Clairo - Sling
Critic Score
Based on 27 reviews
2021 Ratings: #129 / 753
Year End Rank: #42
User Score
2021 Rank: #151
Liked by 511 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
NME

Both musically and lyrically, this is Clairo doing what she does best – crafting gorgeous jewels that help you make sense of your own world, one step at a time.

95
Northern Transmissions
Sling teems with precise moments you’ve never been able to describe, but you’re just elated that someone can ground these feelings that have always seemed esoteric and abstract.
91
A.V. Club

Cottrill delivers her most innately beautiful and well-orchestrated album yet, co-producing Sling with one of contemporary pop’s most prominent producers, Jack Antonoff.

90
Gigwise
Sling shows a more mature Clairo, displaying clear artistic growth and suggesting that the 22-year-old is becoming a real force to be reckoned with.
90
DIY

Stoic and serene, ‘Sling’ is a brave new chapter that introduces a Clairo transformed.

90
The Line of Best Fit

While the cosy acoustic folk of Sling is indebted to her influences — Joni Mitchell, Carole King, the Carpenters — Cottrill makes it wholly her own; it’s the perfect habitat for her introspection.

90
Clash

Moving on from the playful, DIY era of ‘Immunity’, Clairo is clearer now on who she is and who she wants to be.

81
Still Listening

Despite a couple of bumps in the song-writing and pacing, Sling sees a huge progression in Clairo’s sound, offering us a quietly beautiful singer-songwriter record that officially graduates her from the bedroom pop that defined her early years in the limelight.

80
Evening Standard

She sounds mature and ambitious, but also like she’s back in that bedroom, holding her songs up to your ear with the lightest touch.

80
The Forty-Five

The album reveals more of itself with each spin, like a shyly flamboyant bird. Little changes make themselves known – choppy jazz, creaking acoustics, the kind of piano confessionals heard in an after-hours bar – and the small-scale hops reflect the album’s gentle yet bold leap forward.

80
The Young Folks

Sling—while ultimately releasing mid-summer—presents a more melancholic side of Clairo that will undoubtedly gain momentum as we approach the autumn months.

80
FLOOD Magazine

Overall, Sling is an album borne from a long year of reflective home recordings with an artist taking her next steps forward in a new direction.

80
Dork
Subtle but powerful, ‘Sling’ is an album born of love and care. A slow-burner, sure, but one that will last the distance.
80
The Observer

Lavish arrangements and assorted musings converge on Claire Cottrill’s intimate second album.

80
Rolling Stone

At its heart, Sling is a record about simultaneously embracing and remaining horrified by the responsibilities and realities of growing up.

80
Sputnikmusic

Sling might lack the immediacy of its predecessor, but this particular work means so much more.

80
Under the Radar

As Sling unfurls each new intimate detail, the album freely offers that same welcoming refuge to any who desire it, inviting each listener into the world of Clairo’s quiet reprieve.

78
Beats Per Minute

Sling is an intimate, tender heart-to-heart where muted confessions finally have their day.

74
Pitchfork

On her second album, reluctant Gen Z ambassador Clairo turns back the clock, embracing classic touchstones of 1970s folk.

70
Loud and Quiet

Cottrill’s lyrics are as tender and earnest as ever, and on the whole, Sling’s ornate arrangements complement this, though at times the theatricality of the production seems to overwhelm their simplicity.

70
Crack Magazine
You could call it a coming-of-age album, but even that feels reductive. Instead, it’s a coming-to-terms album, a focused portrait of a young woman who is finally choosing to treat herself with the generosity that she reserves for those she cares for.
70
The Needle Drop

Clairo displays considerable growth as a songwriter since Immunity on Sling.

70
Exclaim!

After years spent developing in the public eye, Sling feels like an arrival — it's the clearest distillation of Clairo's voice yet, a record both about and born of self-discovery .

70
AllMusic

While melodies are largely stagnant on Sling, and lyrics swing between grievance and self-realization, the album's ruminative internal atmospheres are its defining -- and likely haunting -- strength

68
Paste

While setting Sling next to Immunity proves Cottrill has more than one pitch in her arsenal, it turns out her curveball is the one that’s most dazzling. Here’s hoping she makes an album full of them someday.

60
Slant Magazine

Sling is less commercial than Clairo’s debut, but it’s also more thematically and musically myopic.

60
musicOMH

Is anything particularly memorable? No, but the vibe is nice.

Doublez
78

Sling is a proof of maturity for Clairo, it is also a delicious adventure to be consumed without moderation. This new album delivers an almost impeccable instrumentation, where the singer puts her angelic voice and her writing in ideal conditions.

Clairo Cottrill is the kind of Singer-Songwriter/Musician artist in the air of time who illustrates herself perfectly by her journey as admirable as fascinating. The singer with the soft, tender voice, know
n for her dreamy instrumentation is the ... read more

jxshmccabe
90

i cried. i don’t cry at anything. that should tell you all.

harbor.

MattsReviews
90

A stripped back, stunningly serene, astonishingly powerful project like Clairo’s sophomore effort, “Sling” is something to not skip over and to take note of as it surprisingly enough became one of my favorite projects of the year.

If you were to be asked about an artist that has been overlooked as a “industry plant” or mediocre artist, you may think of a lot of other singer-songwriters from entertainment over the years, but the artist that comes to my mind ... read more

sunnyxeleton
91

emotional support album.

Favourite Tracks: Bambi, Amoeba, Partridge, Zinnias, Blouse, Wade, Harbor, Just For Today, Joanie, Reaper, Management

Least Favourite Track: Little Changes

LeL
75

the sound palette is amazing but all the songs kinda sound the same

89

yupppppppp

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Track List

1Bambi
4:37
85
2Amoeba
3:48
92
3Partridge
3:13
81
4Zinnias
2:54
81
5Blouse
3:15
86
6Wade
4:46
81
7Harbor
4:24
86
8Just For Today
3:37
80
9Joanie
4:45
81
10Reaper
2:39
80
11Little Changes
2:40
78
12Management
3:48
84
Total Length: 44 minutes
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Added on: June 11, 2021