Sean Sharp's Diary

This album is the standard for a debut album. It's not perfect and features plenty of flaws and parts that could be cut but overall it has several unique enough songs with engaging melodies. The whole thing is glued together with a pretty tight musical instrument array. There isn't a ton of variety of the instruments, let alone the mixing. This is something that can be improved going forward. This could have benefited as well from being a 30-minute album instead of 40. While these issues are pretty standard for growing artists, they are often detrimental to an album's success. In Aidan's case, the highs are frequent enough that it balances out these mistakes quite well. To start, there are more than enough solid songs on here. "are you curious?", "ricochet", "my funeral", "dance around it", "when i die", "bloodtype". All of these make the disc well worth the listen. Several of these songs I've highlighted are the breaks from the momentum he seems to get stuck on so it really capitalizes on the mood change. The instrumentals aren't revolutionary but are solid in their own right and do what they need to on each track. I see this as a great path for him to springboard into some crazier ideas and production because otherwise this will become a bit dull and I don't want to see him stagnate.

EDM these days is an interesting thing. Lots of it is just repeated ideas with different singers and names. Then there are distinct styles that stand out from the bunch, and a lot of times these are the artists who blow up and gain worldwide fame. Then the fans of these artists are called normies and looked down upon by the "real fans" of EDM. That then alienates people, and the newer popular artists in EDM tend to have a more traditional style. That's fine to have a traditional style, but right now I find most of the popular work in EDM pretty generic and boring. I say this as someone who loved EDM growing up in the 10s. I'm 26 now, and seeing these new names like Summit pop up is fun to see, but when I listen, I don't hear anything that is much different than a lot of stuff from the past. I'm not sure if it's new fans or hardcore fans leading the charge on a lot of these new names, but I find it hard to dive in like I used to. This album is just a continuation of that. Nothing bad, but I've heard a good amount of this all before. I still find EDM and EDM crossover artists that I enjoy, it's just that they don't seem to really have much traction, even though I feel their sound is very unique (Goth Babe). I hope artists like John Summit continue to succeed, but I also welcome some more unique flavors in the genre, as right now, it seems to be a large heap of recycled styles.

Listen 1: Smooth and slow. Maybe a little too slow. Justin's voice sounds beautiful one sec and like "Baby" the next. Nice change up from him but I'm not sure if anything is memorable other than Sexyy Red saying some out of pocket things and Druski trying to get him to hit a black and mild. Listen 2: Started to notice some more stand out moments but overall I don't think anything swayed my opinion of the album. Is this album title like, cheek-n-tongue? I can't tell if he's seriously calling it SWAG or not. I do like this slowed down different style rather than just aiming for billboard topping hits. Really, I like the idea of Justin doing an album like this rather than how it actually sounds. 1 Week Later: Good idea, just not fully there in execution. This felt like the right direction for him to take after Changes and Justice. Biebs will likely never be expected to put out instant classic albums, but if he's able to find some of that fire that made Purpose so good a decade ago, he can at least make an overall "good" record.

Listen 1: Love this dudes music. Never fully understood why he fizzled out of popularity. Probably due to going independent which I respect and understand that decision but this guys voice is too good to not be on more hit songs. My critical opinions of him have always been the lyric matter as they are often questionable if not outright disrespectful towards women or other groups of people (not racist or anything, but just one of lines like on Change My Ways when he references bipolar disorder). Just sometimes in poor taste. This album has some more of that, which was to be expected. Specifically the woman talking throughout the album. You just know Marc or Nic Nac had her say that shit which is just always silly to me. Like it's so constructed and inauthentic it feels kind of gross to have someone say stuff like that. I'm not a prude but it has always seemed off to me how Marc writes about women. Anyways, the album overall has some unique R&B styling to it, thanks to Nic Nac. Good for a little mix up from his usual style but still in the vein that made him popular to begin with. A good portion of the songs on here did miss the mark with the melodies. A bit aimless with no resolution. The latter half of the album is a bit better in that regard. Listen 2: There was a few moments on here where I would say Marc has gotten a bit lazy. The melodies aren't as smooth, his singing can get slightly whiney even though I've heard him hit these note better in the past. I was hoping a collab with a producer might ignite some new inspiration but the only thing new here is the style of production and even that is just a slight change up from Marc's usual style. 1 Week Later: Marc's a man that can put out multiple duds and then drop 2 or 3 bangers back to back so I'm not truly let down by this as my expectations are usually pretty low to begin with. A low floor but a high ceiling. I'm hoping whatever isn't working with this project is just a bump in the road and not a sign of laziness to come as some of the songs on here show a pretty lackluster amount of effort on Marc's part. Specifically in the first half of the album which caught me a bit off guard.

Listen 1: Might as well have been one long song. There is no versatility whatsoever. Really just boils down to if you find it catchy or are really into this genre. I don't think it sounds bad at all but it's really just picking out of a hat. AA in my opinion is a bit catchier but the rest of these are essentially nameless to me. Listen 2: This really just feels like pop from 2019 with some guy that's a little disconcerting to look at because of his style. Did enjoy the second listen more. Really a clone of other stuff that's come before it but it's not bad. Just formulaic. 1 Week Later: Not a whole lot more to say about this. The lack of word to say about this is rather telling on it's own. Not a lot here that hasn't been done before and done better. Nothing has stuck that hard and nothing has sucked that hard. Not sure if it's the overall style mixed with this, but the sexual moments on the track make me feel rather uncomfy.