Red Mosquito

Posted: **Wed August 28, 2019 4:42 pm**

Kevin Davis wrote:
Chris_H_2 wrote:
Kevin Davis wrote:Listened to this today. In a lot of ways it is her most natural-sounding and effortless album, and the hooks are choice as usual. But there are also a lot of things that bug me about it. Overall I think most of the issues stem from the fact that she is aging so disproportionately to her subject matter -- at 30, she still writes primarily about high school drama, only now it's from the viewpoint of unlikeable, pleasure-seeking adults who can't keep their shit together, as opposed to the naive teenagers for whom that world is a natural reality. It's increasingly inauthentic each time out.
"Speaking as a child of the 90's . . ."

Pearl Jam owes its entire career to songs based on teenage angst written and performed in their late 20's/early 30's.
Right, and then by the time they got to their seventh album they were on to other things. In any case, I didn't compare her to Pearl Jam or hold them up as some gold standard artistic model, so this is kind of a straw-man response. I think a lot of PJ's teen angst songs sound ridiculous too.

I wasn't trying to put words in your mouth (although it probably came across that way). I just thought your comment was an opportune time to point out that Pearl Jam catered to a specific demographic to which they hadn't belonged in awhile, and that the medium that we're using to even talk about this came about because of that band.

Posted: **Wed August 28, 2019 5:13 pm**

Not untrue, friend.

I feel like it's time to give "Lover" another spin.

Posted: **Thu August 29, 2019 11:19 pm**

I've listened a few times over the last few days and quite like it, but KD's criticism of the subject matter is spot on. You Need To Calm Down is still my favorite. London Boy is my least favorite.

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 1:00 am**

Too bad Taylor couldn't grow lyrically enough to satisfy her 40 something white dude fans on PJ message board.

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 1:03 am**

i'd imagine there's enough marketing dollars in the Taylor Swift machine to determine what she needs to sing about

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 1:03 am**

see, verb gets it

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 2:21 am**

verb_to_trust wrote:Too bad Taylor couldn't grow lyrically enough to satisfy her 40 something white dude fans on PJ message board.

Ooh, zing, didn't see that one coming

I've listened to it quite a bit the last couple days; it really is a strong album. And it's so long that even when you skip around the crap, you're still left with pretty close to a full-length album of really good material. A really nice rebound after "Reputation."

"Me!" is still a big miss for me, though. Anything even tangentially connected to Panic at the Disco is like musical kryptonite to me.

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 3:00 am**

But what does she need to do to grow as a lyricist?

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 4:34 am**

verb_to_trust wrote:But what does she need to do to grow as a lyricist?

go to college

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 11:42 am**

I Think He Knows is now my favorite from this album, slightly edging out You Need To Calm Down.

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 11:58 am**

My favorites are probably "I Forgot That You Existed," "The Archer," and "It's Nice to Have a Friend."

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 1:17 pm**

Kevin Davis wrote:My favorites are probably "I Forgot That You Existed," "The Archer," and "It's Nice to Have a Friend."

Is there an understated maturity and growth when you dig a little deeper into I wish you never existed's lyrics?

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 4:33 pm**

The Man
I Forgot that You Existed
Cruel Summer
Miss America
I Think He Knows
Death by a Thousand Cuts
Paper Rings

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 5:18 pm**

I was gonna listen to this today but... new Lana Del Rey. Hopefully I can get to it tomorrow.

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 6:19 pm**

The Man totally sounds like it should be a Haim song.

Posted: **Fri August 30, 2019 6:48 pm**

cutuphalfdead wrote:The Man totally sounds like it should be a Haim song.

i'm hearing circa 2013 vampire weekend

Posted: **Sat August 31, 2019 2:39 am**

I'm sure it's been pointed out elsewhere but "It's Nice to Have a Friend" is like a mirror image of The White Stripes' "We're Going to Be Friends" -- same sentiment, virtually identical song structures (short 3-4-word lines, no chorus except for the title line being repeated at the end of each stanza), simple three-note melodic phrases. That's never been my favorite Stripes song but I love this one -- she tends to get to the heart of this sort of thing a lot more naturally.

Posted: **Sat August 31, 2019 3:35 am**

I agree

Posted: **Sun September 01, 2019 2:36 am**

This is an interesting record. Excited to give it more time and more attention. First blush... it's totally fine, nothing exceptional. Several great tracks, several mediocre tracks.

Posted: **Sun September 01, 2019 3:28 am**

Hard hitting analysis, King Joseph

Red Mosquito

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