Rapid Fire Reviews: Mondays Are NOT For The Boys

This time around on the week starting episode of rapid fire reviews it's time to dance with some she's and they's that I meant to review earlier in the year but never got the chance. Like the trap rendition I'm hoping once again to have another rendition of this specific format later in the year, tbd. Ultimately I was just happy to finally catch up to some of these albums that the girlies have been talking about for months. 

Dancing With The Devil...The Art Of Starting Over - Demi Lovato

I was always aware of Demi Lovato during the child star phase but not being a Disney Channel die hard I never really experienced any of their music or movies from that era. Since then I've always been loosely cognizant of Demi the pop star and TMZ headline grabber but not nearly as dialed into the music. After some extremely traumatic personal battles Demi had a triumphant comeback at last years Grammy's debuting the single Anyone with a belting performance. Given that the song landed on my 2020 singles of the year list and this records title track has a shot at making 2021 I decided it was worth a deep dive into this record. Coming off of watching the Demi documentary I was ready for a grand thematic rebirth in the form of a context shattering statement album. Instead what I found was one of the most confusing pop releases of the past few years. Pop music is the one genre where image, era and narratives matter the most and taking that into account, Dancing had absolutely no chance to be a hit. There are some popular songs on the record like the two singles as well as collaborations with Ariana Grande, Sam Fischer, Noah Cyrus and fellow Cooking With Paris alum Saweetie. Unfortunately each one is an equally as confusing shift in tone and style that creates an extremely disjointed hour of listening. The moments where Demi gets extremely serious and honest are bookended by extremely forgettable pop tracks that borrow from contemporaries in increasingly uninspired ways. The questions just keep coming from there. Why is the spoke word Intro the 4th song on the album? Why are the singles not at all indicative of the records sound or direction? Why is the album 19 songs long when there are tracks like Melon Cake? And perhaps most puzzling of all why is their a cover of Mad World? The record does have some bright lights, moments where Demi is really putting it all out there, typically on slower tracks. Anyone is obviously a massive score as is The Way You Don't Look At Me. I was surprised by how fun and enjoyable the Saweetie collab My Girlfriends Are My Boyfriends turned out as well. There are pieces of a solid pop record to be found here but unfortunately it is a far too bloated and confusing outing for me to fully embrace, though I think Demi has the charisma, prescence and general pop appeal to stick around for a long time. 5/10

333 - Tinashe

I kept a pretty close eye on Tinashe in her early days because I enjoyed her sulty R&B sound and she was doing in an environment that felt increasingly dedicated to the genres darker and colder side. After a couple of albums I was sort of over the Tinashe stick and her okay but not amazing vocals and considerably more boring songs failed to do much for me. Since 333 came out a few months ago I've seen more positive reception for it than a normal Tinashe record and got a few personal recommendations from friends who know this genre inside and out to try the album. I'm really glad I did because Tinashe puts in an extra layer of effort beyond her always sensual songwriting and perfectly place guest vocalists. This record has some really creative production that is beyond the scope of your everyday R&B project which had me even more surprised that some of of the genres diehards were so accepting of this record. I think ultimately she is charming enough to pull off something like the bullet percussion in short but standout track SHY GUY. Generally speaking I enjoy the louder and more uptempo songs on the record more than its reserved ballads which is the exact opposite of how I typically feel about albums like this. I chock it up to just how great the sounds on the album are, when the synths soar and percussion pops the way it does here the more of it the merrier. While some of the poppier cuts on the record don't do a whole lot for me they are generally few and far between and I'm much more impressed with the shorter more sonically experimental songs in between. From Last Call which sounds like an M83 instrumental to Small Reminders a genre blending funk tune Tinashe and her producers are versatile and pretty consistent across this album making for one of the most pleasant surprises I've had in 2021 so far. 7.5/10

The End Of An Era - Iggy Azalea

It always seemed like I should be a big fan of Iggy Azalea. She certainly had the hits with tracks like Fancy, she has a trashy braggadocios attitude and sexually charged charisma that I absolutely love and I'm one of the only critics who actually really enjoys Mo Bounce. Unfortunately this never translated to me even remotely enjoying a full Iggy album and spoiler alert, this one is no different. When the songs are good, which they occasionally are, the hard-hitting beats pair perfectly with Iggy's strong vocal prescence and often hilarious bars. But when the whole thing is built on a really dumb idea, terrible hook or lacks any compelling songwriting it falls somewhere between cringey and totally unbearable. While I think Iggy has learned a lot about who she is as an artist since her debut and her confidence is infectious throughout the record she hasn't picked up a step in terms of technical or lyrical skill. On the tracks that are clearly meant to be repetitive club anthems it doesn't shine through but when she's asked to carry a song with her rapping it generally doesn't go very well on End Of An Era. I'm not exactly sure what "end of an era" means or how much we will be hearing from Iggy in a musical capacity going forward. If she escapes the music industry without having ever dropped a record that I really enjoyed I'll always consider her one of the ones that got away, seeming to have all the components but never quite putting it together. 4/10