HADES

The term concept album has become such a trivialized term. Without trying to sound like an old head, back when I was younger, a concept album used to mean something! I'm only half joking though. Now it's gotten muddled with "eras" when a new aesthetic drops for an artist. But just the aesthetic isn't what makes someone conceptually different. It's like a watered-down version of what used to be a concept album because half the time now, the music doesn't really have a main theme or storyline. Melanie has been the modern gold standard, at least in mainstream pop, for what a real concept album looks like. While she does embrace the whole "eras" thing, it goes hand in hand with what she is aiming to communicate on each album. "HADES", her fourth album, sticks with this but broadens the scope a bit. It may be a bit of a cop out to still call this a concept album, as it comes off like she wanted to rant and point out hypocrisy in media and society. Which is nothing new for her but again, this double album has a wide lens. People always seem to have an issue with her music and it seems like almost everyone has a different reason. Her childish vocal aesthetic is definitely off-putting at times, her lyrics can often be too on the nose, and her full-fledged pop-electronic production is not everyone's cup of tea. Luckily for me, the genre is right up my alley. The other point's do stick out me as flaws. Practically every album she has released, there is at least one song that I don't add purely due to the lyrics. Not like I disagree with what she is saying but it's sometimes blunt or unnerving, which I think is kind of the purpose sometimes. "HADES" has so many of these songs compared to her other albums. Like so many. "WHITE BOY WITH A GUN", "DISNEY PRINCESS", "THE VATICAN", "CHATROOM", just to name a few. Meanwhile, there are others that I put up with a bit more and sometimes grow to like. "POSSESSION" and "WEIGHT WATCHERS" for example. Then there are the times where it actually comes together nicely. Where off bat, the lyrics may still sound bold or intense but it doesn't pull me out of the music whatsoever. Those songs include "IS THIS A CULT?", "THE PLAGUE", and "UNCANNY VALLEY". While I can certainly nitpick on lyrical work, I adore the production and melodies. Whatever team she uses to both write these earworms and produce this super-polished electronic pop is doing wonders. In tandem with the production, it only makes sense that the vocal mixing and editing is dialed to the max. Besides her childish sound at times, they do a great job of mixing different styles of her vocal ability to create dense and rich choruses or verses that distinctly differ as the song goes on to keep it fresh. In popular EDM there is this stutter effect that a lot of producers use on synths or vocals and Melanie has adopted this pretty heavily over the course of this thing. It's almost overdone but it does give some extra flare. (For examples of this, see "SIRENS" by Flume, "The Fall" by The Chainsmokers, "2gether" by Mura Masa, or "The Last Goodbye" by ODESZA.) This overall is likely my least favorite project of hers since her debut. The first half of the album is pretty disappointing compared to the second half, and I think they easily could have cut 4-5 songs off of this.