Cordavision Music Reviews

Loving the Pink Floyd homage, not gonna lie. I think it’s a safe bet to say that Metro Boomin’ is a modern legend. I’ve always liked him and his contributions to rap and trap specifically, and he’s also had a huge hand in some of my favorite albums in trap. His collab albums with 21 Savage, mainly Without Warning with Offset and Savage Mode II , have been the standouts to me. Also, while writing this, I also found out he produced the entirety (sans one track) of Future’s DS2 , one of my favorite Future projects. It may also be a little bit of bias, but he’s also done a good amount with The Weeknd as well, who appears on this album. However, I think his last solo album, NOT ALL HEROES WEAR CAPES , is just fine. I don’t really remember a bunch of it, but I still got pretty excited for this when it got announced. Let’s just cut to the bullshit and see how I felt about HEROES & VILLAINS . I’m just gonna say that I don’t know how he connected with Morgan Freeman, but he always sounds s...

Shoutout Hivemind. Right off the bat, I’ll say that I didn’t expect this from Quadeca. The section of YouTuber-turned-musicians that are on my radar are pretty big, especially since I upload on YouTube. Of course, there’s Joji who successfully made the jump, but there are other YouTubers that happen to make music like KSI that really just don’t hit hard to me. Quadeca’s last album, From Me To You , really set up some potential for Quadeca to be a pretty successful YouTuber-to-rapper jump and I still enjoy that project today. His latest release, I Didn’t Mean To Haunt You , leans into a much more experimental and ambitious project. I plan to watch the accompanying visual album too, but it’s just been busy. So, let’s just get into it. So, if I didn’t make it obvious, this project is a whole different beast compared to the other Quadeca projects I’ve heard. This is much more of an art pop album with some alternative R&B, experimental rap, and even a little tinge of industrial thrown i...

I have a poster of this cover in my room, yet I have no idea why I have this over IGOR . Tyler, The Creator is arguably a superstar now. For the past few months, he’s been on a wildly successful tour, been doing features on some great projects since his last album, CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST , and he’s actually legally allowed to enter some parts of the world now. Personally, I think he’s one of the best artists working today. I definitely wouldn’t have thought that over a decade ago, mainly because I was a kid, but it’s mainly because he was known for Goblin , an album that I think had great ideas [especially that opening track, holy shit] yet is now plagued with material that hasn’t aged well in many different ways. I thought about reviewing Goblin , its better follow-up Wolf, or even give his first project Bastard a second shot. However, I chose this project, 2015’s Cherry Bomb , which I could safely say is Tyler’s most divisive project as of now. Let’s take a trip down memory lane and...

 

That’s a small-ass island. I have to admit, I’ve been anticipating this album for a long time. Calvin Harris’s first Funk Wav Bounces album from 2017 is one of my favorite albums of all time, and if I’m being totally honest, I think a second release in this series wasn’t ever going to happen. Either way, here we are. We have a DJ Khaled-esque murderers’ row of features which are Snoop Dogg, Young Thug, Normani, Pharrell Williams, Dua Lipa, Busta Rhymes, Justin Timberlake, Chloe Bailey, 21 Savage, Latto, Charlie Puth, Tinashe, Swae Lee, Stefflon Don, Offset, 6lack, Pusha T, Donae'o, Halsey, Lil Durk, Shenseea, and Jorja Smith. How do I feel about this new entry? Let’s get into it. I went into this not thinking that this was going to top the first one, mainly because it doesn’t come close to hitting the peak that is “Slide” with Frank Ocean and Migos from the first album, but I do think that there are some redeeming qualities here. Of course, the production here is gorgeous. Mixing ...

I see where Drake got his inspiration. Do I need an intro? I feel like I should for the sake of covering Beyoncé for the first time on the site, so I’ll be quick. Beyoncé has essentially built this cult-like fanbase over the years, especially within the past decade with the one-two punch of her self-titled release from 2013 and her last official studio album, 2016’s Lemonade, an event within itself that’s cemented its place in pop culture history. Now, after a semi-productive six years that included an entire album with her husband Jay-Z, starring in and soundtracking the new version of The Lion King , and a film on Disney+, we now have RENAISSANCE , the first release in a trilogy of new projects that will reflect on her mental health during the COVID pandemic. How does RENAISSANCE sound? Let’s get into it. There’s an inevitable comparison to come, so I’m just gonna get it out of the way right now. Earlier this summer, Drake surprise-dropped HONESTLY, NEVERMIND , an R&B album insp...

CAPRISONGS vs. Gemini Rights . Fight. I’ve always enjoyed Steve Lacy’s work with a catch. Oddly enough, his first solo album Apollo XXI really didn’t do anything for me at all, but his work with Odd Future-adjacent R&B group The Internet has always stood out to me more than his solo work. I am a sucker for some good neo-soul though, so why Apollo XXI didn’t click for me is beyond me. Either way, I’ve been pretty excited about his next release, Gemini Rights . How does it sound? Let’s get into it. In a weird way, there was an immediate comparison that I made a little bit after my first listen of this, and it was André 3000’s The Love Below , the second half of Outkast’s iconic double album. There’s no deep comparison on it like a similar theme or Lacy sounding like 3 Stacks at all, that’s just the vibe I felt while listening to this. Another thing about this is that this is beautifully produced across the board. Lacy’s voice, the beats, everything just comes together so smoothly. H...

There are three different people with the name Chris involved in one song, it’s basically the Marvel movies now. It’s no secret that Lizzo is a star at this point. While I appreciate her social media game about positivity (even if it’s not necessarily for me), I thought her last album, Cuz I Love You , is quite good. Some songs from that project are still in my rotation, and “Boys” is one of my favorite pop hits from the past decade. That being said, whatever Lizzo did next from a music standpoint would have my attention. While “About Damn Time” was certainly a fine song, it just didn’t do anything. Either way, we have Special now, so let’s just get into it. Right off the bat, I’m very happy that the song she did with Cardi B isn’t on this because it’s one of her worst songs. That’s a good start. Like on her past music, her voice is honestly what hits it out of the park for me, and while it doesn’t hit the same heights as her last album, it’s still very good. Where this project lacks,...

I certainly hope this album isn’t a wasteland. I really don’t know much about Brent Faiyaz, and I was pretty late to the party when it comes to him too. The first time I heard him was as a feature on Tyler, the Creator’s CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST , and he sounded great. I gave a listen to his Sonder Son album not long after that and liked it too, and it ended up being the same with Fuck The World . It may not have been as long for me as the fans who’ve been with him for years, but we now have WASTELAND , a brand new project from him. How does it sound? Let’s get into it. First off, the production is rich and full of life here. It feels very cinematic, and that’s helped by the surprisingly great skits that are placed throughout the album. It’s not often where the skits can be that engaging, but what about the actual songs? A great throughline is Brent’s voice, which is always mesmerizing enough to keep your attention on the music. Something that I think has improved here is his songwriti...

If you wanna know my thoughts on the movie itself, click here ! If you anything about director Baz Luhrmann, he’s always used music in his movies in relatively weird ways, whether you like it or not. A prominent example is his adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby , which has heavy involvement from Jay-Z, serving as an executive producer for the film and its soundtrack. Oddly enough, one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen in a movie recently is Tobey Maguire narrating over “No Church in the Wild” from Watch the Throne . We now have a similar soundtrack for Luhrmann’s latest film, a biopic of music icon Elvis Presley. The movie’s fantastic, but since the music is so tied to it, it’s gotta be judged on its own. Let’s see how the ELVIS soundtrack does. There are a few distinct categories for the tracks: 1. Recordings of Elvis repurposed for the movie, 2. Austin Butler actually singing Elvis songs taken from the movie, and 3. Existing Elvis tracks being remixed by artist...

I’d take this entire project, to be honest. Right from the start of hearing GIVĒON, I knew that he’d be a star. Like most of us, we heard him for the first time on Drake’s quarantine project Dark Lane Demo Tapes, and he honestly floored me right off the bat. After that, it was having a small part (and the best part) on Justin Bieber’s “Peaches,” and that finally convinced me to check out his other projects. His When It's All Said and Done...Take Time compilation, which combines his two already-released EPs, is honestly fantastic, and ever since then, I’ve been excited for whatever he did next. Give or Take is the debut album, so let’s not waste any time and get into it. The biggest draw to GIVĒON for me is his voice, which is just as great as ever. Underneath that, though, is a genuine maturity that really wasn’t found in his past projects. The toxicity is mostly gone here too, with that being replaced by the way of making things right in the relationship. I don’t know what this ...

It's kinda crazy that this is so divisive, to be honest. You knew this was coming, right? You know who Drake is, so there’s no reason to give an intro. Drake’s been dropping a project a year since 2015, and that period has had Drake’s highs and lows of his career. Personally, I’ve been wanting a full album of R&B tracks like “Passionfruit” for a very long time, and I hoped for that in last year’s Certified Lover Boy , but even if we didn’t get that, I still didn’t mind it. For once, I seemed to be in the minority on a positive opinion. Now, we have HONESTLY, NEVERMIND , and while I’m hyped for it, we really don’t have a lot of things to go over. It’s a new Drake album. Let’s get into HONESTLY, NEVERMIND . Right off the bat, this has been dividing not just the critics, but the fans. I’ve been seeing both positive and negative responses from quite literally everyone. As I’ve stated above, an R&B album from Drake is best-case scenario for me, and at some point, I figured that ...

Legitimately gorgeous cover art, by the way. It pains me that I’m late to the party when it comes to 070 Shake. Like a good amount of people, the first time I heard her was during Kanye West’s series of mini-albums in 2018, featured on both Pusha T’s DAYTONA and West’s own ye , and being a highlight on both releases. I thought her debut album Modus Vivendi was pretty nice, and I’ve been looking forward to whatever she’d do next. Looking at You Can’t Kill Me , with an oddly bone-chilling cover, I’m pretty excited about this. Let’s get into how I felt about it. We’ll start off with the production first, and even without looking at the credits, I knew Mike Dean had his hands on this. This is definitely a contender for one of the most sonically-beautiful releases of the year so far, mainly because of its very futuristic vibe and how well it blends with Shake’s vocals. Speaking of her vocals, they’re absolutely hypnotic and is the best part of the album to me. They’re very alluring and th...

Every musician’s gotta have that butterfly on the cover moment, yeah? It’s no mistake that Post Malone’s one of the more recognizable voices in mainstream music right now. If I’m being honest, he’s been on a pretty decent streak recently. His last two albums, beerbongs & bentleys and Hollywood’s Bleeding , are some of the best pop-rap albums of the 2010s and most of his hits have aged pretty well over the past couple of years. Even if it’s been oddly silent on the marketing front, we now have his new album Twelve Carat Toothache , a first-world problem if I’ve ever heard one. Because of his track record, I’m actually pretty excited about this, so let’s just get into it. Let me just get the cat out of the bag: This is pretty easily Posty’s worst project, in my opinion. A lot of the songs in here just felt very uninspired and borderline lazy in some cases. However, I won’t say that Posty doesn’t have the range to pull off the pop and rap songs on here because he’s done it in the pas...

I’m just curious to know how this cover was made. Honestly, this is another scenario where I don’t know a single thing about this artist. However, I do know that UMI has a very good cover of Frank Ocean’s “Self Control,” which I’ll link here . Another thing I noticed from this album, Forest in the City , is that she wrote every song on this project. I’ll have to look and see if this is true for the rest of her projects, but I do like a good R&B album when I find one. So, let’s just get into Forest in the City . I’ll start off with this: I enjoy UMI’s writing the most on this project, mainly because it seems very genuine, and that’s a big piece of getting into R&B when it comes to my taste in the genre. I also think that shows when she sings in Japanese and seamlessly transitions to English, and that’s where the creativity in this shines. I can hear the influences here like Brandy and Erykah Badu, but it doesn’t feel like she’s wearing them on her sleeve and is carving her own p...

Honestly, I just can’t believe we made it five years. Do I really need an introduction to this? I’m sure if you’re even in tune with the music world, you know who Kendrick Lamar is. You know how long it’s been since his last album DAMN. , and if you’re curious, that dropped back on April 14, 2017. I was a sophomore in high school and the day this dropped, I finished my sophomore year of college. A lot of my life happened in between the two albums, and among many other rap albums, DAMN. was very instrumental in my music taste today. Actually, Kendrick’s discography in general really helped me get into music the way I am today, so to say that this is a big deal to me is an understatement. You know how much expectations fans have for Kendrick when it comes to his projects. To put it simply, he hasn’t missed for a very long time, there’s little reason to doubt him. The one thing that always fluctuates with him is the sound of the album, and we haven’t gotten anything on that before its re...

Have I said how much he sounds like Kanye before? I feel like I have. IDK has been someone I’ve been keeping an eye on for a while. His album from last year, USEE4YOURSELF , was pretty good and really cemented himself as someone to watch out for in rap right now. I’ve been waiting for whatever he’d drop next, but this project just came out of nowhere. A short album entirely produced by KAYTRANADA, one of my favorite working producers right now titled Simple. should be anything but simple to me. Let’s get into it. Honestly, let me just say this: This is IDK’s best album. Like, there’s no way around it. These are his best lyrics and performances yet in my opinion, and if I may be honest, I thought we were gonna hit this point at least a few years from now. He just sounds super focused on here, and I’m also a fan of the subject material. However, what really puts this over the top is KAYTRANADA’s production, which is detailed and layered and really bolsters IDK’s performance. Even the fe...

He made a reference to Mavi and his album Let The Sun Talk on this. That’s just badass. Is it too much to call Jack Harlow a star at this point? Even if he isn’t my cup of tea, I can totally understand why he’s popular. He’s got the charisma that some rappers don’t have. For lack of a better term, he’s Drake at home. I don’t think Harlow’s proven that he’s a hit-making machine, but his feature on Lil Nas X’s “INDUSTRY BABY” really impressed me. Unfortunately, his last album, That’s What They All Say , ended up coming and going in a flash to me. I’m hoping that with this new album, Come Home The Kids Miss You , he tries a little more to set himself apart. The declaration he’s made about only having legends as features rang true, with Drake, Lil Wayne, Pharrell, and Justin Timberlake being legends in their own right. It seems like Harlow is using this project to prove he can hold his own. Does he do this? Let’s get into it. It’s weird that I can think of two routes a white rapper can go...

Honestly, if the album doesn’t get a good reception, this cover’s totally gonna backfire. Is it weird that I’ve been this excited for a Future album? It’s also coming full circle because one of my first reviews on this site ever was his last album, High Off Life . While I did enjoy that album, I never really went back to it outside of one song. Even after that very disappointing joint album with Lil Uzi Vert, I was still interested in whatever Future would put out, and we now have that in the form of I NEVER LIKED YOU . He typically drops at least one project a year, so taking a year off is very out of character for him. Let’s see if I liked this, even if Future never did. You know, I’ve realized something. These are some of the hardest reviews for me to write. It’s generally the same thing across this album. Future’s a trap legend at this point, and we’re not exactly asking for anything new from him. In a weird way, Future isn’t as toxic here as he normally is. I’m not saying he’s lea...

Dot. Dot. Dot. Acclaimed Swedish house producers Axwell, Steve Angello, and Sebastian Ingrosso make up the supergroup of hitmakers known as Swedish House Mafia. After 2012, the name pretty much disappeared for nearly a decade while the three producers still worked separately, even together in duos in some cases. All of a sudden, back in 2021, the name started popping up again, dropping a couple of loose singles. One of them, “Moth to a Flame,” ended up featuring one of the biggest musicians in the world right now, The Weeknd. It became such a success that it not only ended up on this album, Paradise Again , but it also ended up on the deluxe edition of The Weeknd’s latest album Dawn FM . They even shared a set at Coachella together just last night. Believe it or not, Paradise Again is the group’s first studio album. Does it live up to the decade-long hype? Let’s get into it. Admittedly, house and EDM music has really grown off me and my ever-evolving music taste in the past couple of ...