Five Five

There are several Pouya songs that I really like/love, and a few are even on this album, but I had only listened to one of his other projects in full prior to this one. I really wanted to give this a good shot since I have some deep love for "Void". Listening to albums that are even 7-8 years old is fun, but sometimes even the aging of an album can start to crack open after only a few years. Not at any fault of his own, as timeless albums are something that nearly every artist chases to some degree, and only a few will ever achieve. Being a product of your time is a part of being human, as we are built by our experiences and the culture that surrounds us. Even modern timeless classics are still modern. How today's generations look at classical music from centuries ago, people will look back upon timeless music from now to a similar degree, regardless of how timeless we say it is. Pouya's album does age itself in just this 3/4th decade since its release, but where it succeeds, it does the heavy lifting. Starting with the weakest aspect of this thing. The lyrics. Bad lyrics have always been around, but the latter 2010s hip-hop scene had a pandemic of its own before COVID. Pouya has come down with a bad case of it here, as the lyrics center around the typical stereotypes of the time, like haters, success, money, and women. Music will always explore these topics, but Pouya exhibits a distinct characteristic of late 2010s rap, where nothing is actually being said when he raps about these subjects. Not only that, but it bounces around from one to another at a whim's notice. I've seen worse regarding that ladder point, but it still exists pretty persistently on "FIVE FIVE". Even the introspective sequel, "Suicidal Thoughts in the Back of the Cadillac, Pt. 2," doesn't really deliver on any great lyrical ability. He does stick mainly to his mental state and messed-up past, but it isn't written in a way that positions him as a poet. There are three main styles of instrumentals on here. The 2010s' gritty trap banger, featuring a southern-influenced guitar tinge over trap beats, and a calmer, subdued electronic production. Some of the songs have a mixture of these. The main culprit for the 2010s gritty trap banger is "Don't Bang My Line". Featuring Night Lovell, he's rather beside the point. The synth in the background plays throughout the entire song and undergoes a change only at certain moments, when a filter blocks out the higher frequencies. To make electronic repeating production feel more organic, a backlog of properly mixed effects needs to be applied. "Back Off Me" is the prime example of how to do this right. Still aggressive in nature from a production standpoint, the bells used at multiple points in the song have an expansive sound, dancing around your speakers instead of remaining static. The southern-influenced guitar tinge complements the album nicely, with songs like "One Time" and "Aftershock" utilizing it at the forefront to bring raw emotion to the track. Something the more electronic tracks fail to do so at points. The calmer electronic production is sparse but presents itself quite well on "Weighting on Me." A strength for Pouya is his ability to write catchy choruses. The worst chorus on here is still good on most rap records. There is one exception, however. On "Weighing on Me", Pouya repeats the same sentence multiple times for the chorus. This practice has its place, but if overdone, it makes it dull and boring. I think Pouya could have pulled it off a bit better with 20% less chorus and 20% more verse in this case, as the song has all the right components around it and would favor verse-heavy lyrics. On the other hand, "Aftershock", "Void", "Handshakes", and "Back Off Me" have A+ work in this field. "Void" is a masterclass in crafting an addictive yet speedy chorus with a melody that defies many traditional formulas. The last two have his signature choppy flow, but break it up with a word or words that sway the melody before he resumes his typical pace. This break in the action creates fun and memorable choruses.