American singer-songwriter Greyson Chance rose to fame more than a decade ago when a video of him performing Lady Gaga's hit "Paparazzi" at a school talent show went viral. It caught the attention of Ellen DeGeneres who had him perform the song on her show and also signed him to eleveneleven, her record label under which Greyson released his debut album Hold on 'Til the Night. Ask Greyson himself, however, what he considers to be his debut album, and he will cite 2019's portraits - and with very good reason. Hold on 'Til the Night has some gems on it such as "Heart Like Stone" and "Summertrain," but most of the songs did not much involve him in the writing process and are therefore not authentically his. For starters, many of the songs on the album are about female love interests (there is even a song titled "Cheyenne"), and Chance has since come out as gay. portraits therefore marked his first full-length album on which he was expressing himself as a person and as an artist authentically. (Given the perspective that Greyson recently shone light on regarding Ellen's manipulative behavior, which Charlie Puth soon after corroborated, we can add that to the list of reasons why he seems to dismiss that album.) Following portraits, Greyson proceeded to tease the follow-up titled Trophies. Unfortunately, however, that - released in June of 2021 - ended up being more of an EP than an album, with several tracks such as "Honeysuckle" and "Bad to Myself" (just to name a couple) being released as stand-alone singles but not making it to Trophies. (Greyson himself expressed his frustration with the record label interfering with that album's process, resulting in it being a different product than he had intended.) 2022's Palladium is ultimately the gift to fans who were anticipating a proper, full-length album following portraits. It features thirteen tracks as well as more of an overarching theme and narrative than Trophies does (or, for that matter, even portraits). This is, in fact, arguably the most cohesive body of work that the singer has thus far given us.
Palladium opens with its title track, which I am going to skip over discussing here only because I did already review it as a single release. The album then gives us "Aloe Vera," a song that seems to be addressing someone who thinks themselves somewhat of an offbeat hipster or something to that effect. (I am quite honestly not sure what terminology to use.) The person potentially even fancies themselves somewhat of a Bohemian given the line: "...When the money ain't there, then you just don't eat." Greyson is no stranger to using words to describe someone that would normally be seen as insults but that he is using affectionately, and his choice of word here is motherfucker: "You reading In Cold Blood like the motherfucker that you are." The song has a very slow, sultry beat, and it's very airy and soulful. I love when Greyson goes up into falsetto in the chorus: "'Nobody knows my baby.'" We then get "Down & Out," a mellow but sonically fun song with fluttering piano. A soft piano rock song in the vein of Jack's Mannequin and The Fray, the song seems to be lyrically addressing a relationship that left the speaker worse for wear: "I now know I can't be what you wanted," he laments in the pre-chorus, "when you pulled apart my body seam by seam." "Watchtowers" is a very short track at only a minute and eleven seconds, acting as somewhat of an interlude. It's a very beautiful song, as short as it is, opening on uplifting somewhat echoed wordless vocals which sound female to me, but I could not find any credit regarding who it might be. (Greyson is capable of hitting very high notes, as he proves right in this song even, so it could be him, but it doesn't sound like him to me.) It remains a very low and quiet song throughout, with piano providing the main accompaniment to Greyson's falsetto vocals, which definitely take the lead at the very front of the track. (The volume of his voice is refreshing, however, given music's recent trend of burying vocals.) It lyrically seems to be asking someone (possibly himself) to help him stay on a path toward personal healing and progress.
"Black Mascara" is, without a doubt, one of my favorite tracks on Palladium if not my favorite. It opens on gentle acoustic guitar and piano reminiscent of The Beatles (although its somewhat vintage sound also brings to mind Lana Del Rey, especially her Ultraviolence album.) This is an interesting one because I don't think that it's from Greyson's own perspective but rather from the perspective of famous celebrity women (which the visual lyric video released alongside it seems to support). I am once again reminded of Lana Del Rey - in this case her song "Dark but Just a Game." "...Their stories all end tragically," Del Rey sings in that song. "Sweet, what-whatever, baby, and that's the price of fame - a tale as old as time..." Chance seems to be tackling a similar topic here: "One day," he declares in the second verse, "I'll have some money after my funeral, honey. They'll say I was a legend - gone way too soon for heaven." I really like how the track gets a little louder and little more energetic closer to the end when it brings electric guitar into the mix, making it a soft rock song. "Mercury Year" is another track driven by piano (which is my favorite instrument and is approximately 50% of why Greyson caught the media's attention in the first place). It's a beautiful song and makes reference to the final song on the album in the second verse: "...When I drove off and you sang the balcony song..." (We then get "Athena," but this is another one that was released prior to the album, so I already reviewed it.) "Pallas," like "Watchtowers," is another short one at about a minute and fourteen seconds. It opens on an ambient sound that reminds me a bit of the Lost main title, and it's a unique one because there are two vocal layers that are out of sync, which is not something that you hear very often in music. It lyrically, as is the case with a few other songs on the record, addresses a relationship that has ended, leaving Greyson in need of healing: "I need some love now. I thought you were the one, holding my heart like it's palladium." I love the reference to the album title; like I said, this is, without a doubt, his most cohesive album yet.
"Homerun Hitter" is the third and final pre-release song, so it's another one that was already reviewed on this blog, but I will add that Greyson did comment on it specifically in a recent interview, saying that it's about thinking that he had everything in a relationship that since ended but then realizing that he is no longer sure what he wants. He pointed out that it's a very important song to him and helped him move past a breakup (which was likely with his ex-boyfriend Michael). Like "Watchtowers" and "Pallas," "Panthers" is yet another short one at only one minute and thirty-eight seconds. It is, as is much of the album, piano-based, but there is also a very low synth, and Chance seems to be singing about an unrequited love: "Paint my face in hope, darling... If only I could be what you want, be the target of your love." It's a nice song, but my only real complaint with it is its brevity since it sort of does abruptly cut off without a satisfying conclusion. Palladium then gives us one of the album's singles (complete with a cinematic music video), "My Dying Spirit." It makes sense that Chance would release this one as a single and music video because it's definitely one of the bigger sounding songs on the album and also somehow seems to be one of the most personally raw. In the second verse, for example, he addresses two personal issues that he has addressed previously in his music: (1) his eating disorder on "Bad to Myself" and (2) his habitual drinking on "stand." "I'm hanging on needless hunger," he admits, "keeps the tears out the devil's eyes. I don't eat because he tells me that it's fine. Barely even standing now. Goddamn, I need another round." It's a piano rock track, another one reminiscent of bands like Jack's Mannequin and The Fray, and I love its inclusion of a gospel-esque choir. Most of Palladium takes pride in its raw simplicity, but this track is definitely one that stands out, and I wholeheartedly mean that as a compliment; it's a highlight for sure.
The penultimate effort on the album is "Hemingway, 74 rue de Cardinal," definitely another highlight. In fact, this is up for favorite song from the album. (It is kind of hard to choose between this and "Black Mascara.") Carried along primarily by acoustic guitar and piano as well as beautifully harmonized vocals, it has an absolutely beautiful and haunting melody especially in the chorus, making it one of the album's more infectious and memorable tracks if not the most memorable.. The lyrics are also so intense and hard-hitting, seemingly about Chance grieving the end of a relationship and wondering what legacy he will leave behind as an artist, contrasting himself from poets and folk musicians such as Ernest Hemingway (the song's namesake), Bob Dylan, and Joni Mitchell: "I'm no Dylan in the Village putting typewriters to shame. I've got stacks of empty paper. I've got nothing to my name." This could possibly be referencing Greyson's lack of mainstream success despite the several albums and EPs under his belt and the fact that he debuted as a viral sensation. While I don't care much about charts when it comes to music (the pop music fandom is seriously so toxic with its talk of "flops" and obsession with awards and chart numbers), there is a level of frustration for me because while yes, he does create alternative music that wouldn't normally be played on pop radio, it's not that far removed from the music released by, say, Lewis Capaldi, who catapulted into mainstream success seemingly overnight. There isn't even a Wikipedia page for this album. Very little information about the album's credits and whatnot are available on Genius, and there are also very few lyrical annotations on Genius. He simply doesn't get the recognition that he deserves, and that is a bit frustrating. Greyson, however, seems to overall be happy with where he is; when asked in the aforementioned interview how he feels about his place in the music industry, he said that he is in a good place.
The closing act is "The Balcony Song," alluded to in the previously discussed "Mercury Year." The track features minimal musical accompaniment, dominated by Chance's gentle vocals. I am honestly not sure what the song is about or who it's addressing because on one level, you could argue that it's addressing an ex-lover who has hurt him: "The fire of the night, you started wars inside the corners of my chest, the vicious look inside your eyes when you lit my skin like a match." It's possible that the "lighting" of his skin is intended to be a sexual metaphor, but like I said, I am not sure because he shortly thereafter follows that up with, "Hell, I'll never make it to your age," which suggests that the song is about someone considerably older. Could it be his father whose influence on him he has previously addressed on tracks like "Hit & Run" and "stand"? Although not my favorite track from Palladium, it is still a strong number and serves as a great closer. In that interview that I keep citing, Greyson said that he was going for a much more alternative sound on this album than he has in the past which I think is definitely evident, especially on "Black Mascara," and this album definitely showcases his talent especially as a poetic lyricist. It is also, as previously stated, his most cohesive body of work to date. Hold on 'Til the Night, portraits, and Trophies are all bodies of work that lack an overall focus or direction; they're just sort of collections of songs, but that is definitely not the case on Palladium. Songs build on the same story and even occasionally reference each other. In that sense, it's definitely his strongest work thus far, but that's not to say that it's flawless. You're not going to find the kind of catchy hook like you do on "shut up" or a fun, playful beat like on "black on black," and I think that Sam Thomas says it best in his review of the album: "...It does suffer from a touch of repetition. The body of work is a solid example of sonic cohesion, but some songs... blend slightly." If, however, you're looking for lyrics that pack a punch, Palladium is a good place to start.
