SMILE! :D - Porter Robinson: Review
Review by Lavender:
Porter Robinson is an electronic musician who was elevated to full-on critical darling in the wake of his 2021 album Nurture. While critics fell over themselves to praise the record, I wasn't nearly as in love with it. In fact, it was some of the things that people specifically loved about the album like it's sunny demeanor and nagging pop hooks that really wore me down. After I didn't really care for SMILE's lead single Cheerleader I was afraid I would find myself in a similar situation once again. But SMILE is an improvement over its predecessor if for one reason only, songwriting.
Before we get into the ways that songwriting helped heighten the record, let's knock out some of the songs I'm not crazy about. Cheerleader has some compelling washed-out synths that guide the song into the chorus that are flat-out distracting. But even once you dig into the song underneath it, it's not that compelling. Perfect Pinterest Garden is a song about getting away to a titular "perfect Pinterest garden" whatever the fuck that means. It's soaked in some of the same insufferable cheeriness that burdens Nurture plus when the song wraps up after just 2 minutes it barely feels like it's even started.
An example of the album's improved songwriting coming in handy pops up on Easier To Love You. It's one of the record's ballads and while the song itself isn't particularly interesting at any point, But credit where credit is due for Porter's fun-to-untangle portrayal of emotions. A better example is Is There Really No Happiness? a pretty on-the-nose song title for a Porter record. He starts the song by reminiscing on the promise of childhood but its analysis ventures into both nostalgia and love, touching on the way they interact with a wonderful outro.
My excitement for the record really started clicking when I heard Knock Yourself Out XD. Aside from the cringey "bitch I'm Taylor Swift" line that I still haven't had anyone effectively justify to me, it's a pretty bubbly and irresistible little pop song. I also can't miss Kitsune Maison Freestyle but part of that might just be from me editing the video of Porter telling me I have a nice aura during his recent pop-up.
The single that really grabbed me was the third one, Russian Roulette. Despite a second verse so bad it makes me want to turn the song off immediately, it's just one part of a 6+ minute track that I otherwise really enjoy. It features a pretty similar array of sunny cutting synths as Cheerleader but both the writing and execution are massively improved. The song's bridge brings together simple pleasures with major life achievements in a really seamless way and concludes it with a punchy and hilarious rejection of suicidal thoughts. It's a delightful song I've loved coming back to.
Similar songwriting poise is present on one of my favorite deep cuts Year Of The Cup. It uses the "cup" motif in ways both exceedingly literal and recurringly metaphorical as Porter's continued success fails to bring him true happiness. By the thinnest of margins, this is one of the more lowkey songs on the first half of the record but the spoken word recordings worked in around the intimate verses make for some of the best moments on the album of Porter wearing his heart on his sleeve.
On the second half of the album we have the Frost Children collaboration Mona List. It's a shockingly focused cut compared to most of Frost Children's music but the dizzying background and hook that feels straight out of the pair's last album Hearth Room both work well within the song. Closing track Everything To Me is another huge highlight that's able to cut through a lot of sonic tension to get right to the heart of the emotions expressed on the album. It's such an interesting song lyrically that I don't even wanna spoil all of what it has to say, just listen to it.
Nurture was a very beloved album so I had no real expectations that Porter Robinson would shift up his sound. Unfortunately for me, that means that even some of the best songs here are burdened with sun-kissed synth lines to disgustingly sweet to even make sense of a Drums record, and some of the choruses here are straight-up Radio Disney. But it's in the cracks between all of that where Porter makes some real strides as both a songwriter, composer, and lyricist. Those improvements make the tracklist of this record a far more compelling assembly than anything he's done before and hearing him wear his heart on his sleeve with more vulnerability than almost any other artist in his field is capable of won't get old any time soon. 6.5/10
For more electronica check out my review of the new Jelly Diver EP Console
