Living Proof – Camilla Cabello

Camila Cabello comes back with another signature promotional track for her new album “Romance”. Signature in this case meaning high-pitched, unnatural, nerve striking, nasally, auto-tuned vocals over a basic messy pop production song. Pair that with basic lyrics about love written by a twelve-year-old who only listens to 95.5 and you have a hit song. There really isn’t anything redeeming about this track except for the fact that the guitar progression is reminiscent of Billie Eilish’s “come out and play,” which is a better song in every way. 

This review isn’t just to bash Cabello though, because some of her songs are catchy. She’s not a remarkable artist that’s making a deep impact on music, she is a pop artist. Just a more bland one. She does have some songs though that give some reason to her success, as well as some vocals. This track would honestly be ten times better had it been ran through and editor and Cabella calmed down on the poorly attempted whistle notes and auto-tune. Overall this track is forgettable, not catchy, harsh, and boring. 

Overall Rating: 2/10

Up All Night – Khalid

Khalid has begun to change his sound to a more pop sound while keeping his alternative twist. On his new song, “Up All Night” Khalid brings out a pop-ish R&B sound. The song is lead with an electric piano and guitar paired with Khalid’s melancholic vocals. The song itself seems like a very summery song which is why it’s interesting timing for it to be released in November. While it’s a really enjoyable track, it ends very abruptly and seemingly too soon. 

“Up All Night” is the latest song that has been speculated to be from his third album which hasn’t been confirmed nor does it have a name. This album would be preceding his last album  “Free Spirit” which was released earlier this year. This track, however, isn’t straying too far from what he became known for, his sound has just gotten more polished over time. A catchy track but might’ve been better had it been a bit longer with a better ending. 

Overall Rating: 6.1/10

Balenciaga – Princess Nokia 

Princess Nokia’s previous projects “1992 Deluxe” and “A Girl Cried Red” pale in comparison to her new music. While each had definite hits that are still relevant today, there were so many misses in them. There were only a few select tracks from both that caught people’s attention. The biggest two being “G.O.A.T” and “Tomboy.” Her new releases however have all been gold. A few weeks ago, Nokia released her first big original single since 2017 titled “Sugar Honey Iced Tea,” a gospel sounding rap song that instantly became one of her best tracks. A few days ago she paired it with her new release “Balenciaga.”

The track “Balenciaga,” named after the expensive designer company, is almost exactly what you’d expect it to be. Almost. Sound-wise it seems like a dark rap song, but the lyrics aren’t actually just about how rich she is. It’s actually about how she can buy designer looking outfits for cheap. Saying that the quality of an outfit isn’t the brands you wear but how well you can piece together an outfit. The only criticism to be made with this song is that her flow seems choppy and off, other than that it’s a signature Princess Nokia track. 

Overall Rating – 8.7/10

Tokyo Drifting – Glass Animals & Denzel Curry 

Hands down one of the best tracks of this week. It has creativity, vocals, good production, catchiness, has it all. This is the first single from the band Glass Animals since their 2016 album “How To Be A Human Being.” While the band is more alternative indie music, they have worked with other rappers like Denzel Curry before. Fans are also excited about this song because of the way Curry sounds rapping in an alternative track. When talking about the production of the track, the lead singer, Dave Bayley, wrote on Instagram, “It builds more until it all disintegrates into a detuned, wonky mess…the musical equivalent of an awkward skinny jew dweeb with moderately poor visual acuity. ie. me.”

The production does seem to reflect that. With waving flickering synths and trap beats it turns into some weird warm synthesized track. Add Bayley and Curry’s alternative edited vocals over it and it creates a combo that surprisingly works well. The artists have said that this song is about people making fake personas on the internet to ignore their true selves. The song is one of the most interesting that’s been released this week and makes me hope they release more music with this sound. 

Overall Rating – 9.7/10