WILLOW - empathogen ALBUM REVIEW

hi everyone siany boy Tano here the internet's most nauseous music nerd but it's uh time for a review of this new Willow album in pathogen yep newest LP from singer songwriter multi-instrumentalist Miss Willow Smith whose music career has been a curious one up until this point if you remember she broke out in the early 2010s with one of the most viral and memorable singles of that decade with my hair which was one of those rare moments where a pop tune that's clearly geared toward the kitties U still goes kind of hard and I think from the success of that single she could have easily launched into some music child star pop phenomenon type career but after this song we only got a trickle of singles from there and it wouldn't be until several more years down the road that we would get Willow's fulllength debut album The Record art epicus which in the greater scheme of her discography now in retrospect kind of feels like the start of a Trilogy with her first three albums all of which collectively see Willow exploring uh different styles pretty freely on these records there are touches of Art Pop and R&B and synth pop and neoy singer songwriter chamber pop and folk as well as some Indie pop and soul too now with these records while it was surprising that Willow was going in the directions creatively that she was you could argue that the album Still lacked quite a bit of finesse and maturity on uh the songw writing and production side but these records were still representative of Willow taking a respectable path Less Traveled especially again considering the kind of career she could have had if she essentially doubled and tripled down on Whip My Hair and gave us an entire record of stuff along those lines so we got this Trio of very versatile but somewhat spotty records and then after that a tone shift where Willow suddenly caught on to the pop punk and emo wave of the late 2010s and early 20s the effects of which we can still feel today but during this time from juice world to MGK to even Taylor Swift collaborating with Brendan Yuri everyone was feeling the emo spirit and of course Willow's first foray into this uh series of more alternative rock music Styles uh included features from Travis Barker as well as a LaVine the record ultimately was a bit too brief and a little basic when it came to this style but the album that followed from their coping mechanisms uh saw Willow again taking a shot at some kind of rock crossover and while it didn't exactly 110% work it was a better LP really an improvement on all fronts in terms of singing songwriting and production as well as Willow's Embrace of rock music straight up just feeling a bit more authentic now 2 years later Willow is switching it up once again on empathogen a record that brought us some pretty surprising singles there was symptom of Life which was a piece of very tense emotionally explosive piano rock with some jazz touches here and there very big drums too big Fiona Apple Vibes on this track in the best possible way but Willow kind of making it her own with a smoother delivery more vocal harmonies and taking a decidedly uh mystical and philosophical approach on the lyrical side there's also the track big feelings which is the closer of the album which I think stylistically has a lot of crossover with symptom of life especially with those very angular speedy and skilled piano passages the huge Punchy drums but yeah it's a track all about big feelings how big were they I I don't know big enough to where she'd write a song about them why is that funny this is not a bit what is what is going on just be quiet and finish the review review boy but anyway again uh pretty much everything that made symptom of Life a good single continues onto this track but it's amped up to a considerable degree and Willow really had me wondering going into this record whether or not we were in for like this angsty 9s piano singer songwriter Revival type project and while Willow certainly does borrow from that world she also takes quite a few notes from from a few Indie Main Stays as well not just in spirit though she literally has a massive St Vincent feature on one track of this record pain for fun where Annie Clark's vocals actually kind of take the lead for the majority of the track to the point where it feels like a St Vincent song uh but with a willow feature I mean it's one of the better tracks on the record regardless and it's not exactly like this twinkly chamber folk direction is stylistically where St Vincent is at currently in her her own music and at the end of the day I suppose it does fit in very snugly with pretty much every other song on this Willow record here so it's a good placement and of course Willow gets to embrace her jazzier side as well on the opening track home that features John batist some incredible piano runs there on that track but uh it's really the lyrics on this cut that I think are telling uh Willow talking about essentially kind of going with the flow down a river of Grace that is eventually taking her home which I think is fitting because the instrumental pet of This Record where she's going artistically and sonically has never sounded more her while I think Willow has come through with some solid and respectable tracks over the years this record is really the first time I feel like I'm listening to a willow album truly the Bold Fierce and tight pianos and drums underscoring these powerful emotional soaring lead vocals uh just feel like her formula and even as Willow drifts away from the keys a bit more on this record and favors some guitar she maintains her musical focus and Persona the tight syncopation and angular Melodies remain especially on tracks like ancient girl however I feel like songs like this one kind of exposed the Achilles heel of the record as it's such a great idea it's so catchy it's so well executed but simultaneously so freaking short I feel like in a way we kind of get robbed of hearing a fully fleshed out song with this melody and this compositional build and there are a few other tracks on the record that feel like they could have been developed in into Fuller more entertaining songs had they been pushed further I know that face down and even between I and she to an extent too I think fleshing out these songs would have made her album a better length just an overall better experience and yeah it's a bit of a head scratcher because there are plenty of tracks on this record where uh Willow goes uh far enough bringing her songwriting to some great and logical conclusions lyrically instrumentally but there are several key occasions in the track list where she just can't be bothered to go any further I guess still other highlights on this LP include the fear is not real which obviously also speaks to this record's themes around uh powerful and difficult to ignore emotions and also proves that Willow can pull off a moreful slow burner if she wants to and also make it transition effectively into uh some passages that are a lot more energetic with some dance beats without things coming off to disjointed or awkward false self is a really well- written and sharp hushed piece of pop rock with some Neo Soul inspired vocal transitions that go over very well and then there's also run which is a great piece of acoustic rock that again brings us those Punchy drums uh Stellar maybe the best vocal performance from Willow on the entire LP like when she really kind of hits those raspy highs and seeing I can't get out like man she she's just like on another level vocally in my opinion than she's been in the past but yeah overall I enjoyed this record quite a bit I think it's very solid I think it's a very entertaining and creative showing from Willow and I feel like this is the first time in her career where she's really potentially teeing us up for something truly great down the road the execution in terms of performances and writing for the most part are great to the point where I'm just really left wanting more more more more and more especially on these shorter tracks the only thing that's really holding Willow back at this point is this insistence on keeping things as brief as she does and to my ear she is writing up and recording too many great musical ideas to cut them off as Prem mately as she does on a couple of tracks but yeah I'm feeling a decent to strong seven on this one Tran position have you given this album misten did you love it did you hate it what would you rate it you're the best you're the best what should I review next hit the like if you like Please Subscribe please don't cry hit the Bell as well music music talking talking I talk I talk I review about music um not feeling too good so uh forever

Channel: theneedledrop

Views: 272,648

Keywords: album, review, music, reviews, indie, new, lyrics, listen, track, concert, live, update, the needle drop, anthony fantano, vlog, talk, discussion, music nerd, song

Id: YfqcBdlvwYs

Length: 8min 56sec (536 seconds)

Published: Thu May 09 2024