We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong

Sharon Van Etten - We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong
Critic Score
Based on 26 reviews
2022 Ratings: #262 / 803
Year End Rank: #42
User Score
Based on 712 ratings
2022 Ratings: #334
Liked by 75 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

90
Louder Than War
Sharon Van Etten delivers a spellbinding sixth album filled with bangers and big ballads – an intensely personal meditation on starting a new life in new home in a pandemic.
90
The Young Folks

Ranging from elysian songs to grumbling alt-rock numbers, surging with dark forces, We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong delivers an incredibly impressive listening experience.

90
DIY
Very much the most mature Sharon Van Etten offering to date - and perhaps the most musically accomplished, too.
88
Beats Per Minute

There’s a certain catharsis to much of the album that never ceases to be immensely satisfying, like she’s constantly jettisoning the dregs of what she no longer needs, and embracing that which makes her stronger, with a keen sense of emotional honesty and clarity.

84
Paste
Singer’s sixth album finds her fully in command of her ever-deepening talent.
82
Sputnikmusic

In essence, it plays as a retrospective look back at Van Etten's journey through the musical landscape and the emotional arc which accompanied it, without ever feeling like a self-congratulatory greatest hits exercise.

80
PopMatters

Sharon Van Etten grapples with love and parenthood in pandemic times in the ten deeply felt songs on We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong.

80
Record Collector
The word-of-mouth praise having reached a tipping point, Van Etten capitalises by bringing together her varied styles without seeming forced.
80
Under The Radar
At only 10 tracks and 39 minutes, it leaves you wanting more, so the logical choice is just to play it again and be mesmerized another time.
80
No Ripcord
She holds a little bit of control before charging ahead, unlocking the connection she craves after experiencing a ceaseless stream of negativity. It's the kind of emotional catharsis all of us can relate to during these uncertian times.
80
Northern Transmissions

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is very cohesive and every track doesn’t come off like it’s just filler material.

80
AllMusic

Van Etten isn't wallowing in melancholy, she's accepting the sadness along with the joy, using both emotions to push into a new stage of life. That sense of optimism, no matter how muted it may sometimes be, gives We've Been Going About This All Wrong an air of unguarded hope.

80
Loud and Quiet

We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong serves to articulate feelings we have in common, and how the journey of life can be as beautiful as it is terrifying.

80
musicOMH
One of America’s finest songwriters designs a collection of songs to be listened to all at once.
80
Spectrum Culture
Synths mimicking orchestras are pushed to their most epic limits, and Sharon Van Etten overpowers all of it as she mourns endings of all sorts – motherhood, relationships, war and peace. Her music has always felt this big. Now it sounds this big, too.
80
The Irish Times
From start to finish there are sonic and tonal links: the opening Springsteen-ish Darkness Fades merges down the line with the Radiohead-like Darkish. What arrives in between and after is just as glorious and vital, with Van Etten’s melodic gifts very much to the fore.
80
Exclaim!

On We've Been Going About This All Wrong, she opens those wings and takes to the sky — rather than protect from the elements, it is the elements, moving earth and water and wind through invigorating force.

80
Uncut
Jersey girl turned Pilates mum makes peace with the darkness on devastating sixth album.
78
Pitchfork
Produced in her home studio in Los Angeles, Sharon Van Etten’s sixth album embraces the complications of the past two years. It is her most epic record, yet lyrically it is her most insular.
70
The Line of Best Fit

While she sings of trauma and upheaval, and often emits a tender vulnerability, there’s hope, optimism and resoluteness there too.

70
Albumism

The album also covers the elation many of us felt during those moments we realized how lucky we were. Lucky to still have our lives, or love, or our loved ones, or even just a shifted perspective. It’s in those moments of elation that perhaps we felt most seismically that we’ve been going about this all wrong.

70
Rolling Stone
Another collection of gorgeously moody singer-songwriter pop — see “Anything,” in which a sleepless night becomes a devastating anthem about much more.
60
Mojo

It builds a new stoic eloquence into her vulnerability, even if the stark, birdsong-imbued Darkish drips with Radiohead-like ennui.

60
The Observer
Holding it all together mid-pandemic, Van Etten’s sixth album of highs and lows struggles to strike a resounding chord.
60
NME

It may lack the immediacy of 2018’s hookier ‘Remind Me Tomorrow’, but this unyielding record is, at times, a powerful reckoning with the age of uncertainty.

60
The Needle Drop

WBGATAW contains Sharon Van Etten's biggest-sounding songs to date, which is maybe to the album's detriment sometimes.

JohnLouisHoward
100

she is remarkably consistent and writes captivating songs. this is as good as anything she has done, and it's a grower. you will need a few times through to appreciate it properly. and it has those astonishing moments of depth and beauty that bring tears to your eyes. how does she do that?

EDIT: bumped it to 100. please listen to this. I mean like listen aggressively. when it clicks you will know.

BradTasteMusic
56

Starts off insanely promising, but inevitably offers very little in the way of strong songs. It has some horrific production at some moments as well near the end. Overall a very messy and unsatisfying project

marvelgaryen
89

Sharon Van Etten usually provide transcendental experiences, well, it wouldn't be different in 'We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong'. In this album not everything is quite clear, perhaps nothing is transparent, better yet, everything is felt equivalent to the deept it has; Philosophical lyrics transform the listening experience into something quite touching, alongside Sharon's stunning voice, which guided my ears to oblivion or maybe somewhere close. These tracks are all very well ... read more

sangnectaire
77

Some of her grandest songs are on this album. It's not one I come back to often, but I still quite enjoy it. Kinda wished Porta wasn't only on the Deluxe version though, cause it's one of my favorite songs of hers.

holsgr
40

acceptable (★★☆☆☆)

JoberthBribies
89

Darkness Fades — 8.8
Home to Me — 8.3
I’ll Try — 10
Anything — 9.5
Born — 8.6
Headspace — 10
Come Back — 9
Darkish — 7.5
Mistakes — 10
Far Away — 8
|
likes: 10/10
overall final score: 89.70
favs: Mistakes • I’ll Try • Headspace • Anything
least fav: Darkish
worst: ✘
skips: ✘

first time listening to this artist, and i loved it!

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Track List

1Darkness Fades
4:33
87
2Home to Me
3:38
80
3I'll Try
3:07
82
4Anything
2:38
82
5Born
5:02
85
6Headspace
4:26
86
7Come Back
4:29
84
8Darkish
4:04
77
9Mistakes
3:59
79
10Far Away
3:19
83
Total Length: 39 minutes
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Added on: April 6, 2022