myleswriting

[myleswriting]

My Dear Melancholy Reveiw

My Dear Melancholy, is the first EP by Canadian R&B artist and pop star Abel “The Weeknd” Tesfaye, following up his 2016 album Starboy. Released March 30th, 2018 the album marks a return to the darker atmosphere of his first three mixtapes and debut album. It is his shortest project to date, at only 6 tracks, a departure from the bloated 18 tracks of Starboy. While this would lead to the assumption that Tesfaye had created a project with none of the filler that plagued his last two albums, what seems to have happened is that he decreased both the amount of filler and quality on this project, leading to a record just as inconsistent as Beauty Behind The Madness and Starboy all while Tesfaye appears to be artistically stagnant.

           My Dear Melancholy, is best described as a breakup album, and its lead single and opening track “Call Out My Name” makes that clear from the start. It is one of the few tracks on the album that has Tesfaye exploring new lyrical themes, where he is having his heart broken, rather than the other way around as has been the status quo for him. His vocal performance is rich, and conveys perfectly that he isn’t over this girl, while lyrics like “I almost cut a piece of myself for your life” take on deeper meaning in the context of his failed relationship with Selena Gomez and her recent kidney transplant. Other lines like “Girl, why can’t you wait till I fall out of love” show a major change from The Weeknd that said he “Left my girl at home, I don’t love her no more” in 2011. While the lyrics are new ground for Tesfaye, the actual music is familiar, with the wails of agony over a bombastic instrumental feeling very reminiscent of 2015’s “Earned It” and the distorted vocals in the middle bearing a striking resemblance to “The Hills.” “Call Out My Name” is one of the standout tracks on this album, and while it does feel similar to music he put out on Beauty Behind the Madness it still stands as a highlight amongst The Weeknd’s already strong discography.

           The second song on the album is “Try Me”. One of The Weeknds least memorable songs, it features no new themes or instrumentation, instead being content to cover ground already thoroughly tread by House of Balloons and Echoes of Silence while being less lyrically and musically interesting than any of the songs from those mixtapes. Lyrically, “Try Me” comes very close to being a blatant rip off of “What You Need” from House of Balloons. In both songs, Tesfaye attempts to convince a girl to cheat on her man.  While “What You Need” featured clever word play like “Baby leave them high heel shoes/ cause I love it when you’re looking down at me, I’m looking up at you/ and I don’t give a damn shorty watch me knock your boots off.” “Try Me” ditches that in in favour of risk averse, lazy lyrics. For example, the line “You’re looking grown since the last time I looked at you/ It might have been, been about a couple months.” while not bad or poorly conceived, is uninspired. Musically, the song is also a step down from “What You Need”. Tesfaye’s vocals don’t match the song thematically. “Try Me” is a song about cheating, something that should be kept low key, yet the vocals feature The Weeknd’s signature attention grabbing falsetto as well as constant “Heys” and “Try Me’s” at the end of lines during the chorus. In comparison, “What You Need” has The Weeknd singing in a significantly lower tone, with much more breathy vocals, giving the impression that he’s whispering the track. The instrumental of “Try Me” also seems to be going against the theme, with a warbling synth line accentuated by trap base and hi-hats being loud and excessive. Taken on its own “Try Me” is an inoffensive filler track, however in the context of The Weeknd’s past work it’s clear that he didn’t attempt to push himself and chose the settle for average instead.

           The third song off “My Dear Melancholy,” is “Wasted Time” which takes its cues from Kiss Land rather than any of his mixtapes. The instrumental on this track is much more lowkey than the previous two songs, featuring a washed-out soundscape punctuated by a clockwork percussion courtesy of Skrillex. The vocals on this track start out strong and get stronger about 2/3rds of the way through when Tesfaye’s voice is distorted, leading to a haunting melody. Lyrically, the song is about Tesfaye wishing for a past lover after breaking up with her. While the lyrics are for the most part good, there are some particularly cringe-inducing lines such as “I hope you know this dick is still an option.” Or “I took the time to learn the way your body functions/ you were equestrian so ride it like a champion.” Which is not only needlessly sleazy, but a very poor half-rhyme as well.

           The fourth track on the album is “I Was Never There” with a feature by French producer and DJ Gesaffelstein. The song starts off with a loud, high pitched air horn sound effect which continues for about 30 seconds, and almost completely ruins the song from the onset. Once the intro is done, the first verse is nothing special with Tesfaye singing about how he is coping with his sadness by taking drugs and having sex. This goes into the repetitive, melodramatic chorus here he bemoans the fact that his ex acts like he was never with her to begin with. The song starts to turn itself around halfway through with a beat switch reminiscent of a song off House of Balloons or Kiss Land. This second half of the song is significantly better than the first half, but not quite good enough to save the song from being the worst on the album, if not one of the worst songs in Tesfaye’s discography.

           Next on the track list is “Hurt You” and again features Gesaffelstein as the lead producer. While the song is a step up from “I Was Never There” it still is not great. While the previous songs on the album were darker and seemed to be trying to emulate what can be found in Tesfaye’s early works, “Hurt You” feels like a reject from 2016’s Starboy most likely due to the presence of Daft Punk member Guy-Manuel de Homme-Christo as a producer. The song feels even more like a leftover from past projects due to the fact that Tesfaye’s vocals share the same rhythm and vocal progression as his verse on “Pray For Me” with Kendrick Lamar. This reuse of instrumental and vocal styles leads to “Hurt You” be an ultimately average track on Tesfaye’s least memorable album.

           The final track on the album is “Privilege”. It is my personal favorite track on the album and is the most faithful recreation of the sound found on Tesfaye’s first three mixtapes. Aside from its short length the song wouldn’t feel out of place on Echoes of Silence or House of Balloons in terms of both lyrics and production. Instead of the instrumental being over the top and melodramatic it is spacey and distorted, making Tesfaye’s voice the centerpiece of the song. His vocals are expressive without being excessive, and in the last half of the song he uses it as an instrument much like how he did for the back half of “Loft Music”. The chorus is incredibly effective and clever, with “Two red pills too take the blues away” making reference to The Matrix to show that Tesfaye is waking up from the dreamworld that was his relationship and returning reality, while also illustrating his use of drugs to cope with his sadness. This is ultimately the most clever piece of songwriting on the album.

           Despite having incredibly strong opening and closing tracks, My Dear Melancholy, feels like someone trying to recreate The Weeknd’s early projects without grasping what made them great in the first place. The production is over the top and bombastic when it should be atmospheric and low-key and the lyrics lack the cleverness and edginess that made The Weeknd exciting in the first place. What was supposed to be a return to form for Tesfaye ultimately feels stagnant and like its been done before. While there are some good moments on the album, such as “Call Out My Name” and “Privilege”, the rest is boring and uninspired if not outright bad. I would rate this album a 5/10.

[myleswriting]

J-Hope - Hope World Review

On March 2nd, South Korean pop star and member of the band BTS J-Hope, real name Jung Ho-Seok, released his debut mixtape “Hope World”, the third solo project by a BTS member following 2015’s “RM” by group leader RM (formerly Rap Monster) and 2016’s “Agust D” by Suga (released under the name Agust D). J-Hope’s 7 track mixtape is short, clocking in at around 20 minutes, but in that time covers a wide variety of styles ranging from lo-fi hip hop to trap bangers to feel good pop-rap, with no filler between the songs.

           The album opens with the title track “Hope World”, an upbeat pop-rap song where J-Hope attempts to introduce himself as a solo musician, talking about who he is, what he does, and what he believes in. The track also references the novel “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea: A Tour of the Underwater World” which J-Hope claims inspired him. The track features an upbeat chorus, memorable verses, and a Daft Punk inspired Vocoder to close the song. It’s not perfect, with a weird house inspired instrumental breakdown just before the final verse that seems out of place with the rest of the song, but overall it is a catchy pop track, if a little bit safe and formulaic.

           The second cut on the record “P.O.P (Piece Of Peace) pt.1” is another pop style rap track, which has J-Hope rapping about his wish to live up to his stage name and provide hope and happiness through his music, to become a piece of someone’s peace. In his vlive broadcast the day that the mixtape was released, J-Hope said that he titled the song as pt.1 because he doesn’t want to talk about hope on just one track, but he wants to continue to talk about it, and I can only hope that a pt.2 is on the way if it’s going to be anything like this song.

           The third track, and first single off this mixtape is the song “Daydream (백일몽)”, a pop track in which J-Hope discusses the responsibilities he faces as a public figure against his needs  as a human being. While this song could have gone the Drake route of ruminating on fame with downtempo, slow lyrics over a moody soundscape a la “Fear”, it instead remains upbeat, never sounding like he’s complaining about his fame, but rather day dreaming about what his life could be like if he didn’t have the responsibilities he does. The song reinforces this childlike vibe by referencing Alice in Wonderland and Harry Potter in the pre-chorus, giving way to the catchiest choruses on the album. Thankfully the song doesn’t confuse childlike with immature, and deals with serious topics such as how idols, in Korea especially, are expected to be role models not just in music, but in all aspects of life. J-Hope comments on this saying “Young wild and free / Wild and free / Let me give it a try” referencing Wiz Khalifa and Snoop Dogg’s song “Young Wild and Free.”  The line “wish on a sky/ wish on a scar” in the hook is incredibly catchy, and one of the few moments on the album that I can’t help singing along to. This song is incredibly well thought out, seriously discussing the downsides of fame, while avoiding the musical cliché’s that litter other tracks with similar themes.

           The next song is the incredibly short “Base Line” which drops the pop façade and shows that J-Hope is an extremely talented rapper as well. With tight production done by J-Hope himself, “Base Line” tells the story of how he went from a street dancer with little musical experience to a rapper in one of the most popular groups in the world. This song also shows his growth as a rapper, especially in comparison to some of his earlier verses such as BTS’ “BTS Cypher Pt.1” with “Base Line” having much smoother flows. In the end, the short length of the song betrays its origins as an interlude, but the quality of what is there makes me sad that it was over so soon.

           “항산 (HANGSANG)” is J-Hope’s attempt at a fully fledged trap banger, in a similar vein to BTS’ “MIC Drop” although its significantly shorter than the later. This song is probably the weakest on the mixtape, with decent production that isn’t offensively bad, but not particularly memorable.  In terms of lyrical content its nothing special either, with braggadocios lyrics about how he’s made it, and is now always out with his boys, standard rap lyrics. That’s not to say there aren’t good lyrics on this track, in particular the line “When I open my eyes red road (walking, walking, walking)/ Calls from top celebs (talking, talking, talking)” stood out to me. What truly brings this song down however, is its repetition. The hook is repeated 6 times throughout the almost 4-minute track, and it’s not a particularly great hook at that, with a nasally repetition of the same few lines over and over quickly becoming grating as the song goes on. Its not even a song that can be sung along to at a party or when driving around with your friends, as J-Hope randomly de-emphasizes certain words leading to an inconsistent flow through the song, along with one particularly bad moment at 2:15 into the song where he randomly coughs before continuing with his verse as if nothing happened. Overall this song is a low-point for the album, with its grating chorus and middling beat making this an utterly forgettable track.

           The second single off the mixtape was the song “Airplane” another rap song, although, this one is much less intense than the last two. “Airplane” again has J-Hope talking about how he’s made it in Korea’s music industry and has broken into the American market. Unlike “항산 (HANGSANG)” which is comparable to Drakes “The Motto” or a more serious take on GD&TOP’s “Zutter”, “Airplane” is much more similar to Post Malone’s “Congratulations” in both sound and lyrical content, with less emphasis on bragging about what he has, although that is present, and more about being grateful for the experiences he’s had, and the peoples he’s been around. Appropriate to that last point, this song features vocals from the other members of BTS in the background. The song itself uses Airplanes to represent success, opening with J-Hope reminiscing about his childhood in Gwangju, and his wish to fly in the planes he saw overhead. It than flashes forward to the present where he’s constantly jetting between Korea, Japan and the United States for performances, and realizing that he has achieved his dream. This song is a return to the themes that dominated the first half of the album, and is much closer in musical style as well, for the better, as it is a catchy and well written song that is constantly stuck in my head.

           The 7th and final track on Hope World is “Blue Side (Outro)” a lo-fi hip hop track made several years before the release of the mixtape. The song features distorted vocals, and dreamy instrumentation, combining to create a lo-fi song that stands out even now with the excess of lo-fi content that has swamped platforms like YouTube. Lyrically, the song is about wanting to be with a lover, however I believe that the lyrics function more as an instrument to enhance the atmosphere of the track, rather than to tell a story on it. Indeed, this is probably the most atmospheric cut on the mixtape, as well as my personal favorite, in fact my only complaint is that it’s only a minute and a half long, although its short length does prevent it from over staying its welcome, I would still like to see an extended version of the song released some time.

           J-Hope’s debut solo mixtape Hope World is a short but sweet experience, with some incredibly well-made instrumentals and solid song writing that demonstrate his strengths not just as a performer in a boy band but as a fully-fledged musician and showcases the range of the styles he is able to work with. Although it starts to falter in the middle of the album, its strong start and exceptional finish, combined with its short running time make this album a solid choice for something to listen to on shorter trips out, as well as a great introduction to Korean language music for people looking to get into it. I would rate this album an 8/10.