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

Emotions, Mariah Carey

Between the fiasco that was buying tickets to The Eras Tour and a couple days out of town, putting my thoughts into words about music hasn't been the easiest to get to over the past week or so. But, in true me-fashion, I've continued listening to music in that time away.

As I packed for my trip to New York City this weekend, I listened to two different Mariah Carey albums-- first up, Emotions. If anyone recalls, I was pleasantly caught off guard by how much I adored her debut album, and Emotions continues her streak of near-perfect R&B/pop albums.

Stand-out tracks: "Emotions" "Till the End of Time"

My favorites: "Can't Let Go" "You're So Cold"

Mariah kicks off this album hard with a track that so easily gets stuck in your head with titletrack "Emotions"-- this one is fun and shows off her vocal talent, picking right up where she left off with Mariah Carey. She turns down the fun pretty quickly moving into both "And Don't You Remember" and "Can't Let Go" but her gorgeous wailing vocals above a ballad-y, sparse instrumental (with fun little 90s pop beats thrown in there to make it interesting) accurately conveys that range of emotions she was getting at with the album title. She hits her power streak with "If It's Over" and "You're So Cold," the first being arguably the biggest power ballad on this album and the second being the sassiest track of them all. The album leaves you with the happiest, most optimistic, heartfelt string of songs with R&B/dance-influenced "To Be Around You" and the wistful "Till the End of Time." I honestly wish "Till the End of Time" was the album closer, because "The Wind" closes the album without much interest with sparse piano and angelic-but-basic vocals-- the best thing about it is if you listen on repeat, "Emotions" opens the album again with a nice punch.

While her debut was hard to top, Mariah Carey made a valiant effort with Emotions. We see her stunning vocals more in their raw, dare I say emotional lens than we saw on Mariah Carey. This album is a little less cohesive than her debut, but I can definitely appreciate the theme of emotions that is definitely present across the full album.

AM I OBSESSED?

RATING:

OBSESSED WITH SOME TRACKS