This song just kind of feels like it's lacking punch overall. The instrumental is just super repetitive, and it REALLY suffers from debut voice syndrome, because I've heard all of them sing their own originals or covers and their vocals are so much better than whatever this strained vocal is. It's not terrible or unlistenable, but I still don't think it's great.

Hot take, this is the best debut song. Everyone's vocal performances are generally solid, with the only poor performances being Selen's singing on the back end. Petra and Rosemi have strong vocals throughout. I feel like the instrumentals can be a bit lacking in places personally, but it still hits bloody hard. Hits the vibe of edgy without making me cringe as well which I love.

An improvement on Blue Sugar, but not by much. This is honestly more of a passable pop song, but that just makes it background noise. a slightly better Owl City knockoff.

Honestly, with how quintessential this song has become for Nijisanji English, the vocals on this don't hold up. Finana and Pomu have become much better singers in the time since this and their performances sound week in the verses. It also might be a bit of "debut voice syndrome", as this was back when a Nijisanji EN's talents would often overact, so they might have been trying to put on a voice rather than sing normally.
Regardless, I actually enjoyed this less than I remember. ... read more

I hate to say this about a song about self doubt and depression but this song is straight up unlistenable. Fulgur's vocals are awful, he sounds like he's singing well outside his range and I can't feel anything at all. The instrumental also just kind of follows along with the instrumental rather than doing anything interesting to add to the emotional weight of the song.

Pretty Patterns and Uki's team up on his debut song that is a really good story about Uki Violeta as a character. One of the best vocalists in Nijisanji EN IMO. The song is honestly pretty nice on the storytelling front too, but it doesn't otherwise feel like it's about anything outside of their debut lore. It's not a bad thing but I think for the ballad style it's going for it kind of holds this song back a little. Also, there is this part about halfway into the song in which he starts singing ... read more

Ren Zotto if you don't deliver a banger by July 24 2023 I'm suing for false advertising.

I appreciate Blue Sugar for breaking free of the standard VTuber convention of everything being j-pop and k-pop. While I do appreciate English speaking VTubers making bland English pop instead of bland j-pop that hides behind being in another language to sound cooler than it is, this has about the same level of charm as an Owl City deep cut. Very generic, sounds like radio filler, and sometimes the vocal ... read more

Quintessential banger

Classic Week 1/1/2023

I'm a bit late on this review because out of everything I've listened to this week, I genuinely cannot figure out how I feel about this album. I listened to it a second time because I didn't write my thoughts down originally and I just came away feeling like it had shrunk on my initial 95 I gave it. Instantly giving something a score like that is usually a sign it's not actually that good but I don't know.

Look, I'm not saying that this isn't good or anything, but it ... read more

Medicine at Midnight is nearly the most 5/10 album I have ever listened to in my life if Waiting on a War wasn't actually a decent track.

Classics Week 5/1/2023

Prince is one of those artists who I've heard about all the time but never actually went out of my way to listen to, and this was an amazing introduction to his works. Somehow the only song I'm aware of from this record was When Doves Cry, and that's from Joey Badass' reinterpretation When Thugs Cry.

Anyway, all I can say about this album is that it's simple bangers at its finest. Each song is a bop that doesn't try to do too much. Surprisingly both the shortest and ... read more

Classic Week 4/1/2023

Coming into this album 10 years on after getting introduced to the genre by Asunojokei's amazing
Island, this was an amazing look into more of what the genre has to offer. My favourite thing is that, for an album with a lot of longer songs, they go out of their way to give your attention span a break with shorter tracks layered in between. The only song that ever felt like I was going out of my way to check how long it had left was The Pecan Tree, which felt like it was ... read more

I'm still not super across what's the best in terms of drum and bass, but this was a great listen all around, felt really dynamic and interesting. Just wish I didn't have to check after a few songs to realised that the album ended a few tracks ago...
Also I'm like 90% sure they sampled the Crash Bandicoot WOAH at some point so 10/10 best album ever made.

This song has a really nice synths but it just feels like a poor man's The Weeknd After Hours track, and the vibe is just gross and sleazy but that bit's just par for the course for these two

I feel like this album takes an unfortunate amount of time to really get its footing, with the first crop of tracks being extremely hit or miss in terms of the mixing and actual songwriting. But once it gets going in the back half of the album it feels absolute cathartic.

The sound of the album flips between Death Cab For Cutie-esque indietronica and laptop/DIY ska like that of Tape Girl, but I feel that they nail the indietronica sound way better than the laptop ska. Some of the ska songs ... read more

2023 Classics Week 3/1/2023

At the time of this original review I left this at a 90/100, as I will not give something a 100 on first listen. However, there is a good chance that this could become the second 100 I give behind Flood by Boris. This album was an amazing listen, beautifully grand without ever feeling self-indulgent. Any album with songs this long or a runtime this length that don't make me feel like I'm constantly checking how long until it's over. A more in depth review may come ... read more

Listening to a classic album every day for the first week of 2023: Day 2

While I can see why this is one of the classics of pop punk, I can also see why it doesn't have the wider cultural impact that something like American Idiot has, and I don't think that's a bad thing. Dookie finds the perfect balance between writing that feels angsty and cathartic, while usually not feeling like it's outright disrespecting its audience, and having some amazing instrumentation to boot. The best way I can ... read more

Song is literally only good from the sample and it leans into that to carry the song.

The only memorable parts of this album are contributions from other people, including samples, or a lame track trying to cash in on the name of a better artist. Sometimes those don't even save this album being insufferably boring. At least this one doesn't have Chris Brown on it.

I feel like this album is a weird one for me. Don't get me wrong, I think this album is still amazing, howevery favourite albums are those that essentially are ones which I enjoy on a casual listen and also on a more in depth listen. Where this album falls apart for me is the casual listening experience.

The good stuff out of the way first, this album sounds like the most amazing musical theatre soundtrack to a play that doesn't exist. Everything is intricate and wild enough to be interesting ... read more