I've been a fan of Conan Gray for about two years now, so obviously my excitement for his debut album was through the roof. This album pretty much fully lived up to my expectations. Before it came out in March, I already knew I loved the pre-release tracks. The first songs of the album to be released, namely "Checkmate" and "Maniac" were upbeat, pop songs that were very different from his previous EP, but I loved them just as much. They were much more heavily produced than any of his previous work, and I think that is what led them to get so popular.
Then I listened to the whole album, to find it wasn't as upbeat as the singles led me to believe. The only pre-releases that even hinted at sadder content was "Comfort Crowd" and "The Story," which were not extremely sad, just not uptempo. As it turned out, the album is roughly split into two styles of music: mainstream pop like "Affluenza" and depressed ballads like "Heather." While he does both of these styles very well, sometimes the switch from one song to another gave me whiplash because of this. On the one hand, I could pass it off as the sign of a good songwriter to have a wide range like this, but on the other hand, it sounds too disjointed to enjoy the album as a single body of work.
Overall, I think it is a really great album for a debut, but I don't think this album will go down as some of his best work. While I really like almost all of the songs, it just doesn't feel like they all belong on the same album. It gives the album a sense of incoherence, which is why I took off a star. I love the songs individually, but I hope his next album sounds a bit more "put together" than Kid Krow.
4 stars
I've been a fan of Conan Gray for about two years now, so obviously my excitement for his debut album was through the roof. This album pretty much fully lived up to my expectations. Before it came out in March, I already knew I loved the pre-release tracks. The first songs of the album to be released, namely "Checkmate" and "Maniac" were upbeat, pop songs that were very different from his previous EP, but I loved them just as much. They were much more heavily produced than any of his previous work, and I think that is what led them to get so popular.
Then I listened to the whole album, to find it wasn't as upbeat as the singles led me to believe. The only pre-releases that even hinted at sadder content was "Comfort Crowd" and "The Story," which were not extremely sad, just not uptempo. As it turned out, the album is roughly split into two styles of music: mainstream pop like "Affluenza" and depressed ballads like "Heather." While he does both of these styles very well, sometimes the switch from one song to another gave me whiplash because of this. On the one hand, I could pass it off as the sign of a good songwriter to have a wide range like this, but on the other hand, it sounds too disjointed to enjoy the album as a single body of work.
Overall, I think it is a really great album for a debut, but I don't think this album will go down as some of his best work. While I really like almost all of the songs, it just doesn't feel like they all belong on the same album. It gives the album a sense of incoherence, which is why I took off a star. I love the songs individually, but I hope his next album sounds a bit more "put together" than Kid Krow.