Barbie The Album, Various Artists

After seeing the Barbie movie, the only thing I wanted to do was listen to the soundtrack repeatedly (except maybe walk right back in the theater and watch the movie again, but that's for another day). I had yet to dive into a soundtrack album and share my thoughts, so approaching Barbie The Album as a collection of songs that were meant to complement all the fuschia, fun, and feminism of the film, rather than be created as a cohesive stand-alone album, was a fun way to carry the energy (or should I say Kenergy) of Barbieland into the Real World.

Stand-out tracks: "Dance The Night" "I'm Just Ken" "What Was I Made For?"

My favorites: "Speed Drive" "Man I Am" "Choose Your Fighter"

Lizzo's "Pink" opens both the film and the soundtrack with lighthearted, girlish fun. If bubblegum pink were a song, this would be it. With the little exclamations of "pink!", this one is just the right way to enter into the rainbows and joy that is Barbieland. If "Pink" was bubblegum pink, Dua Lipa's "Dance The Night" is a deeper, more neon Barbie-pink complete with glitter. It's no wonder the Barbies in the movie had planned party choreography to this song. And the little "clap clap" is just absolutely meant to be danced along to.

I'm not usually a huge fan of rap, but Nick Minaj and Ice Spice's "Barbie World (with Aqua)" with its play on the classic "Barbie Girl" and clever "I'm I'm a ten, so I pull in a Ken" and "I'm I'm a doll, but I still wanna party" fits right into the girl boss energy of everything Barbie. Charli XCX's "Speed Drive" is absolutely addictive with its blown-out synths, hyper-speed beat, and "oh Barbie you're so fine you blow my mind."

The Kenergy kicks into high gear with Sam Smith's "Man I Am." With its thumping bass and "that's just the man I am/super sleazy, born to be easy/and all the papers say that there's no Ken without Barbie" this one just oozes with boys night at Ken's mojo dojo casa house, hopefully complete with choreography to it's utterly danceable beat. With a little bit of rock, a little bit of musical theater, a little bit of 90s synths, and a hell of a lot of overdramatic attitude, Ryan Gosling's "I'm Just Ken" is an absolute stand-out both on Barbie The Album and in the movie. And the build with the "Can you feel the Kenergy?" in the background before opening into a hugely cinematic chorus is absolutely fantastic. Dominic Fike's "Hey Blondie" is a lighter, beachy-pop/rock track that nicely transitions from the high-powered, danceable tracks at the beginning of Barbie The Album to the next string of tracks.

HAIM's "Home" and Billie Eilish's "What Was I Made For?" make up the slower-paced, more introspective tracks, mirroring Barbie's transformation over the course of the movie. Both are rock solid, easily independently successful tracks with the former's synthy drums and "could never stay the same/when everything felt so wrong/it led me to where I belong" and the latter's gentle vocals, piano, and "takin' a drive, I was an ideal/looked so alive, turns out I'm not real/just somethin' you paid for/what was I made for?".

The Kid LAROI's "Forever & Again" and Khalid's "Silver Platter" would be the perfect accompaniments to a cruise along the Barbieland coast in the Barbie Corvette. Both are slow grooves that act as simple but effective love ballads for a dream girl (Hi Barbie!), never going deeper than surface level, much like the man they're likely meant to be written from the perspective of (Hi Ken!).

The last punch of danceable fun on Barbie The Album comes with Ava Max's "Choose Your Fighter" and FIFTY FIFTY's "Barbie Dreams (feat. Kaliii)". Ava Max hardly ever misses with high energy pop tracks, and "Choose Your Fighter" is no exception with its poppy beat and clever Barbie references like "if you wanna go six inch or flat wanna wear hot pink or black/don't let nobody tell you you can't/'cause you can." "Barbie Dreams (feat. Kaliii)" sounds like every great 90s rom-com movie closer, perfectly modernized with a synthetic beat. And the soundtrack is tied up with a nice pink Barbie bow with "when I close my eyes, it's a fantasy perfect plastic life from a magazine/then when I wake up, it's reality/I can have it all, live my Barbie dreams."

Barbie The Album isn't one that always will get pulled off the shelf, but if I'm ever in the mood for a Barbie DreamHouse sleepover and pretending I'm in a pink paradise, this will be the first album I turn to.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING: KINDA OBSESSED

SUBJECT TO CHANGE, Kelsea Ballerini

SUBJECT TO CHANGE is Kelsea Ballerini's fourth album, and it's safe to say that no matter how unpredictable her life was during the creation of it, she delivers on easy, fun, creative country-pop records time and time again. I was lucky enough to attend one of the first shows of the HEARTFIRST Tour in Chicago about a week after the release of SUBJECT TO CHANGE and honestly, this album was incredibly fun to celebrate and therapeutic to scream-sing with a yellow dress and glitter-clad Kelsea back in October. Kelsea is now in her late twenties and she was going through the early stages of ending her marriage while making SUBJECT TO CHANGE, so while the girlishness and charm of her first several albums is far from gone, it's definitely matured this time around.

Stand-out tracks: "IF YOU GO DOWN (I'M GOING DOWN TOO)""HEARTFIRST" "MARILYN"

My favorites: "THE LITTLE THINGS" "MUSCLE MEMORY" "I GUESS THEY CALL IT FALLIN'"

Kelsea absolutely knows how to hook a listener with an album opener, and title track "SUBJECT TO CHANGE" is no exception. It's optimistic while being incredibly honest with it's "A little unpredictable, I confess/that if one things the same/it's that I'm subject to change" and boppy pop-country beat. The country gets dialed down a little and the pop gets poppier with "THE LITTLE THINGS"-- this one sounds like butterflies, roses, and twinkle lights all wrapped up in a perfectly tied bow.

Kelsea takes a page out of Shania Twain's book with sassy "I CAN'T HELP MYSELF"-- with instrumentals lead by what can only be called a fiddle and lyrics like "'cause when the sun starts falling, the girls start calling/the wine comes off of the shelf/then the drums start to kick in and all my inhibitions/are gone by a quarter to twelve" you've got a perfectly fun track. "IF YOU GO DOWN (I'M GOING DOWN TOO)" keeps the country fun going-- this one is an ode to a ride-or-die kind of friendship, but puts a playful spin on it with lines like "hypothetically if you ever kill your husband/hand on the Bible, I'd be lyin' through my teeth" and "if you rob a bank, I'm your getaway Mercedes/God knows that's what friends are for."

"MUSCLE MEMORY" romanticizes the experience of falling back in with a romantic interest of the past ("something I can't control comes over me/my hands know just where to be/it's muscle memory") and noticing all the little differences in someone that made you fall for them the first time. And the "uh huh" hook in this one is great. "I GUESS THEY CALL IT FALLIN'" is like the prequel to what was to come with Kelsea's 2023 EP Rolling Up the

Welcome Mat, telling the story of her divorce at 29 years old. The instrumental on this track is tumultuous in the way that the emotions of the track would absolutely make you feel, and it's scathing but in a way that clearly illustrates the heartbreak behind the anger ("oh, I guess they call it fallin' 'cause you end up on the ground/you can't live forever with your head up in the clouds").

One of the few ballads on SUBJECT TO CHANGE is the incredibly romantic "UNIVERSE." If the phrase "the stars were aligned" were turned into a song, this would be it. Kelsea has always been a genius at metaphorical lyrics, and "you say I hang the stars in your eyes/but you put the universe in mine" just adds to the list of great metaphorical lines in her songs. If "UNIVERSE" was the initial spark of a relationship, "WALK IN THE PARK" is the relationship as it grows to the point of knowing all the little things about a person that make them a little less perfect, but still loveable-- and this is another one where the metaphorical lyrics really shine--"sometimes I'm a summer day, sometimes I start raining/always one season away from everything changing/I'm always looking for greener grass, on a carousel that goes too fast".

Kelsea's most recent GRAMMY nomination was for lead single "HEARTFIRST." This one checks all the boxes for a perfect lead single-- it's fun, it's lighthearted, it's summer love in a perfectly crafted country-pop song. The glittery butterfly aesthetic of the album really represents this song perfectly. "YOU'RE DRUNK, GO HOME" is the only feature on this album with Kelly Clarkson and Carly Pearce joining in on the honky tonkiest of honky tonk Kelsea has ever released. This one is solely just for fun, but it man does it achieve what it set out to do-- and lines like "yeah, I know you're a Virgo, that's the third time you told me/just 'cause I am too doesn't mean that you know me" and "the way you're slurring and the way you stumble/ain't no way you're gonna get my number" are just so deliciously sassy.

The closing tracks of SUBJECT TO CHANGE are a pair of some of Kelsea's best written tracks yet-- "MARILYN", very obviously referring to Marilyn Monroe, is written as a beautiful letter wondering if the in's and out's of fame were really worth it all. This is what I feel like Taylor Swift was going for with 2012's "The Lucky One" from RED, but shockingly, I think Kelsea pulls it off better. The album closes pared back acoustics and stunning harmonies on "WHAT I HAVE." This album makes it clear that Kelsea has been through a transformative and enlightening couple years while writing it, and this song is a love song to all the things she still has that makes life a joy to wake up to every day. Closing an album with "I got the air, good eyes to see/got so much more than I'll ever need/even the bad days ain't all that bad/with what I have"? Perfect.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING: FULLY OBSESSED

-, Ed Sheeran

Like many others, I found Ed Sheeran thanks to his friendship and collaboration with Taylor Swift on her 2012 album Red. He was in my regular rotation of artists I listened to with the releases of his first several albums, but unfortunately for me, he faded into the background of my listening habits when he disappeared from music (and the spotlight altogether) for about 4 years following 2017's ÷ (Divide). I'm a huge fan of Aaron Dessner and his production work on albums like Taylor's Folklore and Gracie Abrams' Good Riddance, so when I learned that Aaron had partnered up with Ed to produce this album, - (Subtract), I was intrigued-- and I was not disappointed.

Stand-out tracks: "Dusty" "End of Youth" "No Strings"

My favorites: "Curtains" "Spark"

The album opens on a relatively soft note with "Boat," which beautifully shows off Ed's vocal talent while illustrating the metaphor of overcoming challenges with "the waves won't break my boat." Aaron Dessner's incredible talent as a producer really starts to shine on "Salt Water," with the melancholy, piano-based instrumental backing up haunting lyricism ("I'm free in salt water/embrace the deep and leave everything/it was just a dream") and Ed's powerful middle vocal range. Subtract's lead single, "Eyes Closed," isn't really anything special in contrast to the rest of the album, but it does effectively takes the indie pop-rock style Ed Sheeran was known for with his previous albums with songs like "Shivers" and "Shape of You," and transforms it to be a little more mature thanks to the song's subject matter (we've got a pandemic song ladies and gents) and the acoustic-based poppiness of the production (I should have known only good things would come when Max Martin, Shellback, and Aaron Dessner collaborate). "Life Goes On" is classic Ed Sheeran-- guitar and piano instrumentals coupled with passionate, soaring vocals depicting the tumultuousness of heartbreak.

The tone shifts towards a more electronic soft-rock sound with "Dusty"-- this one is incredibly appealing from its visual storytelling in "drop the needle on Dusty/frost on the leaves like a lake/the moment came out of nothing/a beautiful smile on your face" to it's fuller, cozy sound.

The joy doesn't last long though, with "Dusty" transitioning into "End of Youth."

Lyrically, this is one of the most gutwrenching songs I've ever come across, ever. No one really writes about the grief realizing you may have lost parts of yourself, but with lyrics like "You can't talk me through the fall if we don't know if I can land/tried to grow, but the past, it tears me down to size/tell the world how to process, but don't take the same advice," this song embodies the heaviness of coming into adulthood with stunning artistry. No one can sing a tragically passionate piano-and-drum ballad with quite the same effect that Ed Sheeran can.

"Curtains" turns to a deeper, more dynamic sound and is chock-full of really great lyrics illustrating the empowerment that comes from finally pulling yourself out of a dark place. The electric guitars and the repetitive "and tomorrow's another day/let me see the sunshine" make for a really fun hook. The production of "Spark" is probably my favorite of the entire album. It's very piano-heavy in a yearning way and it meshes beautifully with the hopeful "use words as kindling/light up the night sky/let the memories take flight/and hope the sparks survive."

The closing act of Subtract comes with back-to-back tracks "Sycamore" and "No Strings"-- a beautiful pairing of truly human love songs. The former tells the story of the power of hope in the face of a health crisis and the latter illustrates the unrelenting power of simply fighting for the ones you love ("this is no strings/you are who I love/it's just growing pains/we did not fight for love/just to let it be defeated").

Subtract is everything I hoped it would be-- vocally powerful, lyrically charged, and packed with perfectly-produced encompassing instruments. Personally, I'm thrilled that Ed dropped the hip-hop/rap influences of some of his earlier albums in favor of a more indie-rock vibe with Subtract. Aaron Dessner's production makes for a well-rounded album in terms of instrumentals, and while Ed Sheeran has always been good at capturing emotionality and story-telling, Subtract really allows those strengths to shine.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING: KINDA OBSESSED