Pop Rock

Demi Lovato – ‘Revamped’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Angelo Kritikos Demi Lovato has alternately tried on, and shed, many musical identities over the years – from the Disney-fied pop-punk of Don’t Forget, the self-described “generic” pop of Unbroken, the pop-meets-power-ballads of Confident, and the R&B-infused Tell Me You Love Me. Last year, she embarked on her most successful metamorphosis yet –… Read more

The Beaches – ‘Blame My Ex’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Becca Hamel Blame My Ex is Toronto’s, The Beaches, first new album in six years, even though they’ve released several EPs and stand-alone tracks in the interim (even about half the songs on this album had been available at some point previously). In fact, that last album, Late Show, was The Beaches’ debut… Read more

Olivia Rodrigo – ‘GUTS’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Zamar Velez If there’s one thing that unites Gen-Z’s most popular singer-songwriters, it’s that they all capture – to one extent or another – that being young often sucks. Whereas the last generation of pop stars presented youth exclusively in its brightest, most ecstatic hues (think Kesha’s “TiK ToK” or Katy Perry’s “Teenage… Read more

The Band CAMINO – ‘The Dark’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Jimmy Fontaine A few years after the release of the band’s self-titled debut album The Band CAMINO, the trio finally released their much-awaited sophomore album The Dark. Straying away from the sound of the previous album, Spencer Stewart became the lead vocalist on the majority of the album’s songs. The switch, whilst controversial,… Read more

The Maine – ‘The Maine’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Guadalupe Bustos Eight albums and fifteen years removed from their debut, The Maine have arrived at their self-titled era – traditionally a marker of a band at their most accomplished and confident. The Maine, however, does not necessarily register as a towering magnum opus when compared to the band’s previous efforts. What it… Read more

Post Malone – ‘Austin’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Meg Young Post Malone’s fourth LP, Austin, has been a long-awaited masterpiece that showcases his evolution as an artist. In an ever-changing and diverse music landscape, Post Malone stands out as a genre-blurring maverick, seamlessly weaving elements of hip-hop, pop, and rock into a tapestry that’s uniquely his own. Austin is not just… Read more

Blur – ‘The Ballad of Darren’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Reuben Bastienne-Lewis Long-running, off-and-on multi-platinum (in the U.K.) London Britpop band Blur returns with their first album of all-new material in eight years. Despite the title, The Ballad of Darren is not a concept album (longtime frontman Damon Albarn more than takes care of that approach with his other major project, the Gorillaz)…. Read more

PVRIS – ‘EVERGREEN’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Matty Vogel Since their early hardcore days, Massachusetts trio-turned-solo-project PVRIS have pivoted further and further towards electro-pop and pop-rock – and though the album art for their fourth LP, Evergreen, may initially suggest otherwise, this newest offering presents a continuation of this trend. Of course, as PVRIS moves further into pop territory, the prospect… Read more

Taylor Swift – ‘Speak Now (Taylor’s Version)’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Beth Garrabrant Taylor Swift wrote her third album entirely on her own. This was partly a result of Swift getting her “best ideas at 3 am in Arkansas,” as she would tell Songwriter Universe, but it also served as a rebuttal to critics and other commentators who had previously doubted teenage Swift’s creative… Read more

Niall Horan – ‘The Show’ Album Review

Photo Credit: Christian Tierney One Direction’s ‘nice guy’ Niall Horan has failed to have the big stand-out moment since the beloved boy band’s dissolution in 2016 that Harry Styles and, briefly, Zayn Malik enjoyed. If Horan’s newest album, The Show, is any indication, the 29-year-old seems to have made peace with this reality. A collection… Read more