Lav's Music Corner

These are reviews of 5 records that I was pretty sure weren't going to top my albums of the year list, but I nonetheless wanted to talk about because of the significance of the artists behind them.  AM I THE DRAMA?  - Cardi B Cardi B's story is something I've always been very interested in. After years of teasing the release of a sophomore record, I really thought she might have waited too long to capitalize on any of the meteoric hype she generated from 2017 to 2020. Now that the record is out and being digested by fans, the verdict is very much still out. One person who thinks about Cardi's place in popular culture even more than I do is Cardi herself. Her debatably triumphant return is the subject of the first two tracks on the record, the pretty good "Dead" and the mediocre "Hello." While Cardi does a lot of flexing on the record, the results are pretty inconsistent, and the best victory lap she takes on the song "Check Please" outclass...

Sabrina Carpenter rapidly ascended to superstar status last year. After bubbling up as the bad guy in Olivia Rodrigo's debut album, she scored a few mid-level hits and then absolutely erupted on the back of "Espresso." But for me, her breakout was a pleasant surprise. Once her debut album arrived, it was easy to see on songs like "Juno" and "Taste" that she was a different caliber of talent than some of her contemporaries. But for a few reasons, I was a little bit suspicious going into this new record. Firstly, because it arrived so quickly after its predecessor. Secondly, because its lead single "Manchild" is good, but not great. And finally, because Jack Antonoff had a hand in production on almost the entire album. The result is exactly the drop in quality I expected, though how far is a matter of debate.  That's a negative way to start, so let me assure you, there are some GREAT fucking songs on this album. The second single, "Tea...

Review by Lavender: Lady Gaga is a caliber of pop star that really needs no introduction. Throughout the early 2010s, she was elevating to and then occupying a platform of pure superstardom scoring hit after hit after hit in the process. Though her previous record Chromatica  performed decently in 2021, it was a significant step down from expectations for her studio output that left me and many others wondering if her time in the brightest lights was over. It isn't. On the back of some of her biggest hits in years, Gaga returned triumphantly with a record that stylistically throws it back to her earliest days and is surprisingly rewarding doing it.  To say that this record started off on unsure footing would be an understatement. Last year Gaga shared "Disease," a single that didn't perform extraordinarily well. I think that's a shame cause the song is an absolute fucking jam with an utterly infectious hook and thumping dance beat that I think is great. On the opp...

Review by Lav: Ariana Grande ended the 2010s one an absolutely spectacular streak. Her 4th and 5th albums Sweetener  and thank u, next  were released in quick succession and contained not just her best material to date but some of the best songs any mainstream pop star had to offer. While doing it she also elevated her stardom from pop famous to absolute superstardom on the back of hit after hit after hit. She followed those albums up with the far hornier Positions  in 2020. While the record did fit right in with the pandemic going on around it, Positions  didn't have the caliber of songs or hits as its predecessors. If you were worried about eternal sunshine  suffering from the same fate, Ariana Grande doesn't double down on her mistakes.  I've seen some bonified pop critics whose opinions I admire treat this album's lead single yes, and?  like it isn't special, and I just don't understand that. The song is straight up worship of Madonna's Vogue ...

It's gonna be a blitz at the end of the year as I try to cover as many of the records I've been meaning to as possible. That also means the categories are gonna get looser and looser, just like this very generous and sweeping use of the term "pop" to cover everything we're talking about today.  The Loneliest Time  - Carly Rae Jepsen This one is totally my bad. I love Carly and this record absolutely deserved a full review closer to its release date. It just happened to come out during a busy week and get shelved for a while but I've been listening to it a lot since it came out. That's because this record despite the inconsistencies does have some songs that are just as amazing of high points as her previous two. That started with the singles which I liked quite a bit collectively highlighted by the glittery anthem Talking To Yourself  and the breezy infectious lead single Western Wind , but it isn't limited to the singles. That includes the opening tra...

Dirt Femme  - Tove Lo While you could argue that at points Tove Lo has maybe been a bit too stylistically trashy to break back into the mainstream, I've always been a big fan of her music regardless. This album Dirt Femme  definitely felt like her turning over a new leaf, not in terms of it being a more mainstream effort as her previous record Sunshine Kitty  already made that transition. But on the singles leading up to Dirt Femme  it felt like Tove Lo had the life and personality back that gave her a breakout hit nearly a decade ago. The lead-up to the record was marked by some killer singles starting with the Euphoria  soundtrack cut How Long , probably my favorite Tove Lo song in years and one that I'm very happy made it onto this record. It also delivered the shimmering relationship-examining anthem No One Dies From Love  which kicks off the record with an absolute bang. The record is further supplemented with solid singles in both 2 Die 4  and Gr...

Another week that absolutely filled up the stat sheet with lots of new releases from notable names. While there wasn't a grand, highly anticipated comeback or massive pop collaboration to steal the spotlight there was something new this week for just about anybody and the best of the bunch are here.  5.  If We Get Caught  - Bloc Party After their last few singles I had been begging Bloc Party to dig their heels in and drop something that really rips, but it turns out the secret to making their best single of this era so far was to lean into their sentimentality. There's something very sweet and innocent about the fear of getting caught and the expression of love as if it's the very last thing you'll ever get to say to someone. The song is sweet and infinitely endearing.  Listen 4.  Lost  - Zola Jesus Even though you can never be sure what to expect from Zola Jesus, you can always expect it to be good and this certainly is. The chambered mix of the song with...

Selena Gomez is an actress and singer whose career in the former propelled her into the latter as a child star. Her first proper studio album as a solo artist came in 2013 and it looked as though a promising music career was on the horizon for her when she released Revival  shortly after in 2015 to more critical praise and commercial success. Despite this somewhat promising start it has been a long time since we heard a proper studio record. She has a handful of successful singles and some high profile features under her belt in the time between these records that kept her name in the headlines, and a pair of big singles leading up to the release of Rare  re-introduced her as a bonafide star. Review By Lavender: I can't say that I've really been a Selena Gomez fan when it comes to her music. With the exception of the excellent Talking Heads sampling Bad Liar , I haven't really enjoyed many of Selena's biggest hits and I remember coming away from her last record...

Tove Lo is a Swedish pop singer who blew up in 2014 off the back of a huge single Habits (Stay High)  but has grown to have a more specific audience of devoted conscious pop listeners. After dropping two records under her " Lady Wood " era she has turned over a new leaf and transformed her sound to a more conventional pop approach on Sunshine Kitty . Review By Lavender: I have always been a passive Tove Lo fan, each of her three records have scored a six or higher in my reviews, but none of them have reached an eight. She has a number of great singles and some excellent high profile features under her belt but has yet to come through with a truly breakout record. Despite the fact that none of the singles for this record were as great as Disco Tits  or Habits  I still had some hopes for it, while Sunshine Kitty  isn't that much of a let down it is the weakest full length project Tove Lo has released yet. The singles weren't necessarily bad either a few of the...

Lana Del Rey Is an American pop singer and songwriter who controversially emerged in the early 2010's with smash hits in Video Games and Summertime Sadness . She released another record with a softer stylistic approach in 2014 on Ultraviolence before muting her style even further and channeling a throwback aesthetic on Honeymoon. Lana seemed to return to form with her critically acclaimed fourth record Lust For Life and released a number of singles in the past two years while working with producer Jack Antanoff and set the release date for the highly anticipated Norman Fucking Rockwell a few months ago. Review By Lavender: I fucking LOVE Lana Del Rey, and I pretty much always have. 2012's Born To Die has been the runaway for best pop album of the decade since the moment it came out and while there is a personal attachment I have to the record from an aesthetic standpoint for a particular time in my life, the fact that the record stands up so unbelievably well even to thi...

Kim Petras is a German born pop singer who has spent much of her life in the limelight after publicly undergoing gender transition surgery at a young age and began releasing a string of singles starting in 2017. While she has a few verified hits under her belt many of the best of these singles were released in promotion of this album. With almost all the material that landed on Clarity  having been released before hand the sound of the record was predictable but nonetheless refreshing. Review By Lavender: It feels like I have been following Kim Petras for far more than just the two years she has been active, on top of this for it being her debut album she has amassed a number of hits and an impressive amount of material to date. Given that I heard almost all of the tracks here before the album was released I had a pretty good sense of what it would end up sounding like and I have to say that a handful of extra tunes round the album out nicely and complete a very solid pop re...

Carly Rae Jepsen is a Canadian pop singer who blew up in 2011 on the back of her viral hit single Call Me Maybe . In the wake of this success and underwhelming sales for the album it landed on Kiss  she took an extended break from studio releases before returning with a drastically different style on the critically acclaimed Emotion . Despite underwhelming sales Carly has been universally acclaimed for her work starting on Emotion  and following everything since, but Dedicated  is the long awaited fourth full length project and follow-up to Emotion  that has been in development for years. Review By Lavender: Like many people I first heard about Carly when Call Me Maybe  became one of the biggest mega hits of this entire decade and while the song is a decent but overplayed one the album Kiss  was a disappointment for me. Which is why I was so surprised to find out a few years later just what Carly had in her when she dropped the absolutely fantastic a...