Sean Sharp's Diary

Listen 1: Yeah, looking forward to the album. Based off this alone, you can tell there is more evolution to take place for JID. No stagnation. The end of Behold is something else. Listen 2: So fun and crazy. Can't wait for the full project. Not wanting to comment too much on this since it is just the appetizer before the main course. 1 Week Later: The more I listen, the more I hear things I missed on the first few play throughs. Absolute blast for the build up for this album.

Listen 1: Feels old and new all at the time time. Features are excellent. Unique flows and beats and choruses. Original front to back. The bars make you cover your mouth. Listen 2: Fun. Some of these songs do sound slightly alike with the horns but still fun, front to back. That said, there has always been something about Pusha T that has stopped his music from going to the next level for me. I don't want to say it sounds the same, cuz it doesn't. It might just be him. Like if you took these beats and had Tyler or Kendrick rap over everything instead, I may like it better. No hate against Pusha. Dude is still great and love how snarly he sounds. Probably just a personal preference on vocal tone. 1 Week Later: Although it never breaks through with anything mind bogglingly good, Clipse is the definition of consistently solid. Not one bad or even average song on this record. At the same time, nothing on here blew my socks off. Works extremely well as an album and fun to listen to individual songs as well.

After so many years, I think I wanted a little more overall, but it still delivers in doses. There is a wide range of styles and genres here, but the aggressive, electronic-heavy production serves as the anchor point that the album keeps returning to. While I love some of this style, I personally like Rocky when he's a bit more docile on tracks. Many people fell in love with "L$D" back in the day, and it is the biggest highlight here. That style suits him so well, and I feel sad that he doesn't embrace it more. Even if it was just another song or two. Maybe that is what makes it so addictive: as fans, we are starved for tracks that sound like that. The lyrics here have some highs and some basic traditional Rocky bars. Nothing too crazy. Specifically, I like "THE END" where Rocky starts reflecting on the imperfections in the world. He takes several good points and touches on them briefly, using interesting lyrics. My specific favorite is when he references public school lunches tasting like an institution. Returning to "PUNK ROCKY", the more love-laced lyrics fit that style of song like a glove. Nothing on here is particularly bad lyrically, other than maybe a feature's bar here and there. But again, nothing that stands out so much that I think it's worth noting. That electronic grit is prevalent here. "ORDER OF PROTECTION", "STOLE YA FLOW", and "NO TRESPASSING" are some examples where it is executed well and differently each time. I wish there were more traditional instruments at times when there's so much electronic bass and synth; that is what makes some of the other electronic-heavy songs blend in. The songs that divert from this path are a nice surprise. "PUNK ROCKY", I've already touched on, but that is a good detour. "ROBBERY" is the most shocking twist in production, sounding straight out of a jazz bar. Doechii features on here, and their back and forth is rather soothing, but since it's really embodying that jazzy style, there's not really any sort of direction with the song. Vocals throughout this are pretty mundane. Brent Faiyaz does kill it on "STOLE YA FLOW," and Doechii does sound slick on "ROBBERY," but a lot of these features aren't particularly known for their gorgeous voice. Tyler sounds like Tyler and will.i.am sounds like will.i.am, but these are people you expect to give amazing vocal performances. Tyler does sound particularly good at the end of "FISH N STEAK (WHAT IT IS)" when he is singing rather than rapping, but it's just his usual distant style. The real sad vocal performances show up on "STFU" with Keilo Kei. Sounds degrading to listen to, and truthfully, this song as a whole is just a miss. It takes a stab at that JPEGMAFIA grit, but every time I've heard someone try to do it that isn't him, they miss. He's in a lane of his own with that sound.

Listen 1: There's like two skits in here where, I'm assuming, Joyner had people talk shit about how he's making another album about ADHD and how he needs to grow up and get over it. I think he's misinterpreting people's hate or criticism of it. It's not that he should grow up, but his style has not changed that dramatically and that's what people are tired of. There are definitely some songs on here that weren't copies of the first ADHD but the headlining tracks (~2-7 or so) are all his bread and butter which most people I think are tired of. I am too. As you get deeper in the album, there are some much poppier different songs that I don't really remember being on the original ADHD and so I have to give props to those. Listen 2: Yes, it's pretty long. Yes, there isn't much reinventing the wheel of any kind. Yes, nothing is really even that great. But, Joyner does consistently put out formulaic songs. None of these are outright bad in any certain way. The production on all of them I have heard a million times before but there is still enough here where I like this album as a whole. I've always considered Imagine Dragons this way (probably because I grew up on them), but Joyner fits this bill as well. Just an album with a whole ton of singles. The theme of ADHD comes and goes whenever Joyner feels like it seems. You could take out the skits and few direct lines referring to ADHD and this would still be a fully packed album. It just doesn't really matter in terms of the entire scope of the project. 1 Week Later: Hard to say more than what I've already said about the project. Joyner has a pretty formulaic approach to making music which obviously has had it's success. It does sound good at times as well. However, for an album this long, it does have it's down sides and head scratching moments considering the theme. Overall, it's a fun listen if you're looking for some aggressive but upbeat rap with some pop songs sprinkled in here and there.

Disc 1 Only Listen 1: Alex's music feels like it made in a lab with how perfectly crafted it is for the radio. Some of these songs feel aimed for late teenagers, who need their music too, but some of this is very good. Eternity starts it off with the best track and then there are some few other decent ones scattered around but compared to the first chapter, this does feel slightly like a deluxe version rather than a whole second companion album. Listen 2: He is very much so in that genre of singers like Lewis Capaldi, George Ezra, etc... but he might be my favorite. I'm a sucker for a good ballad but it seems a lot of other singers in the his vocal range and tone are shoehorned into those dramatic ballads trying to be the next big ballad singer like Adele. This brings in some more energy that I don't get the same taste from those other guys. I still stand by Chapter 1 of this album being better overall, but this one does hit some high highs. 1 Week Later: His voice is perfectly golden, it's hard not to like. I do enjoy when artists try melodies or keys that aren't the typical C Major/Minor and there is a few on here but they just don't sound great to me.

Listen 1: Very bouncy. The middle of the album is chaotic, it tends to blur together but the start and last few tracks are extremely memorable. Maybe I'm making this connection since I just wrote my final review for JACKBOYS 2, but this album feels like Tyler's spin on that heavily electronic rap that Travis and Playboi Carti play around in. Obiviously much different, still though, this probably brings the same feeling to some that other's experience with Carti. Listen 2: There is something about this album where I want to add every song on it and simultaneously none of them. This may be in part due to a large majority of them all having a similar sound, which is good for the cohesion of the overall project, but means the sacrifices are the individuality of some of the songs. This is a textbook album I would prefer to listen as a whole than any single song. 1 Week Later: You can tell that this project was just a fun side excursion for Tyler. It doesn't have the same weight that a lot of his other work does but that doesn't mean I don't enjoy it either. I'm sure at concerts some of these tracks will be an absolute blast and I think as a project overall, it works extremely well stylistically. I don't need an album to be super serious to be good either but this just feels like a fun Tyler album, which he has given us before, just without some of the more meaningful moments.

Listen 1: The kind of music that kills in a dirty industrial club. Fun listen but I think Jigitz has some evolving to do overall. Songs a bit generic as far as the structure goes and repetitive as well. He has great ideas with some killer sound design and this is all needed in a new artists creation of their own sound so no hate here at all. Listen 2/1 Week Later: This is enjoyable and fun. Not entirely groundbreaking but you can really see Jigitz putting his all into it. It's hopefully a matter of time until this guy keeps this up and starts putting out some top tier tracks.

Initial: Nothing revolutionary. Doesn't matter though, they have a style and they stick to their guns and they're damn good at it. Teetering into 80's pop rock, it's just a lot of fun to put it plainly. Dudes voice is nothing special but it just reminds me of a better time (even though I am not nostalgic for their old music whatsoever). Their music just reek of 2010's pop rock in an alternative universe Maroon 5. 1 Week Later: Kind of a guilty pleasure album I suppose? I listen to this and hear nothing new or what bratty people may call "inspired" but I simply just like the sound. Some of the lyrical choices make me question the lead singer's decisions as a human being but overall no harm no foul with it.

Glad that they are still evolving as a whole. It really seemed like during the Pandemic that they were gonna turn into a suburban band that didn't have any interesting new changes to their sound. Their fan based showed that with the hate towards Scaled and Icy. Personally, I do like that album a lot and don't really fancy Clancy that much. That said, Clancy at least showed they were still putting in the effort to do new stuff and Breach follows right in that trend. While that puts a smile on my face, I find Breach much better than Clancy and the song writing and diverse soundscapes make this an easy listen as a whole with some specific bangers here and there throughout the album.

Love love love the idea, pretty good on the execution. Despite being only 49 minutes, this feels like it runs 20 minutes too long. The precision and dedication to making these '80s beats and instrumentals so crisp deserve props. Tons of different moments on here are distinctly '80s but lodged in modern-day production to a perfect degree. The only gripe I have is that, due to sticking to such a rigid time capsule of style, it runs a bit long. If you go back and listen to a lot of 80s records that are inspired by this, and I don't mean the greats from the 80s. You will find albums that either start to get a bit boring or branch out and experiment. I think some more experimentation would have done this some good in the latter half. Overall, I do respect Doja even going for some of those slightly out of tune notes from the time period as well. While they didn't stick around for very long in popular music, they show true attention to detail and talent when pulling inspiration from 40 years ago.

It's good. Suffers quite heavily from being like half released by the time the full album came out, but still, the entirety of it is good, especially if it's all new to you. Home is a classic, and several other songs have catchy feel-good melodies and ideas that I can appreciate on any given day. It will be interesting to see if they just keep copy and pasting this formula or try to evolve in some way because much more of this will definitely become a bit repetitive.

Prime example of a project that goes all in on the pizzazz of art and not going for much of a mainstream sound. Using tons of electronic elements and experimenting with transitions and unique vocal inflections, REAPER has been cooking in the cave since "heady". With albums like this, I love it as a whole but have a hard time relistening to tracks individually, which sucks cuz I don't always have time for a whole project (even an EP sometimes, like this, even though it still clocks in at 25 mins). The last album I felt this way about was "Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You" by Ethel Cain. There is such a distinct connection to me when an album hits in nearly every way it needs to, but I know it's almost like a soundtrack for itself if that makes sense. Like you can listen to some of the songs standalone, and some may be completely fine, and you could never need to relate them to the whole project, but they would come together so much more. "SHARK" hits that nail on the head. "HYDRA", the opening track, is the most standalone song on the project, but still tidies the whole idea of the EP up in a bow. You get the general gist, but in order to really appreciate the EP, you have to listen to the whole thing. The sound design on this is so crisp. Welcome back REAPER, always glad to have you.

Yeah, he definitely landed on his feet here. This renaissance of music with physical instruments has been interesting here in the 2020's as synthesizers and samples have become more balanced with other instruments. Ruel falls right into this "correction" in pop music and his does it pretty well. A lot of what makes this great comes down to a few songs as there are a few songs on here I would call generic, but the ones that do stick out, stick out well. Only Ever, Wild Guess, I Can Die Now, and Kicking My Feet and do a pretty fantastic job and making his vocals pop while maintaining a simple instrumental catalog. A huge part of this is also due to some crisp mixing to make sure each part of the album pops when it needs to. I'm not usually an audiophile in that regard, but for some reason, I'm appreciating the mixing here a lot.

It'll be hard for BENEE to ever live up to FIRE ON MARZZ for me, but she has found her footing over 6 years later. BENEE's style has seemed to slowly shift closer to a more traditional pop sound. Or the opposite has happened, and pop music has inched closer to her. One or the other. Either way, this still has some pizazz. Her ability to write melodies that stick out like a sore thumb, but in a good way, is remarkable. Almost like artists who can write catchy lyrics without rhyming. There's another path to success that people like BENEE drive towards. On the other hand, some of the lyrics here may feel dated in the future. Even though we live in 2025, I don't like being reminded of it every time I listen to a song. Not to say something can't be a sign of the times, but it has to do with literal lyrics. The song "Sad Boiii" is fine, but reading "Boiii" will definitely be something I look back on in 40 years to age it.

I want to call this "stripped back," but it's still rather abrasive with the detailed complexion of instruments. Compared to his last two albums, there is a definite simplification in the production side of things, emphasizing traditional instruments. Aries has always had a great ability to create some slamming production that complements his binary vocal style. His last two albums are among my all-time favorites, and so it was always going to be challenging to live up to them. While I still consider this album good, even great, I can't help but feel disappointed that it didn't live up to his previous albums in my eyes.

Over time, Louis has only become more engaging in his unique brand of dance music. There's a 3-man weave of groovy rhythm, popping vocals, and sparkling production constantly at work, and it pays off pretty hard. I would appreciate a bit of a pump on the brakes here and there, just to feel a switch up in tempo. The album does suffer from the pretty common issue of songs blending together at points, but you'll keep bopping your head through each one of them. In comparison to his previous album or even his early work, it's easy to see the vision he had all along and how far he has come in fleshing out something that is unmistakably Louis Futon.

Very happy with how Tommy Richman has so easily found his groove. An artist who blew up by just being an artist. Listening to his albums, you can tell that he hasn't been searching for a big hit, yet it found him with MILLION DOLLAR BABY. His unique blend of old and new R&B feels so hot to the touch. Traditionally, his vocals would get dogged on by a lot of mainstream pop fans who may expect perfect vocals. It works in its own right in his space. Unique vocals work particularly well in certain genres because the instruments surrounding them complement them effectively. WORLDS APART* is just a prime example of instrumentals that are made for his voice.

I am very late to the party on this one. Not sure why or how I missed this back in 2024, as "Conditions Of A Punk" was very solid in my book. Regardless, I finally got around to this, and I'm kicking myself for not listening to it sooner. There is some absolutely stunning song design, production, and songwriting through and through on here. They have always been a band that integrates synths into their slightly indie-pop-rock style heavily, but this album features what will probably end up being one of my favorite mixtures of this with "People". I'll get into the specifics later in the review, but that song caught me off guard in the best way possible. One downside to this was that the songs that weren't great sounded like the great ones. Now this may sound confusing, but hear me out. As standalone songs, those "not great" ones are good, and I would likely listen to them frequently; however, they don't differ enough from the really standout tracks on here and therefore fall short in quality. If they had pushed their boundaries slightly further, this would be a near-perfect album for me. The only other issue is the mastering. I mean, yikes, it was not good. It's not something that I think dictates the quality of the album as a whole, because I don't mind adjusting the volume a little here and there. However, I can understand why this might be more of an issue for others. Diving into the songwriting is like an ocean here. It's very personal and self-reflective, which is always lovely to see the inner workings and thoughts of an artist. His choice of words isn't anything verbose or grand, but at times feels conversational, and at others is a puzzle for the listener to decipher. It's not very complex, though, or left to a ton of interpretation. In my eyes, good songwriting is done in several ways, but one of my favorites is when songs are written cryptically, but there are enough clues to find the true meaning with no room for confusion. Incredibly difficult to pull off, but Half Alive does this well at multiple points. Gorgeous guitars to soothing synths, this album has taken the reins of pop-rock production and made it its bitch. "Automatic" features this entirely out-of-left-field guitar mixing on the chorus that you wouldn't expect from them whatsoever. It's not aggressive but is intense. The distortion built into the chorus of the song ensures that it never gets dull either. "Long Drive" utilizes Kacy Hill in a precise manner. While she does have a decent amount of front vocals, the real treat with her on here is the backing vocals on the choruses. At first, you can hear her reverberating in and out, but it doesn't really come into full effect until the last chorus, when you can listen to her voice breathing life into a speedy and smooth song with production that sounds like walking on clouds. The real star of the show is "People". The instrumental mixing and choices are beautiful, along with the do-dos that start the song off. The chorus sounds pretty strong while remaining catchy with a sunny guitar strum. Then those synths hit. A completely unexpected change in pace, but it works perfectly. When it returns to its original style, it just makes it hit so much harder. Although I'd rather not, because the highs on this album are so high, the lows do need to be addressed. I do wish that "All My Love", "The Point", and "Songs" did stick out a bit more. I mentioned earlier that they aren't bad in any way, but when you have some heavy hitters doing the same thing but better, it may be good to branch out in some way, shape, or form. This is probably just a mindset that people have when they know they have some 10/10 tracks that use the same style, and most conscious artists don't have the same mentality about their music. It's understandable why they choose to go with these, and they are good, just not as noticeable as some others. The mastering, though. I struggle to dock "points" from an album because of bad mastering, so when I have to bring it up in a review, it must be pretty bad. The mastering on here makes me question whether they even listened back afterwards, or just sent it full speed ahead after processing it through an AI tool. Who knows. Songs change in volume significantly from track to track, but if this doesn't bother you much, as it doesn't bother me much, the album should be delightful then.

I'm not entirely sure why this couldn't have been included with the first half that came out last year. Considering how short each half of the album is, having these as separate discs is pretty confusing. This is an album where everything that isn't the music is bad, and then the music itself is sometimes not bad. Where to even start. The album cover? I mean, what the fuck, obviously he is going for some trendy TikTok background music for certain styles of videos, but then labels it as "d00mscrvll". Interesting choice. He is edited into this so poorly that it starts to make me question if the cover is intentionally bad, unlike the cover for part 1 of this, which was not nearly as off-putting. Then, of course, there are the drones and the parachuting tank, or whatever that is. Is this tongue-in-cheek, disconnected from society, or just random? I have no idea. It's not like the music to me is really meant for that style of war footage video, either. There is then the purpose of an album like this. It exists purely to be utilized as background music for short videos. I mean, it's a niche, and I think it's good that any type of content has music directed towards it, but it's not usually something that I give a standing ovation for. This is almost like being commissioned to make an EDM track for some new big pharma drug in a commercial. Just lifeless and usually done by someone who is just trying to get by, not someone with a shit ton of credentials like Diplo. An album like this has practically no direction in terms of lyrics. It's a bit hard for me to judge the lyrics to "UH AH AH" since it's not in English, but given the name, I don't think it gets too deep. "FLOW STATE" is really just a pander lyrically towards the namesake of the song, no real substance there. "Skittles", my favorite on here, is a bit better, but overall, it isn't anything new in terms of lyrics, but more run-of-the-mill for Juicy J and Project Pat. "I LUV U" features just a filtered backing vocal, which I would be surprised if anyone cared about the lyrical content there. It's not as if I didn't know that EDM lyrics usually aren't of high quality, but here they are just abysmal. The beats are mostly just copycats of each other. After all, for what he is going for, it's not like he would really want to switch it up all that much. "Skittles" production does stand out a bit with it being a bit slower and this glittery grit to it that works much better than the typical bell-ridden beat that comprises the album. "I LUV U" executes the copycat style beat on this the best, as it does become a bit hypnotizing. However, given that the songs are mostly under 2 minutes, it's hard to really connect to the track, or any of them for that matter. "UH AH AH" is probably going to be one of the worst songs I've listened to this year. I don't seek out all kinds of new music all the time, but I do like to think I have a decent range. I have never been able to appreciate something like that, though. The beat is literally beating me into a pulp; the woman's vocals are too K-pop for me (sorry, K-pop), and the vocalizing during the main dance part sounds like someone singing along to what it was supposed to sound like. The features are very hit or miss on this. On one side of things, Odetari, Kodak Black, Mc Gw, and Duis Nulla, do not work here whatsoever. No offense to them, but this production needs someone else. The positive note is that 1nonly, and DVRST's vocals work exceptionally well. 1nonly perfectly slots into this style of music, but I think any fan of his would prefer his more dialed-in production, as this feels like 1nonly rapping over a YouTube "1nonly Type Beat". Then there is Juicy J and Project Pat. I'm not sure how this could have worked out, but if this were just a 34-minute album of those three, I would like this a whole lot better. Throw in a few different switch-ups on the beats and call it a day. I would be a happy man. I think Diplo knows how much better this style of music shines with them, considering Project Pat appears across 7 of the 17 tracks on both discs, and Juicy J shows up on 3.