional review for me because, well, this is the first time I’m hitting December here. Either way, I decided we could ring in the holidays with a new release that caught my eye: Sabrina Claudio’s Christmas Blues. I know absolutely nothing about Claudio or her music, but she was set to open on The Weeknd’s After Hours tour, and Abel himself makes an appearance on his album. The Weeknd, an artist known for his sexually explicit songs that ushered in a new era of R&B, is doing a Christmas song. Alicia Keys is on here too! Let’s just get right into it, okay?

Christmas Blues is, you guessed it, a holiday album with R&B influences. Now, this is a Christmas album, and the covers of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” “Oh Holy Night,” and “The Christmas Song” actually stick the landing for me. They have this haunting and overall chill vibe that plays to Claudio’s strengths in her voice. The other five tracks in this relatively short project are all original songs. It’s a bit of a cop-out, but the title track with The Weeknd is pretty much my favorite track on here. It’s a sensual vibe without it being too sexual, like a cozy evening by the fire on Christmas Eve. The track with Alicia Keys has a similar vibe, and quite frankly, all of the songs have this chill vibe which becomes bolstered by Claudio’s strong vocal performances across the whole project.

I have a feeling that we’re going to be staying in our homes this Christmas, and if you’re looking for new Christmas music with a chill vibe, Sabrina Claudio pretty much has you covered with Christmas Blues. A tight project with a set theme of the holidays, it’s a good background soundtrack to a (maybe) lonely holiday season.


7/10


Stream Christmas Blues here

Spotify

Apple Music

YouTube Music



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lil Yachty - Let’s Start Here. ALBUM REVIEW

-
Image
I gotta keep holding to my promises about reviewing. I always love it when an artist takes a risk with their material. Whether or not it works out, I usually admire the risk and appreciate the fact that any artist can do something out of their comfort zone. Either way, the artist in question today is Lil Yachty, a rapper that has basically become a joke the longer his career’s gone on. However, going into a new genre out of left field isn’t totally new to rap. Childish Gambino jumping into the world of neo-soul with Awaken, My Love! , along with later projects from Mac Miller and Tyler, the Creator having more jazz influences, have proven that turning to a new genre for new ideas has worked out pretty well. Yachty, however, has turned to psychedelic rock in the vein of Tame Impala for this new album, Let’s Start Here. to mark the new chapter of his career. Let’s get into it. Having stuck around with Yachty during the rough patches, I can easily say that Let’s Start Here. is his best
Read more

King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard - PetroDragonic Apocalypse; or, Dawn of Eternal Night: An Annihilation of Planet Earth and the Beginning of Merciless Damnation ALBUM REVIEW

-
Image
Just when I think I’m out, I’m pulled back in. Okay, hi again. I’m not saying I’m back for good, but I just hit a stride, and I’m not gonna lie, I miss writing for the fun of it. Anyway, I’ve talked about this band on the site before. I might just have to make a tag to link all their albums together. King Gizzard went on a damn-near-perfect streak of three separate projects last October, and knowing that whatever they did next was a spiritual successor to 2019 fan favorite Infest the Rats' Nest , it’d certainly be up my alley. Now, we have PetroDragonic Apocalypse , which I will just shorten it to that because of the long-ass album title you can see at the top. It’s a mouthful, I know. Either way, let’s get into it. PetroDragonic Apocalypse sees the group move into a genre they’ve dabbled in before: metal. Throwing in dashes of thrash, speed, and even stoner metal helps make the Aussie band’s most chaotic, in-your-face, and probably entertaining project as a whole yet. Environment
Read more

Cities Aviv - Working Title for the Album Secret Waters

-
Image
Still mad that I never got the vinyl release of his last album. Every time I review something that ended up being a surprise release, I always talk about how nice surprise releases are. Even if it’s by an artist you’re not a giant fan of, a surprise drop is always something cool. Memphis rapper Cities Aviv is one I got real excited about. Then again, I was always gonna be excited to see what he did next after his two-hour-long epic MAN PLAYS THE HORN , which is in my top 10 favorite albums of this year. I would’ve never expected there to be a new album so soon given just how large his last project was. Now, we have Working Title for the Album Secret Waters , a damn good surprise release that genuinely caught me off guard. Knowing that this project is only a fraction the length of HORN , does that addictive, hypnotic sound translate into a shorter project? Let’s tread into Secret Waters . What I think stands out here the most is the production, more specifically the sampling done here.
Read more