Hi, my name is Salomon Marcos. I was born in Mexico and moved to Colorado for college. My major is Hospitality Real Estate an di am graduating on September 2020. My main email is salomonjm98@live.com
The first feature of an album review is to bring both the weaknesses and the strengths of the person reading the paper. Petrusich’s stated in “Tell Me How You Really Feel” by opening with “Hopelessness” which is as good a word as I can think of to describe the tumult of the past couple of years and what it feels like to keep insisting on optimism” (pg. 11). This brings sufficient insight on the person reading by stating the bright side of music. Balm basically focuses on reviewing “Go Girl Crazy”. The strengths of this are that he interprets the music that is present and explains the thoughts. The weakness that they present is that the thoughts can be very controversial for the person that is reading the review.
One of the second features of an album review is the one that makes the public decide if they are going to buy the album and then listen to it or spread it by word of mouth/social medial. Petrusich explains that, “Tell Me How You Really Feel addresses both personal concerns and the broader Zeitgeist” (pg. 4). The main thing about a song is that it can give a reader different kind of emotions based on the song. This can also help the reader understand their spiritual needs and wants. Balm states that “Go Girl Crazy is entertaining because the dictators opt for un (or anti) pretension in lieu of refinement” (pg. 218). This attracts readers that have the same attitudes and values towards a certain thing.
The last feature of an album review is that people have the same feeling about a type of musical based on its hardcore evidence In Petrus ich’s review of “Courtney Barnett’s “Tell Me How You Really Feel”, “Any woman who has ever had to speed walk down a side street late at night knows this trick-using your keys to make a kind of wolverine paw of your hand” (pg. 4). She started with lyrics that show how feeling and the knowledge that woman has during periods of time. In Balm’s review of “Go Girl Crazy”, he states at hat Basically a vocal group using rudimentary riffs and instrumentals-frenetic fuzzed-out guitar, the strong emphasis on beat’ adherence to 4-4 tempo-the Dictators aren’t much bothered by having a facsimile sound or with taking a tedious break” (pg. 217). They examine how the instrument works and the author also breaks down the music in detail and then gets a bigger and deeper aspect of it.
Petrusich explains that Courtney Barnet likes to sing about songs that are related to depression, sadness and anxiety. Petrusich gives us a sense of what kind of personality Barnett has, “she sounds glorious, enviably unbothered, even as the circumstances around her openly deteriorate”. By showing themselves through the lyrics, people that have the same values as the song can be attracted due to having the same feelings and attitude that the song brings. This also helps the reader know how the vibe is on the whole song that is playing.
The album that I choose was “When we all fall asleep, where do we go?”. This album was released on March, 2019. The album cover can show many different feelings, it gives you a creepy/scary vibe. Billie Ellish is an 18-year-old girl that has been risen in the music industry for the last 3 years. Billie Ellish gained a following in 2016 when she released her single “Ocean Eyes”. She got signed by Interscope Records and from there here career took off. She has only released one album, but has had two EPS, which add up to a total of 20 songs released. Ellish’s music is considered pop alternative electropop but she has very sad, creepy, depressed lyrical songs but they are combined with an upbeat sound system.
The album released on March and it was named the Best Album for the next 2 months. It got nominated for 20 Awards, including Best Album at the American Music Awards. The album’s top songs are “Bad Guy”,”Iloilo”, “wish you were gay”, and “my strange addiction”. Ellish’s fans have given great reviews about this album. This album has 5 songs on the top 50 songs in Spotify. The album was a great success.
This album has very depressed and sad lyrics. It is focus on broken hearts, tears, and having a negative/sad attitude towards everything that happens in life. The weird thing is that Ellish combines these sad emotions with an upbeat music, this gives it the popularity and uniqueness that her songs have. Her voice is very pure and she does not use any kind of sound effects, she changes her singing voice based on the music beat and it sounds beautiful. Ellish has been known as having “the voice of an angel”.
Her most popular song on this album is called “Bad Guy”. The lyrics go as stated:
“So, you’re a tough guy
Like it really rough guy
Just can’t get enough guy
Chest always so puffed guy
I’m that bad type
Make your mama sad type
Make your girlfriend mad tight
Might seduce your dad type
I’m the bad guy, duh
I’m the bad guy”
In this song, Eliish is describing that the guy in this song is a bad guy, that he has the “bad boy” type and he is a very toxic person. She also tells the reader how she is the bad girl also in the relationship. That she breaks rules and does whatever she wants with whoever she wants. Ellish also brings a sexual appeal in this song:
“I like it when you take control
Even if you know that you don’t
Own me, I’ll let you play the role
I’ll be your animal”
These lyrics explain how she likes a “bad guy” that treats her rough while having sexual experiences. This is why the song became very popular. A lot of girls shared the same feelings that Ellish is expressing on this song. This made her fans feel that it is okay to like bad guys and be a bad girl at whatever things you want to be. Ellish made it “cool” to be a rebel girl.
Another popular song in this Album is “Bury a friend”. The chorus of this song goes as follow:
“What do you want from me? Why don’t you run from me?
What are you wondering? What do you know?
Why aren’t you scared of me? Why do you care for me?
When we all fall asleep, where do we go?”
This is Ellish most creepy and deep song of this album. Ellish is telling the reader that why their friends are not scared of her. She is killing all her friends one by one. She says that she is a very different kind of friend and that she attracts more people but they should be “running” away from her. She then brings the topic of suicide:
“Step on the glass, staple your tongue (ahh)
Bury a friend, try to wake up (ah ahh)
Cannibal class, killing the son (ahh)
Bury a friend, I wanna end me”
She explains how she wants to commit suicide and end her life because she is causing so much pain to other people and herself. This song is lyrical very sad and creepy but what makes it one of her best-selling songs in this album is that the musical beat in this song is very trendy and catchy. It gives it a happy and vibey tone to the lyrics. If you listen to the beat without the lyrics, you would think it would be a party or very vibey song.
Ellish is rising to be one of the most popular artists in the world at a very young age. She is a very unique artist by being able to combine very sad, depressed, heartbroken feelings that many people in this world share, with a very upbeat background music that brings it to life. She still has many years to grow and develop her music and her fans cannot wait to see what this unique artist can bring to their life.
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