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Bruno Mars
A let down from the standard that Bruno usually holds. By far and away his most boring album to date. Every track on here sounds nice but nothing really stands out that heavily. "I Just Might" being the lead single is the catchiest and by default becomes my favorites since the rest do not differ all that much. "Risk It All" and "Cha Cha Cha" do add a little bit a spice that the rest of the tracks sincerely miss but do not has other gripping elements like an addicting chorus or hypnotic drums to really draw me in. It may do the trick for others, just not me personally. "God Was Showing Off" was the only other track I thought the chorus was fairly interesting from and it does have my favorite lyrics on the who shebang. Given Bruno's impeccable track record, I assume next time he will be back with something I'll appreciate a bit more but his usually extended wait will have me a bit more impatient than ususal.
Charli xcx
Man the production value here is off the charts. That is always the nice thing about having a movie budget backing an album. The quality can be insanely good and the distraught strings on here are gorgeously unsettling and lovely. My favorite production on the whole thing is "Dying for You". The more staccato strings do wonders with the wavy synth that floods the song. The travesty of it is the chorus is just meh. Could have been a song I loved by the chorus and verses in general are extremely weak which is a real let down. The opening track is the most artsy of the bunch and it's crazy strings and production that begin treating your ear like a punching bag is pretty neat. That leads me to my only major issue here. There is a few times where the album is just too loud. I'm sounding like old man Jenkins here but honest to god, "House" along with one or two others were just difficult to listen to at my normal volume then when Charli would start singing on the next sound, she sounded quiet. The second half of this is where I think the pieces finally start to come together a bit better. The filter masking Charli's voice on "Seeing Things" is a good one off on here. The song feels more traditional in it's production without as much of the crazy strings staying more elegant. The following song "Altars" is another highlight. The production is the most pop-centric but the chorus is by far and away the best. The way her voice floats with the reverb on the strings on the chorus is mixed to perfection. Finally, the track "My Reminder" embraces glitchy vocals on the chorus while keeping the beat a bit more subdued which is a nice change in combination with the gritty synths. Overall a strong soundtrack to accompany the film but I wish they would have revisited the first half a bit more.