[cover art by OmenBoy]
I am doing something really unusual here - something, in fact, that I am fairly certain that I have never done before. I am reviewing a fanmade album (and not just any fanmade album, mind you, but a fanmade album that yours truly compiled)! There is, however, a method to my madness. The goal here is not to critique my own compiling work or anything like that. (The compiling method, in fact, is quite simple - the tracks are in chronological order of when they were released.) No, the goal here is to review Greyson Chance's standalone singles that have no home on any album or EP in one place rather than write a separate review for each single. The fanmade album, which you can stream here, is a collection of thirteen songs released by Greyson since 2014, songs that, as previously stated, are standalone singles that have no home on a larger body of work (with two songs that are kind of exceptions, which I will explain further). Without further ado, however, here is a breakdown of each song on the album:
"Thrilla in Manila" - While "Temptation" did make for the first Greyson Chance song that fans heard after his voice significantly changed, "Temptation" was only ever available to stream on YouTube and never technically got officially released, and "Thrilla in Manila" was intended to be the lead single from Greyson's sophomore album Planet X. Because he was dropped from his record label, however, the album never ended up seeing the light of day and remains unreleased. "Thrilla in Manila" was completely new territory for Chance (and remains that way to this day), as it is a funk song that, according to Chance himself, would have been representative of the overall sound on Planet X (something that you can definitely hear in another song from Planet X, "Animal in the Night," of which fans have only ever heard a live version). I remember not being much of a fan when "Thrilla in Manila" first premiered back in 2014 because it was, as previously stated, such a new style for Greyson but also because I am generally not much of a fan of funk. The song quickly grew on me, however, and became one of my favorite songs to which to work out. It lyrically, as Greyson has said, "speaks of turmoil between friends when relationships get romantic."
"Meridians" - While not, to the best of my knowledge, confirmed, "Meridians" is likely another song that was intended to be on Planet X, given that it was released as a single in relatively close proximity to when "Thrilla in Manila" was released. It is, without a doubt, one of my favorite songs from Greyson Chance's music career thus far, as it is a stunningly beautiful piano ballad with a peaceful and gentle melody that sounds almost like a lullaby. It is lyrically a reflective song, addressing a lover and reminiscing about good times from the past: "Let's go take a drive and think about our lives," Chance opens, "passing through meridians of greater times." As he does on song "More than Me" on the Somewhere Over My Head EP, Greyson Chance superbly captures the bittersweet feeling of nostalgia on this track, and reflecting on the past is something that he seems to do rather frequently in his music.
"Oceans" - Even though Greyson Chance included "Oceans" as part of his setlist when he went on tour for the Somewhere Over My Head EP and also performed an acoustic version of it on Perez Hilton's show, it is not technically his song (although he did co-write it, as he did all of his collaborations), as it is a song by tyDi and Jack Novak with Greyson as a featured artist. Greyson is the sole vocalist, however (as he is on all of his collaborations), and I tend to think of it as being from the Somewhere Over My Head era, especially since, as I said, he performed it on the corresponding tour. While "Afterlife" (the lead single from Somewhere Over My Head) is Greyson's first solo venture into electronic music, "Oceans" is his first venture into electronic music overall, and it certainly would not be the last. The song is an upbeat electronic dance song with a really catchy chorus that is easy to sing along to and is definitely a highlight.
"Anything" - Like "Oceans," Greyson Chance is technically a featured artist on the song "Anything," a song released under electronic DJ Frank Pole (who had previously done a remix of Chance's song "Afterlife"). Because Chance is the sole vocalist on these collaborations and also because he co-wrote them, however, I definitely think of them as his songs. "Anything" is such a happy, feel-good dance song that kind of makes me wish that I were in a relationship, and it offers some of Greyson's most impressive vocals of his career so far. In the song's third verse, Chance sings, "I'll pick you up where we left off, skipping all of the small talk 'cause words were never our forte, and missing you was the foreplay," which is definitely the kind of cleverly cheeky lyric that I have come to expect Greyson to write.
"London" - Released only several months after the Somewhere Over My Head EP was released, "London" is another song that I tend to think of as part of the Somewhere Over My Head era. The song, which is inspired heavily by the William Blake poem of the same title, is a beautiful piano ballad that reminds me of the likes of artists like The Fray and Andrew McMahon. The lyrics speak to internal turmoil as do many of Chance's songs. (He has even identified himself as a '90s sad boy.) "...'Cause in you, there's an angel, an angel trapped by fear. You're so trapped by fear." As someone who has a very long history with depression, I think that that is one reason why I love Greyson's music so much - I can relate to a lot of it.
"Earn It" - "Earn It" is the first of two songs that Greyson Chance did with DJ Fabian Mazur and is easily one of my favorite songs of Chance's career thus far (if not my favorite). The melody is easily one of his catchiest, and the electronic drop in the song is one of the sickest drops that I have ever heard in any song ever. Greyson co-wrote the song with Fabian Mazur, and lyrics such as "No, I ain't got a lighter" and "Your love is like a fine wine, drinks real good when it's the right time" make Greyson's involvement in the lyrics all too obvious, as lyrics such as those definitely have Greyson Chance written all over them. The song seems to lyrically be from the perspective of someone who has gone out of his way to show someone how much that he loves him but isn't getting the effort matched in return: "I'm earning all the love that I deserve; I'm earning you, and baby, I want more." It's definitely a relatable song for me.
"Hungry Eyes" - As previously mentioned, there are two songs on pre-portraits that are technically exceptions to what I said about these songs being loose standalone singles that have no home on any larger body of work, and "Hungry Eyes" is one of them. A cover of a song of the same title sung by Eric Carmen in 1987 for the soundtrack to the film Dirty Dancing, Greyson's version (which, in my opinion, is exponentially better than the original, and I am not just saying that as a biased fan) is found on the soundtrack to the 2017 remake of the film, so while it does technically have a home on a larger body of work, that work is a soundtrack compilation, not an album or EP featuring strictly Greyson's music. This version, as I said, is far superior to Eric Carmen's original in my opinion, and one thing that I love about this cover is the retro treatment that the instrumental gets. When older songs from decades ago are covered by artists, they are often given a very modernized treatment, but Chance's cover of "Hungry Eyes" retains an '80s sound, which is definitely one of its charms.
"Seasons" - "Seasons" is the second exception (although not really). On his new album portraits, Greyson Chance included a new version of the song titled "seasons nineteen" (likely meaning that it's the 2019 version of the song) which features a lot of new lyrics and is more upbeat with electronic fuel. (It is nowhere near as good as the original one.) The original version, however, remains a standalone single, and the song just works so much better as a soft piano ballad. The song is very similar to "London" in tone, and its lyrics are very poetic: "Linked to adventures I can't see, and I'm dreamin' of some time to breathe, and I'll walk to them 'til I'm black and blue." Chance explained that the song was inspired by something that his mother told him about how his life is measured in seasons, not in chapters. Also worth mentioning about "Seasons" is that even though he wouldn't release a studio version until a good year or so later, Greyson performed the song live as part of his Somewhere Over My Head tour setlist, so it's yet another song that I tend to think of as being part of that era.
"Walk Away" - "Walk Away" is another electronic collaboration, this time with Dutch duo Sick Individuals (stylized as SICK INDIVIDUALS). As is always the case with these collaborations, Greyson Chance is the sole vocalist and also co-wrote the song. "Walk Away" is a club banger that features a relentlessly catchy instrumental with a "ooh-la-la-la..." hook, and the lyrics are thematically similar to Greyson Chance's song "Hit & Run" from his Somewhere Over My Head EP, as the song seems to be about wanting to have fun with a partner but not wanting to settle down: "...I can't understand why you hold me to promises that I never planned," Greyson sings. "If you're gonna worry about tomorrow, then you're gonna miss today. If you're too hung up on the future, then I might just walk away..." One of my favorite lines in the song is when he sings in the chorus that "I don't know how to love you when I'm sober. If you want something more, I guess it's over." I don't really support the stance of the song (or that of the aforementioned "Hit & Run" song), as I would definitely say that the speaker is the villain of the story, wanting to use his partner for casual fun but not wanting to commit. It's brutally honest, however, which is something that I love about his music.
"Low" - "Low" is definitely one of my favorite songs from Greyson Chance's catalogue so far because it is so vehemently relatable for me, lyrically touching upon feeling lost and lonely in the world and wanting desperately to find yourself: "I see a dark reflection in my dashboard [a brilliant metaphor for feeling alien to oneself]. Don't even know where I'm driving to anymore." My favorite line is the following - "They say through time, I'll find some healing, but the clock is slow" because it reminds me of something that Björk said regarding her Vulnicura album about the healing process being a stubborn clock. I also love the song because I think that, in some ways, it serves as a sequel to the aforementioned song "Hit & Run" (possibly even having been written about the same person, as I discussed here in my review of the Somewhere Over My Head EP). "Low" is a very soft and melancholy piano ballad totally and completely appropriate for its subject matter, but there is also a remix done by R3HAB that was also released as a single, and that version is considerably more upbeat. (I definitely prefer the original version, however, as, as I said, the morose and heartfelt lyrics of the song definitely call for a soft ballad.)
"Lighthouse" - This song is Greyson Chance's second (and, so far, final) collaboration with the aforementioned Fabian Mazur. Funnily enough, while "Earn It" is one of my favorite songs from Greyson's catalogue thus far, "Lighthouse" is one of my least favorite songs from his catalogue so far, mainly because in comparison to many of Greyson's songs, this melody isn't as interesting or as catchy. It is also significantly tamer and more restrained than "Earn It," which is why it kind of surprised me that it was with the same musician as "Earn It" was. I do, however, really love the imagery of the song's lyrics, using lighthouses near bodies of water as a metaphor for searching for the love of someone whose love he has lost: "I left you deep in the water. I left your heart out to drown. You call to me... I know we are drifting far away from shore, but know that I will be here evermore in lighthouses searching for you out there." Much of my epic (and failed) relationship took place near a large body of water with a lighthouse (which wasn't operable, but the image is still prevalent in my memories), so I think that that is one reason why, as I said, I really love the imagery that the lyrics of "Lighthouse" offers. I just don't find it all that interesting melodically or rhythmically.
"Good as Gold" - This song is, without a doubt, one of the best songs of Greyson Chance's career thus far and definitely one of the most memorable, not only because of the positive and encouraging lyrics that speak to me on such a deep level but also because it's one of the very few Greyson Chance singles to feature a music video accompanying it. (The music video, depicting and dedicated to the significantly impoverished Lakota tribe of South Dakota, is also very deep and meaningful.) The song, a piano pop ballad with a catchy and anthemic chorus that makes it one of the easiest Greyson songs to which to sing along, reminds people suffering from internal pain and depression (a topic that he, as previously mentioned, writes and sings about frequently) that they are not alone and that they are not worthless: "I know you're hurting and you're feeling sold. I know it hurts when you don't know where to go [probably a reference to "Low" in which he sings that "I am lost, and I don't know where to go..."], and when you're tied up by the past you hold, you've got to know that you are good as gold." Another aspect of this song that I love is that I don't think that he is addressing anyone in particular but rather his fans, which makes his saying that "you mean so much to me" all the more impactful. Although not as good as the original version, "Good as Gold" also has a more upbeat remix done by Flyboy.
"Twenty One" - Because I had initially mistakenly believed that Greyson Chance's single "Twenty One" (released this past December 2018) was the lead single to portraits, I actually already wrote a review of it here, so I won't comment much on the song in this post. I will say, however, that it is the final loose standalone single that Greyson Chance released before entering the portraits era, so it's only right that it closes my fanmade album. It also works as a closing track on a thematic level, since it lyrically addresses Chance's newfound status as a fully fledged adult in all possible ways, which sort of both closes a chapter of his life and introduces a new one, which is one reason why I think that I like it even more now than I did when I wrote that aforementioned review of it. (Even if I had not compiled the tracklisting chronologically, in fact, I probably still would have put this at the end. There just seems to be no other appropriate way to end it.)
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