Within Temptation has released yet another (this being their fourth) single from their upcoming album Resist, which (due to a delay, as it was originally intended for a December release) is due to be released on February 1, 2019. "In Vain" is another song in the same vein (see what I did there?) as its three predecessors ("The Reckoning," "Raise Your Banner," and "Firelight") - an alternative rock tune with a really catchy chorus. This one's chorus is especially catchy and very pop-oriented, which makes sense because frontwoman Sharon den Adel has said that much of the inspiration behind Resist comes from modern day pop music, a sound which the band attempts to make darker and more rebellious on Resist. (Something that I did not learn until recently, in fact, is that "Firelight," the third single released from Resist, was originally intended for her solo album My Indigo, a pop album through and through.) "In Vain" is rather light and steady in its verses but picks up some energy in its chorus, and it seems to lyrically be from the perspective of someone who has witnessed and survived some type of apocalyptic event: "Up until the final day, I guess we said enough. We said enough to know it's all in vain." (This would be in keeping with the album having been described as dystopian.) While "The Reckoning" (which is one of the most energetic and easily one of my favorite songs of the band's entire catalogue thus far) still remains my favorite song heard from Resist thus far, "In Vain" is still definitely a keeper (especially in its powerful melody in the chorus), and I am really looking forward to finally hearing the rest of the album on the first of February!
Lana Del Rey has released a third single from her yet to be released album Norman Fucking Rockwell, and while the second single ("Venice Bitch") might have been unconventionally long, this one's title is unconventionally long, as the title is "hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have - but i have it" (the title being in all lowercase letters is not an error on my part; it's actually registered as such). "hope is a dangerous thing for a woman like me to have it - but i have it" is not my favorite song released from the new album so far (as that honor goes to the aforementioned "Venice Bitch"), but it's definitely a great song nonetheless. Like "Mariners Apartment Complex" (the first single released from Norman Fucking Rockwell), the song is driven by soft piano, and Lana sings in her usual soft and slightly echoed voice. The lyrics remind me a bit of "Ride" in that they are very confessional and introspective, especially when she sings in the second verse, "...except for the stage, which I also call home." I am also reminded of "Young and Beautiful" in that both songs present a rather bleak problem but then offer a hopeful solution; such is stated directly in the title of this song, and in "Young and Beautiful," Lana sings, "Will you still love me when I'm no longer young and beautiful? I know you will." Lana refers to confessional poet Sylvia Plath in the first chorus when she sings that she has "been tearing around in my fucking nightgown, 24/7 Sylvia Plath." It's unclear what she means here - is she comparing herself to Sylvia Plath in the way that she is "tearing around" 24/7, or is she saying that she is reading Sylvia Plath 24/7? Either way, I am happy to hear a comparison to Plath as she is easily one of my favorite poets of all time, and given Plath's admitted Electra Complex (as evidenced in poems like "Daddy"), it makes a lot of sense that Lana would relate to Plath, as Lana seems to have a bit of an Electra Complex herself (as evidenced in lyrics from songs such as "Daddy Issues," "Ride," "Cola," "You Can Be the Boss," and countless others). The melody of the chorus is beautiful, and it is, as aforementioned, a great song, but I do have one potential problem with it. In the second chorus, Lana sings, "Shaking my ass is the only thing that's got this black narcissist off my back; she couldn't care less, and I never cared more, so there's no more to say about that." A few months ago, Lana and rapper Azealia Banks (with whom she had previously collaborated on a remix of "Blue Jeans") feuded over Twitter, so this part of the song could be a reference to that, although it's probably not because it would seem as if she would have written this song prior to that happening, and I wouldn't think that Lana would write such lyrics that could easily be construed as racist. At any rate, here is to hoping that news regarding Norman Fucking Rockwell - such as the album cover and/or the release date - is on the way soon!
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.
Hollywood sadcore musician Lana Del Rey has already announced a follow-up album to 2017's Lust for Life. Having been announced as titled Norman Fucking Rockwell and set to be released in early 2019, Del Rey has already released two singles from the album - "Mariners Apartment Complex" and "Venice Bitch." "Mariners Apartment Complex" is a folksy piano and acoustic guitar ballad that sounds like it could belong on the latter half of Lust for Life. There is also an instrumental break near the end of the song that calls back to the surf rock and blues rock sounds prevalent on 2014's Ultraviolence (my favorite Lana Del Rey album so far). (I am reminded especially of the song "Flipside" which is found on the Target exclusive edition of Ultraviolence.) On "Mariners Apartment Complex," Del Rey sings in her signature breathy whisper, and she also showcases her vast range, hitting both a low and a high register. Del Rey has come forth about the song's meaning, saying that it's based on an actual experience in which a guy whom she was seeing told her that he felt that they were seeing each other because of how sad that they both were, and Lana was surprised by his comment because she didn't think of herself as sad: "You took my sadness out of context," she explains in the song's opening lyric. I like "Mariners Apartment Complex" for the most part, but the main problem that I have with it is that it, more than likely coincidentally, sounds strikingly similar to the 2007 song "Where I Stood" by Missy Higgins. Aspects of the instrumentals are nearly identical, and parts of the singers' melodies are also similar. I cannot listen to "Mariners Apartment Complex" without thinking about "Where I Stood," so it is difficult for me to wholly think of it as an original song.
"Mariners Apartment Complex" features the lyric, "...your Venice bitch, your die-hard, your weakness," and this is a nod to the the second single from Norman Fucking Rockwell titled "Venice Bitch." (Considering the fact that the cover art for "Mariners Apartment Complex" features Lana wearing a shirt that says Venice Bitch and the cover art for "Venice Bitch" features a building, I wish that the covers were switched, but I digress.) I prefer "Venice Bitch" to "Mariners Apartment Complex" because the melody is beautiful in a lulling way, and the song transports me to a dreamy and otherworldly place, especially because of its warbling electric guitar. Like much of Del Rey's work, the song calls back to 1970s folk rock and also, mainly because of the aforementioned electric guitar, sounds a bit psychedelic. Something that makes "Venice Bitch" truly special is that it runs at nearly ten minutes long, making it Lana's longest running song to date. Even so, however, I am easily lost in it, and the ten minutes do not feel like ten minutes. I do think that there will probably be a shorter edit released eventually, considering the fact that it is a single and no radio station is likely to play a song that long. (Del Rey's managers even advised against this song being released as a single, but the gall that it takes to release a single this long despite being warned not to is one of several reasons why I love Lana - she breaks rules.) I already feel fairly confident that "Venice Bitch" will be one of my favorite songs on Norman Fucking Rockwell, and I can even already say that it is one of my favorite songs from her catalogue thus far. It is simply brilliant, and I cannot wait for Norman Fucking Rockwell (even though I am not too thrilled with the title because the vulgarity seems unnecessarily tacky), which, as previously stated, is supposed to drop in early 2019.
Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation is set to follow up its 2014 album Hydra (and lead singer Sharon den Adel's 2018 solo project My Indigo) with Resist, set to be released on December 14, 2018. (The album cover, as can be seen below, is, without a doubt, one of the coolest album covers that I have ever seen, not just from Within Temptation but from any artist ever.) The album's first single "The Reckoning" is not only an epic song but also features an epic and cinematic music video featuring the band fighting off an alien invasion. This is a comeback about which I am very excited, and one reason for that could be that it has, as previously stated, been four years since the band last released an album, and "The Reckoning" offers a fresh energy that proves that the hiatus (caused in part by den Adel suffering from writer's block and from personal problems) was more than likely not only worth it but also needed, especially since I personally consider Hydra to be one of the band's weakest efforts to date, even though I do love songs like "Paradise (What About Us?)" (featuring the phenomenal Tarja, which was a dream collaboration for me), "And We Run" (a collaboration with rapper Xzibit that surprisingly worked exceedingly well), and "Whole World Is Watching" (featuring either Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum or Piotr Rogucki of Coma, depending on which edition of the album is being discussed). "The Reckoning" promises an album afire, however, and as soon as I saw the album title, I suspected that Resist would likely be about the world's currently toxic political climate, caused in large part by Donald Trump, president of the United States. Within Temptation is, after all, no stranger to discussing political issues such as war, as they have on tracks like "The Howling" and "Our Solemn Hour," and when I first saw Resist's tracklisting, I noted that the closing track on Resist is titled "Trophy Hunter," which I am thinking is probably in reference to Trump's endorsement of elephant trophy hunting (something that his sons even take part in themselves), so this promises to be a significant and culturally relevant album (as was 2007's The Heart of Everything which dropped in the heat of the Iraq War).
"The Reckoning" features guest vocals from Papa Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix (who is unfortunately conspicuously absent from the music video), and I am very pleased with the collaboration because Shaddix really helps amplify the song, which is already very energetic as it is. The song is anthemic in nature, driven by what sounds like melodic horn and electronic, almost dubstep, vibes, giving the song more of a futuristic vibe than the band has ever presented before. (In fact, it seems to be the direct opposite of many of Within Temptation's older songs influenced by traditional sounds like Celtic music.) The melody of "The Reckoning" is catchy, rich, and powerful, and it manages to be both upbeat and dark, hopeful and also bleak. "We're all alone," Shaddix laments in the second verse, "walking in twilight; the night has been long, and so many have fallen. Feel no remorse; light will be breaking. Our freedom is worth it all." One can see from this verse alone how the song manages to deal with both darkness and light in its lyrics, as it points out problems but also offers solutions. The song is, similarly to aforementioned Within Temptation songs like "The Howling" and "Our Solemn Hour," likely addressing war, lamenting the unnecessary loss of life that runs rampant throughout the world. Unlike those songs, however, "The Reckoning" offers hope, reminding us that we have a voice and can rise up and resist the destruction, that we can choose to be better: "We'll rise against; we'll always hold the line of reckoning." My favorite part of the song is near the end of the song when the chorus is repeated in a quieter and calmer manner, which is then broken by an electronic explosion leading into the song returning to its heavy and more aggressive state. (This is also my favorite part of the music video, as the electronic outbreak happens at the exact moment that the band begins to take the alien spacecraft down.) "The Reckoning" is, without a doubt, one of my favorite Within Temptation songs to date, featuring a tone similar to that found on The Heart of Everything (despite some fans' claims that this is a totally new sound for them), only more electronic and more energetic, and I cannot wait for Resist to drop in December.
Troye Sivan, originally made famous because of his status as a comedic YouTube personality, has followed up his 2015 album Blue Neighbourhood (which I reviewed here) with Bloom, a work that, for the most part, departs rather drastically from the rather subdued indie sound on the first album. Bloom hints at it on occasion, such as on tracks like "Postcard" and "Running Shoes," but it is overall more of a mainstream and radio-friendly collection of dance tracks than its predecessor. Blue Neighbourhood feels almost like a concept album, seeming to tell the story of a turbulent relationship in a small suburban town. (There is even a brilliant short film titled the Blue Neighbourhood Trilogy which uses three of the album's songs - "WILD," "FOOLS," and "TALK ME DOWN" - to tell a story.) Although a good portion of Bloom, however, is lyrically about Sivan's current boyfriend Jacob Bixenman, it still feels a lot less focused than Blue Neighbourhood. I initially felt rather disappointed by Bloom's efforts, but even though I still prefer Blue Neighbourhood, Bloom has grown on me a bit, as I do appreciate it a lot more than I did when I first heard it, especially since several songs are a lot of fun and are very catchy, with highlights being "The Good Side," "Bloom," "Postcard" (featuring Gordi), "Plum," "Lucky Strike," and "Running Shoes" (a beautiful song that is exclusive to the Target edition of the album). I already reviewed a good portion of the album's songs (the ones that were released as singles), so I am going to limit my discussion here to the songs that I have not yet reviewed.
The album opens with "Seventeen," which is kind of a quiet song with retro production, sounding almost like a pop ballad from the 1980s. (I find this interesting because even though it is a much different song in a thematic and lyrical sense, the album's closing song, "Animal," features similar production, resulting in the album beginning and closing in a similar way.) "Seventeen" speaks lyrically of Sivan having lost his virginity at only seventeen years old to an older man: "And he said age is just a number, just like any other. We can do whatever, do whatever you want. Boy becomes a man now. Can't tell a man to slow down. He'll just do whatever, do whatever he wants." The vinyl edition of the album also includes a reprise of "Seventeen" which is acoustic and much shorter. The second, third, and fourth tracks ("My My My!," "The Good Side," and "Bloom") on Bloom are all previously released singles that I already reviewed. (Check out the reviews here and here.) "Postcard" is one of my favorite songs on Bloom, especially since it's one of the few songs on the album that is reminiscent of Blue Neighbourhood - both lyrically and melodically. The song is a slow and beautiful piano ballad that is lyrically about Sivan missing his boyfriend while they are apart: "Now, I don't sleep unless your body's on me. I won't feel right until we can be underneath everything that's between, yeah. I'm undone about to burst at my seams 'cause I am picturing you beside me, so let me be everything that you need, yeah."
Next on the album is Sivan's sultry collaboration with Ariana Grande, a song titled "Dance to This," which I already reviewed here. "Plum" follows "Dance to This" and is a fun and upbeat pop song that I think might have more than one intended meaning. The chorus declares that "maybe our time has come; maybe we're overgrown. Even the sweetest plum has only got so long." I think that it's likely that, like "The Good Side," "Plum" is about Sivan's ex-boyfriend Connor Franta and that the song is about a relationship coming to an end, but the imagery of fruit rotting also reminds me of a line from the title track from Marina's album Froot: "Leave it too long, I'll go rot like an apple you forgot." ("Bloom" also reminds me a great deal of "Froot," especially since some of the lyrics are even strikingly similar.) The idea there would be that the imagery is sexual in nature and that Sivan is encouraging his partner to get him while he's hot, which wouldn't be too farfetched considering the fact that fruit (or flowers) is used as metaphors for sex in both "Seventeen" and the title track. "What a Heavenly Way to Die" is a low point on the album for me, as it doesn't really do much melodically and falls rather flat and uninteresting. It once again addresses Sivan's boyfriend Jacob (a topic that honestly tires itself out pretty quickly on the album), telling him how being with him is like paradise and how he hopes to spend the rest of his life with him.
"Lucky Strike" is another playful and upbeat track. Powered electronically by synths and what sounds to me like subdued drum machine, it is one of my favorite songs because of its catchy chorus. "You taste like Lucky Strikes," Sivan sings, which is a reference to the brand of cigarettes of the same name. I am reminded of Sivan's song from the Love, Simon soundtrack, "Strawberries & Cigarettes" (which I reviewed here), because of its lyric, "Strawberries and cigarettes always taste like you." I think that it is possible that since cigarettes can be construed as phallic objects and are used orally, the imagery in "Lucky Strike" is meant to be sexual. "Animal," which I already reviewed here, closes the standard edition of Bloom, but Target's exclusive edition features two more songs - "This This" and the aforementioned "Running Shoes." "This This" honestly isn't anything special, but I instantly fell in love with "Running Shoes" upon first listen. It is a melancholy song driven by acoustic guitar, and it features a gorgeous melody with lyrics about a boy whom Sivan seems to have left (likely another song about Connor). It is easily one of my favorite songs on the album and should not be exclusive to the Target edition, but I suppose that it makes owning the Target edition (which I do) feel all the more special. I overall appreciate Bloom for what it is but prefer Blue Neighbourhood, both because of its sound and its more innocent tone. I realize that Sivan is an adult, but because of factors like the somewhat provocative "Bloom" video and the Bloom book (which features intimate photos taken by Jacob), Sivan has become somewhat of a sex symbol, and I don't know how I feel about that.
