THINK LATER, Tate McRae

It's well known in the music industry that an artist's sophomore album can make or break their longevity as an artist; with THINK LATER, Tate McRae is undoubtedly here to stay.

Compared to the one or two rock-solid hits on her 2022 debut i used to think i could fly, THINK LATER is chock-full of hits from start to finish. Genuinely, is there a single skip on this album? The stylistic choices Tate has taken on THINK LATER most remind me of a modern take on the albums released by the pop girls of the early 2000s like Hilary Duff and Aly & AJ. THINK LATER is dance-able female empowerment with perfectly raspy vocals, ear candy production, and just enough confident spite lyrically to make me believe that I too could send "kisses to my exes who don't give a shit about me."

Stand-out tracks: "cut my hair" "greedy" "hurt my feelings" "exes"

My favorites: "run for the hills" "we're not alike" "calgary" "think later"

You know you're in for a treat of an album with an opener like "cut my hair." The title's symbolism, deep trap beat, and lyrics like "I've been playing nice, little too long, Driving on the high road and hit a dead end"makes it incredibly clear that you're going to spend the next 38 minutes and 22 seconds of this album feeling bold. "greedy" is arguably Tate's biggest hit to date; it's no wonder considering how aboslutely addictive the chorus is. "run for the hills" and "hurt my feelings" match in their energy of realizing how down bad you are for someone incredibly toxic.

Things slow down for a few tracks with "grave" and "stay done." While the previous two tracks were the frustration and telling yourself to keep your head on straight, "grave" and "stay done" are the submission of telling yourself maybe they're not so bad even though you know deep down that yes, yes they are that bad.

I dare you to not dance or flip your hair while listening to "exes"-- can't do it? Me neither. This one ate up the TikTok-sphere with it's incredibly catchy and off-the-cuff "Kisses, kisses to the next ones who think they can live without me; We make up, then we break up, then they swear they'll never call me.""we're not alike" is the one moment of anti-feminism on THINK LATER. It sounds like some girl wasn't a girl's girl and stabbed Miss Tate in the back over a man, so she has every right to be as cheeky and mad as she comes across in this song.

"calgary" is the most vulnerable Tate has ever been musically, tapping into emotions of self-doubt and introspection paired with beautifully haunting vocals that tell you that she really feels this one deep in her bones. "messier" is vulnerable in a different way; it's bass rattles your bones as lyrically Tate finally gets to a point in THINK LATER where she realizes that leaving would hurt less than staying.

The last big punch of THINK LATER comes with the pairing of "think later" and "guilty conscience." This is that moment of weakness when you let the toxic person sneak back in; all thoughts of being better off alone disappear in a moment across these tracks, with "think later" thrumming with clubby bass hits and lyrics like "Live now, think later, I do it so well, Fall hard, heart breaker, I want him, oh well." The toxic bad boy continues to be bad news with the bumpy, addictive rhythms and "All my morals shot, even that don't phase me, Loving you batshit crazy, Kinda reckless lately, If that's wrong, Guess I'll live with a guilty conscience" of "guilty conscience."

The decrescendo of THINK LATER is the conclusion of "want that too" and "plastic palm trees." The pairing of these two are the resurgence of those thoughts that it's really not worth it to keep someone in your life no matter how much you want to. Together, they really to make a beautiful conclusion to the tumultuous story of THINK LATER.

THINK LATER is cohesive, addictive, empowering, unrelenting, confident top-notch pop from start to finish. There's no sophomore slump here-- Tate McRae has solidified herself as a modern pop superstar.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING: FULLY OBSESSED

REVIEW: ENJOY THE RIDE, Almondmilkhunni

After fearlessly dropping her record label and going independent after her debut self-titled 2020 EP, Almondmilkhunni has truly hit the sweet spot in creating a conceptual project that's the perfect balance of fun and introspective with ENJOY THE RIDE.

Stand-out tracks: "liar""ANXIETY"

My favorites: "fake deep" "playlist"

This 11-track project starts with "intro" that blends seamlessly into "fake deep," with the former being a spacey instrumental with distorted spoken vocals seeming to set up the story of creating ENJOY THE RIDE, including "Should I just start?" and "Basically I completely forgot who I was." The instrumentals fade flawlessly into my personal favorite"fake deep," which finds Almondmilkhunni asking "Don't you wanna be real for once in your life?" backed by one of the best boppy and catchy instrumental productions on the album.

"liar" takes Almondmilkhunni's natural cool and collected vocals and gives them an air of flippancy towards someone who has repeatedly been untrustworthy-- as she puts it herself, she's clearly "getting so damn tired of you." "MISS U" has a little bit of a 2000s pop vibe with electronic mixing, twinkly production, and the repeated sincere-but-girly "I get lost with you and I can't help that I miss you." "BODYBAG" is probably the most ruthless track on ENJOY THE RIDE, with its addictive trappy production and fully-fleshed out comparisons of a toxic relationship to a crime scene-- the details in this one really make the cheating-to-crime metaphor work seamlessly.

"ANXIETY" is the track on ENJOY THE RIDE that, in my opinion, deserves to be her breakout hit. It hits all the right notes in illustrating how anxiety really feels with the back and forth of "Is it you? Is it me? Or is it my anxiety?" followed by "I don't know/I think it's me/Or maybe my anxiety." The production is just the right balance of fun and chaotic to make it a track that's incredibly easy to repeat over and over.

The back-to-back of "IF I DIE" and "COMA" are intensely opposite in terms of lyrical content but they pair together beautifully in terms of production. "IF I DIE" illustrates deep-felt emotions in moments of passionate connection with someone, while "COMA" illustrates the need to just get away from it all sometimes.

Ending ENJOY THE RIDE with "playlist" is the perfect way to culminate the album; it almost seems to lyrically reference each track on the album individually throughout the song. And the chorus thrums with "I made a playlist/of songs that I hated/now I kind of crave/cause it reminds me of you," beautifully signing off the album with the perfect combination of humility and ambition.

ENJOY THE RIDE is all about the highs and lows of growing pains, and it hits just the right balance of satisfaction and leaving the listener wanting more. Almondmilkhunni has started to hit her stride as an artist and her first independent album just leaves you waiting to see what she does next.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING: FULLY OBSESSED

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