Sean Sharp's Diary

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.

There will always be a lot of distaste for Alan Walker's style, considering it is literally the same exact thing it was a decade ago. I'm a bit in disbelief that he has been able to make only this style of music for so long. Like, surely he is getting bored doing this. Regardless, just more of the same here. I think the big difference between how I view this and how some other people do is that it isn't bad. It just... is. In 2014, I liked his music, and if this had come out then, I would have liked it. Now it's just repetitive and beaten to death. Still not bad though. Not entirely sure what this whole TV series thing he is going for because the music is just complete nonsense in comparison. I am happy to report that "Getaway" is his best song in years. I suppose that is why I keep listening. Deep down, I know he has a good song or two left in him.

The production here is off the charts. For someone who was constantly deemed ahead of the curve with pop in the late 2010's, this album seemed to finally be when the popularity caught up with the style. Oddly enough, I think several songs on here work more as reloaded versions of 2010's EDM pop. "360" and "Von dutch", perhaps the two most well known songs, sound great but I don't think they necessarily embody what built the craze over the years prior. Ironically, the ohmage to a decade old style just with refreshing production makes it so good. There are a lot of songs on here that have a heavily amount of variety with each song and are surely what people deemed "the future of pop" too. "365" features some crazy switch ups that is respectable from any dance fan. A lot of the choruses also are fun and catchy. Truthfully, this thing wasn't entirely for me. I was not the target audience and even though I try to appreciate music regardless of my personal tastes... that's how music reviewing goes. I'm here reviewing what I like and don't like and some of the lyrical matter didn't hit that deep for me. Some of the choruses were a bit repetitive and some of the production does go a little over the top at times. I can certainly appreciate that she created something within the zeitgeist that critics and fans adore, but I am outside of those bubbles.

James has a knack for making some of the most unique soundscapes possible. Specifically the first half of this thing contains some great sound design while keeping it minimalist at least at the start of each track. Perhaps it's something specific with James voice but it's so haunting that is works perfectly for the style that he achieves here. "Death of Love" features some gorgeous backing vocals over a fairly modernized beat. The bass that holds this insane tension is so cool as well. Very simple but effective. His atypical use of instruments and sound effects is so fun and capitalizes on the unique vision he aims for. "Make Something Up" does this in a similar way with just as much impact. The downside is that the highs are so good to start the album that the latter half struggles to hold up on that same level. It's not that it's bad but after "Doesn't Just Happen", the songs miss that same quality and punch that the predecessors have. To me, this has always been the downside of his work. Some stuff just hits so hard and effective that some of the rest of the album can become a bit dull or bland in comparison. It's almost like if he left off the best tracks the album as a whole would have came out better. Now, I'm not serious with that of course but I hope that gets my point across.