This Is What It Feels Like, Gracie Abrams

Gracie Abrams caught my attention back when she was announced as the opener for Olivia Rodrigo's SOUR tour, but now that I'm officially seeing her open for Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour next year, I felt it was time to give her full album a listen.

This Is What It Feels Like fits right in with albums like SOUR and Folklore-- its lyric-focused, gently powerful, and so easy to enjoy listening to.

Stand-out tracks: "Feels Like" "Wishful Thinking"

My favorites: "For Real This Time" "The Bottom"

"Feels Like" is a solid album opener-- it almost gave me the vibe of a soft-rock "State of Grace". "For Real This Time" has a gorgeous, almost melancholy dance beat to it that beautifully demonstrates the freeing heartbreak of walking away from someone you care about. "The Bottom" almost feels vaguely Colbie Caillat-esque, but sassier.

It's hard not to compare Gracie to Olivia and Taylor, but with a song like "Wishful Thinking" she almost perfectly combines Olivia's "Traitor" and Taylor's "The Story of Us." "Better" continues the emotionally-charged soft-rock that Gracie does so well across this whole album. Between "Hard to Sleep", "Augusta", and "Alright" This Is What It Feels Like closes with some gorgeous acoustic songs, appropriately mimicking lullabies and ending the album with questions of what could be.

After listening to This Is What It Feels Like, I'm genuinely excited to see Gracie translate these songs to stadiums. And, I'm excited to see where her music goes next.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING:

FULLY OBSESSED

Youngblood, 5 Seconds of Summer

(So disclaimer, I will preface this review by saying there is absolutely no way I can keep my bias out of this review. I've been a fan of these Aussie pop-rockers since their debut album in 2014 and I become a bigger and bigger fan every day.)

Youngblood was a huge gamble for 5SOS as a band-- their record label had abandoned them after their success with tracks like "She Looks So Perfect," "Amnesia," and "She's Kinda Hot", they'd disappeared from music for 2 years, and they'd grown up from a teen garage band to worldwide rockstars. 5 Seconds of Summer had one shot at rebirth with Youngblood , and they nailed it-- as far as pop-rock albums go, this one is darn near perfect.

Stand out tracks: "Youngblood" "Want You Back" "Ghost of You"

My favorites: "Want You Back" "Why Won't You Love Me" "Empty Wallets" "Woke Up In Japan"

I've always found "Youngblood" an odd album opener, but it checks every single box in terms of what you want from a great pop-rock song-- thrumming bass, whiny power vocals, unpredictable drums. "Want You Back" feels like an ode to what 5SOS used to be, just grown up so that heartbreak is more reflective and mature rather than scathing and heartwrenching than it was on previous albums. "Lie to Me," "Valentine," and "Talk Fast" are all astronomically different sounds from one another, but hold together with the catchiness of their choruses and the ever-present theme that romance isn't meant to last forever. The album kicks into high gear with the unyielding emotion of back-to-back "More" and "Why Won't You Love Me," with lyrics like "we're speaking different tongues communicating" and "switching into airplane mode again/we're not alright but I'll pretend" illustrating the powerlessness of relationships spiraling into nothingness. The last hurrah of Youngblood is the pure post-party haze of "Woke Up In Japan" and "Empty Wallets"-- this is 5SOS back at their most fun, but now with flashing club lights and extravagant nightlife rather than what they gave us on tracks like "Good Girls" and "Hey Everybody!." The album closer "Ghost of You" is 5SOS's "All Too Well"-- it's haunting, incredibly written with stunning imagery, and it's turned into a song that connects the band with fans in a way that supersedes the song itself; it's simply stunning.

If I were ranking 5SOS albums on their quality, Youngblood takes a close second, only to 5 Seconds of Summer's new album 5SOS5. This album was a hell of a turning point for this band, and it's carried them into a whole new era where the music has only continued to get better.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING:

FULLY OBSESSED

Music Box, Mariah Carey

When packing for my trip to NYC was becoming tiresome and I was feeling a little bummed that Mariah's Emotions hadn't quite lived up to her debut album, Music Box came around and pulled Mariah Carey right back to her dance-pop/R&B/ballad perfection.

With this being album number 3 I've listened to from her, she had the chance to either get me to come back for even more or chill out on her albums for a bit-- Music Box pulled me right back in the way her debut album did.

Stand-out tracks: "Dreamlover" "Now That I Know"

My favorites: "I've Been Thinking About You""Without You"

Mariah Carey knows how to open an album-- "Dreamlover" has whistletones to die for and a gentle boppy beat. This album has more intriguing gentle songs than either of her previous albums did-- between "Hero," "Music Box," "Never Forget You," "Without You," and "All I've Ever Wanted," we get a healthy dose of heart-wrenching, angelic, soaring ballads on this album. And while there are definitely a lot of them (and one more probably would have been overkill), 90s R&B ballads that show off vocal talent is the domain where no one holds a candle to Mariah Carey. All those gorgeous ballads makes the listener appreciate the fun and sass of "Now That I Know" and "I've Been Thinking About You" all the more impactful.

All I have to say in response to Music Box is-- you've got me hooked, Mariah.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING:

FULLY OBSESSED