Whatever's Clever!

Not too much to write home about. Despite being blessed by god himself with perfect pitch and a voice built for hits, Charlie's lack of ambition kills a lot of love I could have for his work. His inability to create a lane for himself is quite sad, considering how versatile he could be. I could be wrong in saying this, but the album features the first time I've ever heard him pitch his voice up or down an octave. Not that it's necessary to be a good artist, but it is a great way to keep the vocals feeling refreshed. He does use some other vocal synthesizers, which I have to give him credit for, but he almost relies too much on the quality of his raw voice. "Whatever's Clever!" dives down a slice of the 80's synthpop. Resorting to heavy bells and fuzzy synths of the time, it's trendy at the moment, and I don't think Charlie really brings anything greatly refreshing that I haven't heard already. The choruses here are some of the weakest I've heard from him. "Love in Exile" is my favorite so far, partly because the chorus is a bit more engaging, and the featuring of Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins is quite suitable for the track and the album. The Jeff Goldblum jumpscare was interesting to hear, and while I don't think the song itself has much weight, it did make the album feel a bit more complete. Otherwise, a lot of this relied on the production to give it that vibe. Finally, there's the song "I Used To Be Cringe". Songs like this are always interesting to me because, of course, everyone looks back on themselves in a judgmental manner. To me, this song is a bit cringe in itself, even though I get the message. He reflects on how he was chasing status, money, and fame. Trying to live a life full of material possessions. I'm sure he changed his mind about what he wants, but for him to say he is no longer chasing it because he's changed is rather... lacking in self-awareness to a degree. While he isn't an A-List celebrity, pretty much everyone who grew up with him being popular knows who he is. He is famous. Google can be wrong, but I doubt it will be drastically far off. It says he is worth $35,000,000. Then there is the status part of it. I'm not exactly sure what he wanted to be part of, since he never explicitly says so in the song, but he is widely known for his perfect pitch. He is the definition of status, money, and fame. I find the song a bit tone-deaf, but not as bad as some other stuff I've seen online. Overall, Charlie is probably just going to release these random albums that are okay every once in a while and occasionally have a cool song. It's hard to envision anything from him where he really dedicates time and energy to making something groundbreaking or breathtaking. I hope that's the case, but my hopes are dwindling.