Greyson Chance found fame primarily because of his cover of Lady Gaga's "Paparazzi" song, which he performed live on a talent show, the recording of which was discovered by Ellen DeGeneres. Since then, Chance has released an album (2011's Hold on 'Til the Night), two EPs (2012's Truth Be Told and 2016's Somewhere Over My Head), and various singles here and there, but it has been over seven years since he has released a full-length album (even though he does definitely have an album's worth of loose singles floating around out there without a home). A sophomore album, however, titled portraits, will finally be dropping in early 2019 (no specific date has been announced yet), with "Twenty One" reportedly being its lead single. (Update: I have since realized that "Twenty One" is actually yet another standalone single and will not be on portraits.) The song is appropriately titled, as Chance actually is (as of August 16, 2018) twenty-one years old, something that, according to both his Instagram stories and the lyrics of this song, he has clearly been taking advantage of. The lyrics speak to some of Greyson's more - shall we say - frolicsome behavior as of late, such as smoking pot (the song opens with the spoken words "here, you light the bowl"), smoking cigarettes ("but I live in the moment, burnt sleeves and cigarette ash"), drinking alcohol ("cruising all summer, cheap drinks..."), partying ("dancing all night"), and, potentially, having sex ("take another fall for a pretty boy... fucks me all up"). Chance, in the song's lyrics, acknowledges that his behavior can sometimes be construed as rash, as he says that "my friends, they tell me that I need to cut back...," but he justifies his behavior by saying that "we only got one year to be twenty one." The lyrics are not as deep and as meaningful as some of his other recent songs have been such as "Low" and "Good as Gold," but they are still definitely very personal, as they do, as previously stated, speak to Greyson's current place in life, and although I have not been twenty-one for nearly eight years and wasn't much of a partier even when I was and consequently can't much relate to the song lyrically, I still love the song because of its catchy and playful melody, especially during the song's chorus when Greyson sings that "he puts a spell on me, puts a spell on me." I also love the song's beat which (most likely intentionally given the lyrical content) sounds like a lighter being flicked on and off. It's a fun song, but I am definitely hoping for more deep and emotional songs as well, which I am sure that the album will offer. "Twenty One" is, after all, only one of many portraits. (I again reiterate that at the time when I initially wrote this review, I was, for some reason, under the impression that this song was the lead single from portraits, and I sincerely apologize for the misinformation. It is actually "shut up" that is the lead single.)
Since their release of the epic single "The Reckoning" (which I reviewed here), Dutch metal band Within Temptation has released two more singles from their upcoming seventh studio album Resist (which was originally scheduled for release on December 14, 2018 but has unfortunately been delayed until February 1, 2019) - "Raise Your Banner" and "Firelight."
While neither song manages to match the sheer power of "The Reckoning"
(which, in my opinion, is one of the greatest songs of the band's entire
discography so far, with a visually stunning music video
to match), they are competent. "Raise Your Banner" features guest
vocals from Anders Fridén of Swedish metal band In Flames, and two
versions are available - the full-length version (which is likely the
album version) and a shorter radio edit. The song follows Within
Temptation's typical symphonic metal sound, and both the song's lyrics
and its melody bring me back to the band's 2007 album The Heart of Everything, reminding me especially of that album's song "The Truth Beneath the Rose."
My favorite part of the song is when frontwoman Sharon den Adel says
(yes, it's more speech than it is singing), "The way that you torment
me, the way that you challenge me, the way that you make me bleed..."
The song is lyrically similar to songs like "The Howling" and "Our Solemn Hour" from the aforementioned The Heart of Everything, as it seems to cover the tragedies of war: "Raise your banner. Won't you come? Fight the venom. The good die young." The music video
also follows in the footsteps left by the music video for "The
Reckoning," as it also features futuristic sci-fi elements, this time
cyborgs reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell.
The third single released from Resist
thus far is titled "Firelight," which features guest vocals from Jasper
Steverlinck of Belgian alternative rock band Arid (a band which I admit
to never having heard of prior to this song being released). This song,
too, has two different versions available - a short single edit and a
full-length version. I find "Firelight" to be a bit more interesting
than "Raise Your Banner," especially since I consider it to be a unique
song from Within Temptation's catalogue thus far. It features tribal
chanting that persists throughout the song underneath den Adel's and
Steverlinck's alternating parts, and the two of them make a memorable
vocal pairing, as their voices sound lovely together. The lyrics are not
as transparent as those from "The Reckoning" or "Raise Your Banner"
are, but I believe this song to be about how we shouldn't let an
opportunity to voice ourselves go to waste, that expressing ourselves is
a crucial privilege: "Silence rules spineless fools." This would, of
course, also be in keeping with the title of the album: Resist.
It really is so unfortunate that the album has been delayed by nearly
two months because were that not the case, we would now have the album,
and I am really looking forward to this album, as it is, so far,
possibly promising to be the best Within Temptation album since The Heart of Everything. It will likely be a tough call to make, however, because I do also really love The Unforgiving (featuring memorable songs like "I Don't Wanna," "Shot in the Dark," "In the Middle of the Night," and "Sinéad"),
but I am definitely hoping for more songs with the epic energy of "The
Reckoning" to be heard on the rest of the album, which, as previously
stated, drops on February 1, 2019 as long as there are no additional
delays.
