CLOUDS (THE MIXTAPE)

While Clouds as a project isn't my favorite project from NF overall, it shows a higher stylistic versatility than The Search, and feels a bit more experimental while still holding a signature NF sound. There are standouts like Clouds, Story, Layers, and Paid My Dues, paired with really solid tracks like Lost, Trust, Drifting and Prideful.

My biggest issues are in Tracks 2 and 3. That's A Joke is a braggy, jokey song that generally doesn't work for me. I get that it may be trying to poke fun at critics, but in a listening capacity purely it is one of my least favorite NF songs. And Just Like You, while a good song to get popular (look at the Spotify numbers), feels pandering and at one of the lowest lyrical levels that NF has gotten to. Neither of these tracks are awful, I guess, but I haven't warmed up to them even two years later.

After hearing HOPE, I can say that I feel that "Just Like You" was a big precursor to the huge letdown lyrically of his next album. It feels like radio pop music writing without the interesting production that comes along with pop, that panders to a depression-based caricature of his fanbase, instead of speaking on these issues with subtlety and complexity like he did on The Search and a bit here.