Stella Lefty is a 24 year old country pop singer/songwriter from Winnetka, Illinois who happens to be the daughter of Groupon co-founder & Tempus AI CEO Eric Lefkofsky. She would eventually begin exploring a music career when her debut extended play last summer Tragic, Really last summer preceding a debut single the year earlier, but the lead single to this full-length studio debut “Boston” quickly became her breakout single this past spring following “The Kill” for the Scream VII soundtrack & signing with Atlantic Records to give Long Way Push wider exposure.
“Lean In, Kiss Me” sets the tone with this bland country pop intro singing for her lover to make out with here whereas “Whiskey” as somebody who enjoys the alcoholic beverage feels heavily reminiscent of Taylor Swift’s earliest material 2 decades ago to the point where it gets annoying. “Thinking ‘Bout You” delivers a middle of the road singer/songwriter track singing about getting intimate with her partner while “Ain’t Something I Do” goes country pop again confessing she’s falling for someone.
“Forever Guy” shifts away from country pop in favor of singer/songwriter again asking why she cries over a man who wasn’t meant to be in her life forever & once “Something to Lose” featuring Vincent Mason unites for an underwhelming lovey dovey country pop/pop rock duet, “Good at Leaving” emphasizes the country pop elements singing about being a product of too many heartbreaks.
The singer/songwriter-tinged “Summer You Were Mine” suggests they call it a fling for a reason after a relationship went cold with the seasons wishing things never changed between them while “Feel Better” asks herself when she’ll get out of this rut she’s in, which I can respectfully answer by saying if she makes any artistic evolution down the road. This derivatively uneventful debut at last finished with “Why Wouldn’t We?”, where Stella gives us 1 last Taylor Swift-esque country pop song making corny comparisons like being the laugh to my jokes or the lighter to your smokes.
Former commentator/in-ring performer for the WME Group-owned TKO Group Holdings division WWE, analyst for ESPN’s College GameDay, host of The Pat McAfee Show also on ESPN & former Indianapolis Colts punter Pat McAfee still holds the bragging rights of having the absolute worst country album of 2026 when The Diary of a Polarizing Figure came out the week earlier & if I had to pick a close 2nd, Stella Lefty already reserved her spot with Long Way Home. The production’s obviously more country pop & singer/songwriter influenced than the bro-country subgenre McAfee embraced, yet there isn’t really anything special to me regarding her vocals & songwriting. Blatant industry plant/nepo baby ordeal on Atlantic’s part.
Weezer is a power pop/alt-rock band from Los Angeles, California consisting of bassist Scott Shriner, guitarist Brian Bell, drummer Patrick Wilson & frontman Rivers Cuomo. These guys’ 1994 debut The Blue Album & the 1996 sophomore effort Pinkerton under Geffen Records are both hailed as their finest material, following it up with The Green Album & Maladroit to moderate reception. Make Believe produced by Rick Rubin was a let down, their Interscope Records debut The Red Album was alright, Raditude’s the worst thing they’ve ever made & the Epitaph Records-backed Hurley’s ok regardless of “Memories” being one of their best tracks. Everything Will Be Alright in the End through Republic Records & their Atlantic Records debut The White Album were both some of their finest material in years, but Pacific Daydream was trash as were The Teal Album & The Black Album. I found myself loving OK Human in 2021 despite Van Weezer being a letdown, coming of the SZNZ saga of EPs to have Kenny Beats produce their 16th studio LP albeit first for their new home at Reprise Records/Warner Records.
“Say Yes” was a solid alt-rock/power pop intro singing about being down if Rivers’ partner is whereas “Shine Again” takes us to an alternate universe thematically incorporating elements of post-grunge, stoner rock & hard rock whilst maintaining the other 2 sounds. “Don’t Make It Weird” awkwardly sings about everything being cool if this person lets it be while “We Might as Well Be Strangers” featuring Wednesday has a real chance of becoming Weezer’s best single this decade from the power pop, indie rock & slacker rock vibes to the romantic lyrics.
Alternative rock, post-grunge, power pop, spoken word & slacker rock all make up for the other single “C.E.O.”confirmed to be a “Undone (The Sweater Song)” sequel & I’ll certainly take that instead of “Hoops” unceremoniously kicking off the 2nd half of The Gold Album with what could likely be my least favorite track here despite the shoutout to WWE Hall of Famer Snoop Dogg in the final verse. “Nowhere” thankfully is where things begin to pick back up fusing alt-rock, power pop & post-grunge singing about wanting to be with someone if the snow’s cold or the sky’s grey.
“The Show Must Go On” has more of a self-referential tone than any other song here using a riff reminiscent of “Rock & Roll” by Led Zeppelin while “Up in the Clouds” comes through with what I’d consider a top 5 track & maybe the best example of the post-grunge undertones explored pairing that with Rivers Cuomo’s optimistic performance. “The LA Sound” triumphantly concludes The Gold Album singing about how you can’t fake their knack of digging into each other’s individual collective chops & flipping the concept of pop music on it’s head.
In addition to becoming the Coloring Book saga’s most gratifying installment since The White Album an entire decade earlier, it doesn’t surprise me that I’d have The Gold Album became Weezer’s most reinvigorating statement since OK Human with the only exception being this surpassing it. Kenny Beats’ alternative rock, power pop, post-grunge & slacker rock production combined with the entire band making songwriting contributions gets back to their sense of wonder & hopefully keeping it that way.
I believe this might be the 7th solo LP from Jersey City wordsmith Ransom. Coming up as 1/2 of the short-lived duo A-Team alongside Hitchcock, he branched out on his own in 2008 following their disbandment beginning with the full-length debut Street Cinema & the Statik Selektah-produced sophomore effort The Proposal. These last several years have been his biggest so far whether it be the 5 EPs that he put out produced by Nicholas Craven & 7 based around the 7 deadly sins, Heavy’s the Head entirely produced by Big Ghost Ltd., the Rome Streetz collab album Coup de Grâce, Chaos is My Ladder, Director’s Cut 4 & Deleted Scenes 2. Lavish Misery produced by Harry Fraud was a step above Spare the Rod, Spoil the Child & MadeinTYO producing Smoke & Mirrors last summer was an exciting surprise, coming off The Reinvention produced by DJ Premier & The Uncomfortable Truth produced by Conductor Williams to explain The Price of Clarity.
After the “Ignorance Was Bliss” intro, “The Prime Example” works in some horns to talk about being nothing these caricatures chasing applause whereas “Good Mournings” produced by Mike & Keys soulfully asks why he should go out on a limb for a dumb muhfucka who fed sharks. “Sorry My Love” featuring Nick Grant finds the pair over a chipmunk soul instrumental talking about putting their lives in these raps while “Dr. Manhattan” strips the drums to transcend weak thoughts & fashion trends.
“Richer Prior Life” continues from there discuss washed up artists who be rambling about one potentially becoming musical prodigies just before “Swan Song” speaks of trying to make himself a bride rather than getting along with a woman. “The Boule’” wraps up the 1st half of The Price of Clarity talking about everyone wanting fame until it becomes difficult over a funky beat while “The Temptations gets the 2nd act going discarding all the haters who’ve been despising his God given talents.
Freeway & Young Chris both appear on “The Coldest Winter” providing their own answers to the question of “Where do you go from love?” over a soulful Nicholas Craven instrumental while “MK Ultra” tensely talks about seeing things too clearly. The title track explains there always being a lesson inside our own tragedies while “Circumvention” featuring Lloyd Banks lavishly talks about clapping joyously at the blessing in disguise called pain.
“Hollywood Squares” brings back the soul courtesy of The Heatmakerz recalling what his mother warned him regarding common crooks being portrayed by corny actors & after the “Crystal Clear” interlude, “The Ultimate Betrayal” responds to claims of the devil being a lie wondering what if his greatest trick was the bible wasn’t his. “Confessional Booth” wraps up The Price of Clarity talking about his belief of letting out all the hardships we bottle up.
The general consensus amongst our time’s greatest thinkers & philosophers is that we cannot put a price on clarity, so Ransom comes off the Salvation for the Wicked collaborative EP he did with Boldy James going solo for the first time in 9 months admirably challenging those claims despite not being my favorite thing he’s done. My main critique lies with some of the production falls flat compared to his recent output, but the powerful messaging can’t be ignored.
Ice-T is a 68 year old MC, actor, songwriter, producer & author from Los Angeles, California by way of Newark, New Jersey known for pioneering gangsta rap with his 1987 debut Rhyme Pays under Warner Records. Poweras well as The Iceberg: Freedom of Speech…Just Watch What You Say! & O.G. (Original Gangster) were all equally praised, dropping the underrated Home Invasion through Priority Records. Ice-T VI: Return of the Real & 7th Deadly Sin both came out independently to lukewarm reception, returning 2 decades after the poorly received Gangsta Rap for the Body Count frontman’s 9th studio LP.
After the intro, “It’s What You Say” produced by Charlemagne begins with a piano-driven boom bap opener talking about kicking game every time he’s on the mic whereas “No Competition” aggressively asks why he should stop when most of these bitches are trash over an Afrika Islam beat. “Keep It Gangsta” featuring Kenny Ivy, Treach & Zieme goes for a summery vibe instrumentally getting on their gangsta shit lyrically just before “Hardcore Motherfucker” ruggedly talks about being a badass.
“California” featuring Fedie Demarco unites the pair over a beat Dr. Dre would’ve made in the 2000s representing the west coast leading into the title track returning to the boom bap talking about him cautioning not to look inside his head when one already has. “It’s All About…” links up with P.A. Dre fresh off Inspectah Deck’s 5th album Dragon’s Breath tackling materialism while “You Can Get It” featuring Smoothe da Hustler & Treach unites all 3 of them so they can discuss achieving your dreams.
As for “Follow the Leader”, we have Ice-T leaning towards a rap rock sound talking about having a plan for your life unless you want to spend the rest of your days on the lamb while “Shut the Fuck Up” disses artists making podcast appearances snitching on themselves. “Hustle Hard” reaches the midway point of Criminal Migraine talking about always grinding no matter what while the romantically eye-rolling “Kick Rocks” gets the 2nd half going dismissing women who didn’t want to give him a chance now showing up in his DMs.
“Jewel Lick” featuring CJ Mack joins forces to put ourselves inside of the shoes of 2 jewel thieves while “The Hate’s Real” featuring Smoothe da Hustler reunites over a key-woven instrumental talking about fake love. “No One Ever Wins” tells the story of a woman who ends up burnt out, alone & broke wishing she was one of her friends happily married with kids while “Ego” shifts towards an atmospheric trap direction talking about egotism.
The soulfulness of “2 Be a Man” enhanced the mature themes explored breaking down his definition of a grown man while “N***a Please” featuring Money Reeks, Murkemz & Ras Kass gets cutthroat together with The Waterproof MC having my favorite guest verse. “Bangerz” featuring Freddie Foxxx boasts themselves amongst the ultimate but “Lost My Mind” featuring Smoothe da Hustler & Treach talks about insanity, “No Regrets” preceding the outro ends the album showing 0 remorse.
Everything Ice-T said regarding hip hop having no age limit was 100% accurate considering veterans from Rakim to the Juice Crew making musical comebacks & now Big Daddy Kane prepping his final full-length within the coming months. Nevertheless, I adamantly believe Criminal Migraine’s some of the O.G.’s most salvageable material mostly because the production’s at it’s best since Home Invasion regardless of a few being skeptical of it’s runtime.
Paul Wall & Termanology finishing the trilogy with their 3rd collaborative studio LP. One hails from Houston, Texas & the other coming straight out of Boston, Massachusetts. However, both of them have been holding it down for the culture for the past 2 decades with their insane work ethics & albums like The People’s Champ or Politics as Usual. They’ve worked with one another a few times within the last couple years & took their chemistry to new heights with Start 2 Finish, following up the sequel Start Finish Repeat with Repeat Repeat Repeat.
“3-Peat” produced by DJ Fresh begins with a soulful boom bap instrumental talking about shit being plug & play to them at this point whereas “Feeling” featuring TrillStatik finds the quartet jazzily discussing their own individual high-ons. “Blessings” has 1982 accompanying Paul Wall & Masspike Miles encouraging all to focus on themselves because stressing over the next man would cause self-destruction while “Catch Me If You Can” featuring Le$ talks about riding clean because they got it made.
Dame Grease jumps behind the boards for “Make Me Feel” pretty much boasting how fresh both of them are just before “You Believe in You” wraps up the 1st half compassionately speaking directly towards the people who feel like they can’t go on in life & letting hard times get them down. The title track returns to the boom bap thanks to Statik Selektah expressing annoyance towards the fraudulent while “Pray for the Weak” featuring NEMS gets everyone on some delightfully murderous battle rap shit.
“Chasing Gold” featuring Wais P demands to point them to the paper soon as possible while “Back in Paris” runs it back 1 last time with DJ Fresh out in France keeping the hustle on continuous repeat. “Stoned Island” pairs S.T.R.E.E.T. with Paul Wall bringing a jazzier edge to the table talking about grinding daily & the closing track “Trill on Top” talks about the trillest muhfuckas always ending up taking over the world 1 way or another.
Start 2 Finish & Start Finish Repeat were both highly impressive to me as someone who’s been a fan of both Paul Wall & Termanology for some time, but Repeat Repeat Repeat could likely become the weakest installment of this whole saga they had going for 4 years already. It’s quantity of guests are comparable to that of it’s predecessors & the chemistry between both artists are great except some of the production & features miss at times.
United Kingdom hip hop duo the B-Movie Millionaires consisting of Manchester, England emcee Black Josh alongside Runcorn, Cheshire emcee/producer & Blah Records founder Lee Scott are back top drop a sophomore effort. Known for being members of the Cult of the Damned collective, these guys would make their eponymous debut in 2015 with an extended play & had Sam Zircon fully produce their 2018 full-length debut Attack of the 50,000ft Sweg Lawds from Outer Space. Damn near a decade later, It Made Sense at the Time has come months succeeding its original announcement.
“ICL” produced by King Kashmere has somewhat of a lo-fi boom bap vibe instrumentally opens up with them talking about answering to no one whereas “LAA” brings Spectacular Diagnostics behind the boards for a cavernous hardcore hip hop track waking up the block with the bass blarin’ their systems. “SOZ” combines a flute with kicks & snares so both Josh & Lee can keep spitting lyrical venom leading into “HEX” featuring Sly Moon talking about staying 10 steps ahead of the rest.
As for “MED”, we have the Millionaires over a mellow Lee Scott beat explaining their music to be medicinal rather than merely dope just before “316” featuring Nickelus F morbidly boasts about them being lyrical juggernauts. “REX” featuring Quelle Chris declares themselves kings of the apocalypse over a piano-driven instrumental to get the 2nd half going while the woodwind-infused “KEV” talks about their wishes of caring more than they do.
“SOL” featuring Granuja & Mir Nicolas gets bilingual over an unsettlingly fuzzy beat while “BAR” references 2-time WWE Hall of Famer, former 16-time WWE world champion, WWE Intercontinental Champion, 6-time WWE United States Champion, 6-time WWE tag team champion & 9-time NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair. “SMH” continues the hardcore penmanship but once “HIM” featuring BeTheGun jazzily talks about being those dudes, “TTO” featuring Bill Shakes as well as King Grubb & Sly Moon wraps up It Made Sense at the Time with a Cult posse cut.
A lot has happened to Black Josh & Lee Scott since Attack of the 50,000ft Sweg Lawds from Outer Space came out 8 years ago, so It Made Sense at the Time certainly lives up to it’s name considering the fact Spectacular Diagnostics handled a great bulk of the production coming fresh off the Cult of the Damned’s 4th album Simony this past spring. The B-Movie Millionaires’ chemistry doesn’t lose any steam & I appreciate them increasing the number of guest appearances.
Canton, Ohio rapper & singer/songwriter Trippie Redd making his Atlantic Records debut with his double 7th studio LP. Coming up almost a decade ago off the first 2 installments of the A Love Letter to You mixtape series, the kid would continue to grow after dropping his full-length debut Life’s a Trip & then A Love Letter to You 3 the following year. However, the quality of his music started to take a nosedive given the mediocrity of both ! & A Love Letter to You 4. If you thought it couldn’t get any worse, Pegasus was a bloated mess & the Travis Barker-produced pop punk foray Neon Shark vs. Pegasus is barely better. Trip at Knight was ok & Mansion Musik took a step down in quality, releasing NDA after multiple delays.
“Merch It” begins with a decently cloudy intro talking about things & people changing except for him whereas “Yopstar” combines pop rap & trap likening himself to a rockstar. “Paperbag Boy”featuring Young Thug finds the pair over a rage-inducing instrumental talking about not needing any friends because all they have is themselves just before “V-12” maintains the hypertrap elements hoppin’ in a wide body & spending paper on his folks.
We have “All My Life” by K-Ci & JoJo being sampled during “Chanely” telling his partner he loves the way she walks & speaks leading into “Swagger”incorporating more rage beats talking about his girl fuckin’ with a real one. “Pourin’ 4s” produced by thr6x gets on some hazy late night vibes discussing his loyalty & fame while “Uncle Phil” featuring Young Thug reunites the 2 for a murky gangsta rap cut I liked more than the “Paperbag Boy” single.
“For Her” samples “I’ll Take Care of U” by the late Gil Scott-Heron atmospherically talking about a woman who’s possessive riding for him while “Free Melly” calls for YNW Melly’s freedom, who performs the hook. “Say What” has a moodier alternative R&B groove to it admitting that his intuition has been telling him to do shit differently while “Good Chance” featuring BigXthaPlug comes through mediocrely shrugging off those thinkin’ none of them are built like that.
thr6x returns behind the boards for “Can’t Believe It” talking about wishing ill on no one & people being unaware of the demons he’s seeing while “How Much X?” featuring Tory Lanez cooks with 10 trap phones together asking for the cost of ecstasy. “Meet the Redds” drew some controversy wasting an ATL Jacob beat on the opening line “Fuck these lame n****s, we gon’ lynch ’em like the Klan” while “Kidding Me” featuring 9 Vicious talks about pulling up with choppers.
“I Got Everything” was much salvageable than “Meet the Redds” looking back on having nothing & eventually over a boom bap-esque instrumental having it all while “Fine Shit” featuring Lil Wayne flips “Just Fine” by Mary J. Blige talking about how beautiful their respective lovers are. “No Way” takes a more sexual approach topically declaring himself a young Pootie Tang the way he slayin’ 3 hoes while “MTV” featuring Rob49 talks about killing entire jungles.
Ski Mask the Slump God appears for “Break It In” so they can get materialistic while “Slime Too” samples “Just for Now” by Imogen Heap talking about doing what he wants. “Pink Toes” hits us with a 2-parter Hitmaka cooked up looking to get sexually active but after “Switches & Fentanyl” featuring NoCap talks about hiding their emotions in their cup, “I’m Sorry Baby” finishes NDA with a public apology to Trippie’s baby momma Coi Leray.
“DontWaitForMe” starts the deluxe run talking about making way for the other side being the best high when it’s all said & done while “Wanna Fly Away” expresses his desire of leaving all the bullshit in his life behind. “Trillionaire Club” talks about possibly taking this shawty to the moon or the city assuring her she’s a star while “KingOfTheWorld” pretty much gives us an audio description of touring the globe.
Meanwhile on “Kiss the Ring”, some shots are being thrown at Coi Leray’s direction for not letting him shed their daughter when he cheated on her whilst she was pregnant with her while “Tuck Your Chain” talks about rollin’ in a Phantom outside of Atlanta with models & dancers. “Wanna Be a Trillionaire” opens professes of making $1T when Tesla CEO, Twitter owner, SpaceX founder, Neuralink founder & Nazi Elon Musk temporarily achieved that while “SVM3” talks about hoes being the same to him.
“No Rewards” becomes self-aware of this war he’s been at with himself & optimistically smiles through any shades of doubt cloud his mind although him dissing Coi again was an eye-rolling moment while “Keep Flying” talks about being stuck in space. “Being Myself” featuring Tezzus clarifies the only concern either of them have is staying true to themselves while “Plead the 5th” talks about feeding the streets & his team being all he knows, only having love for the money & his mother.
K Suave’s verse towards the end of “Med Kit” didn’t really stick out that much basically confessing their addiction to lean on wax while “Different Colors” talks about his Rolex watch coming in multiple hues. “Rock the Bed” featuring Gigi Holland samples “BedRock” by Young Money for a decent pop rap joint while “Emo Pop” recalls somebody stumbling in his room late at night. “YouDontReallyLove” talks about needing a place out in Malibu & the final bonus track “Miss My Dogs” remembers all of his homies who’re no longer here.
Part of the reason I get skeptical whenever Trippie Redd comes out with new music in is because of him bloating the Hell outta his last few albums amassing a large number of guests & mostly underwhelming production, which NDA feels like another addition to the pile. It’s unfortunate too because I really do think we could’ve gotten something greater if you took the best trap, pop rap, alternative R&B & rage moments from each disc & left all the filler on the cutting room floor.
benny blanco is a 38 year old producer, songwriter, record executive & author from Reston, Virginia who made his debut in 2018 with Friends Keep Secrets under Interscope Records. He recently produced my favorite album Selena Gomez has ever made I Said I Love You First…& You Said It Back in the spring of last year preceding their marriage several months later, departing from A&M Records following a 10 month tenure on the label to drop his sophomore effort that I’m sure will have a 2nd disc much like the predecessor a week after Adam Page & Brodido ended The Demand’s week-long reign as AEW World Trios Champions at Grand Slam VIII in partnership with Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL) at Arena México.
“Un poco perdido” by Neton Vega opens up drunkenly admitting he’s lost whereas “Te Olvido (La La)” by Becky G & Selena Gomez blends Latin pop, reggaetón & cumbatión asking what their partners have that no one else does. “Joven y salvaje” by Bb trickz co-produced by Cashmere Cat wasn’t bad of a contemporary R&B, pop rap, bedroom pop, alt-pop, post-punk revival single talking about not wanting to pick up the phone while the dream pop-inspired “Memoria De Paz” by The Marías depicts 2 lovers holding the sound of their voices on the phone tightly.
After the “Te Amo” interlude, “Ay Bendito” by Mora featuring co-production from Ovy on the Drums takes a breezier approach instrumentally getting sexual with the songwriting & “Degenere” by Myke Towers succeeding the “Cinco” skit properly concludes Hermoso with a reggaetón closer fans of his already heard a couple years ago when his 5th album La Pantera Negra came out so it’s a bit unnecessary although I suppose it wouldn’t be a bad introduction for those who’ve never heard of him.
Part of me respects benny blanco for what he’s musically done with artists like Eminem & of course the late Juice WRLD in the past, but I do find it strange for him to go full Latin for a Friends Keep Secrets follow-up that I’d consider weaker than his debut. Hermoso’s production is more Latin-heavy experimenting with Latin pop, reggaetón, cumbatión, contemporary R&B, pop rap, bedroom pop, alt-pop, post-punk revival & dream pop except I feel like it doesn’t come from a sincere place like Cypress Hill’s latest full-length Dios Bendiga.
This is the sophomore effort from Los Angeles, California label & producer collective Internet Money Records founded by Taz Taylor. Releasing their full-length debut B4 the Storm to moderate reception in the summer of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, they would later drop an extended play a couple years later called We All We Got which I found myself enjoying more than majority of people generally did. BabyBartier, ladé, Sir Untre & unitus have all signed to Taz since & he’s having all 4 of them coming to they’re for We All We Needed under their new distribution deal with Mercury Records & Republic Records.
“Lambo, Maybach & Black Truck” by BabyBartier, Sir Untre & unitus produced by Nash opens up with the trio boasting the luxurious whips they’re hopping out of whereas “Helly” finds all 3 of them sticking together over a Cxdy instrumental dedicating this to all the rebels who’re staying down. “Flexed Up” by BabyBartier & Sir Untre combines some synthesizers & 808s so they can talk about being too geeked prior to BabyBartier getting a track of his own with “No Problems” clarifying that he doesn’t have any issues.
As for “Tellin’ Lies”, we have unitus talking about walking with the bag differently than everyone else while “Monster” by BabyBartier & Sir Untre impressively trades verses with one another on top of a rage beat. “Home” by Sir Untre gives the latter a chance to shine talking about not being broke anymore while “Medusa” by BabyBartier & Sir Untre runs it back over a PROJECT4PLAY instrumental so they can topically get some gangsta shit together.
“Yellow” by BabyBartier talks about being up in the club all night sippin’ lean while “Pop Tags” by BabyBartier & unitus reaches the midway point of We All We Needed explaining that they be fuckin’ so many bad hoes boiling down to them having that swag when walking around over synthesizers & hi-hats. “Ceiling” by BabyBartier hooks up some bells to talk about stacking money higher than it can go while “Steve Nash” by BabyBartier references the Phoenix Suns’ senior advisor of the same name.
Sir Untre joins Bartier for the only single “556” explaining their precise caliber over a Maaly Raw beat while “Do the Most” by unitus talks about the very reason his hoe loves him & putting her in Chanel. “Sing” by ladé marks one of the latter’s only 2 appearances & giving him a solo cut to spit that gangsta shit preceding “Down” by BabyBartier, Sir Untre & unitus was only right until the 3 talking about breaking it off with bitches who have no swag over a Zaan instrumental.
“Words Don’t Hurt, Bullets Do” by Sir Untre winds down We All We Needed’s final moments discussing his preference of letting the stick leave everyone in pain since he’s so pissed that he doesn’t even wanna talk while “Whole Lot” by BabyBartier talks about having so much product where he straight up asks what one would like to buy. “I Love” by Sir Untre expresses the gratification he gets outta hearing gunfire while “Mojo” by BabyBartier & ladé concludes the album talking about getting drugs off a boat.
To my knowledge: Rich Amiri has been primarily holding it down for Internet Money Records within the past couple years so it overdue for Taz to bring some fresh new faces on board & We All We Needed certainly offers a promising future for the imprint. BabyBartier, ladé, Sir Untre & unitus all deliver some of their hungriest performances on wax & I found myself enjoying more out of the production than I did when Bartier made his major label debut this spring.
Phoebe Bridgers is a 31 year old singer/songwriter & producer from Pasadena, California known for being 1/3 of the supergroup Boygenius & formerly 1/2 of the Better Oblivion Community Center. Her 2017 full-length studio debut Stranger in the Alps as well as the 2020 sophomore effort Punisher would individual become some of the most crucial indie folk recorded this decade for their own separate reasons, returning after a 30 month hiatus to put out her 3rd studio LP following her own label Saddest Factory Records’ demise.
“The Outside” made for a sparsely slow intro produced by Jack Antonoff using a vocoder to discuss cycling or overlapping identities whereas “Lost Boys” fuses folk rock, indie rock, heartland rock, Americana & indie folk putting a more tragic spin on the group of children Peter Pan leads. “Kill Me” has a janglier quality to it mentioning her boyfriend Bo Burnham while “The Governor’s Waltz” recalls her previous relationship with Paul Mescal embracing a singer/songwriter vibe.
Meanwhile on the indie rock-inspired “Bobby”, we have Phoebe telling Bo she believes he’s truly the one for himl prior to the title track continuing to delve more into her calling off her engagement to Paul & referencing the way John Lennon described his 18-month separation from his widow Yoko Ono. “Haunted” turns up the Americana influences reusing the same ghost motif Phoebe has become known for musically until “Panorama” recalls a high-rise hotel stay interrupted by a cryptic visitor.
“Still Standing” acoustically kicks off the 2nd half of Lost Weekend looking back at the complex relationship she had with her abusive father following his death while “Liberty Tree” details on how things are currently going with Bo Burnham & I felt him doing background vocals was a sweet little nod. “Never Going Back!” combines a capellas with acoustics & a voicemail from her father expanding on the relationship they had while the intense “Other Plans” further embrace the John Lennon influences.
After the compositional “Lost Parade” intermission, “I Can’t Wait” winds down Lost Weekend’s final act embracing an ambient pop direction singing about accepting the 2 contradicting parts of her identity while “As Above” breaks down her perception of grief & love over layered instrumentation. A sequel to the title track concludes the album with a full circle moment revisiting the ideas of that song & breaking a cycle via a hard-earned catharsis.
Being introduced to Phoebe Bridgers after she was featured on the final installment of KiD CuDi’s historic Man on the Moon trilogy at the end of 2020 & later SZA’s sophomore effort S.O.S., Lost Weekend expands the artistic growth of Punisher far enough where I can say she had made her finest collection of material. The indie folk, singer/songwriter, Americana, indie rock, folktronica & ambient production Jack Antonoff handles compliments the themes exploring past her past relationships, the formation of a stable new relationship, grief & dissociation with her fame.
Legends Will Never Die 