Haven't heard Kiss or Tug of War tbh... and hadn't heard Emotion for a solid half a year or so probably. For whatever reason it didn't really stick with me much, but going back to it now with all the Dangerous Woman comparisons is making me appreciate it a lot. I actually think I prefer Dangerous Woman though. Should I listen to Carly's first two albums?
Since I want to start debates... Emotion OR Dangerous Woman? Pick one. For me, it's Dangerous Woman. Much more variety and more powerhouse vocals imo.
I haven't listened to it in full myself. I've heard a couple of songs and it sounds solid enough but it's a very different vibe. I like DW a lot but I'll easily take Emotion over it.
Why even compare this to dangerous woman? They're operating in two totally different lanes, they sound nothing alike, etc.
Since others were already comparing them I thought it might be an interesting discussion of how the albums differ/contrast... not like I was the first to make the comparison lol
Ah I guess it was mostly other places then... I did have one user recommend me Emotion when I asked for albums similar to Dangerous Woman, but I guess that was it on this site. I have seen comparisons elsewhere though. It confused me because like you said, they aren't that similar in a lot of ways.
Maybe this should go into the Unpopular Opinions thread instead of here so as to not rile people up as much (maybe will post it there too) but here goes: I've wondered for a while why Emotion didn't stick with me like it seemed to for some others, and why it didn't have much commercial success while getting praised by critics and niche audiences... I think it's because it's so *specifically* focused on '80s bubblegum pop. If you want to hear '80s-esque, sugary, innocent pop songs and not much else, it's your album, and does that very well. But there isn't as much of a market for those *specific* sounds as there used to be, and pop music as a whole isn't as innocent as in the '80s. Honestly, the lack of commercial success makes sense.
If put down the lack of critical success to the kamikaze marketing by her label. That style of pop was huge at the time and she release the perfect album to capitalise and her label dropped the ball.
Yeah this thing got little to no push, which is very unforunate. This album has been in constant rotation for me since I started listening to it in December.
Carly did an interview with stereogum where she said she wanted un away with me to be he first single, she had a much better grasp of how to market this than anyone at the label did imo
And the single they did release was put out waaaaaay ahead of the album release with no real follow up.
I still listen to Kiss and Emotions regularly. I love Kiss for when it's sunny out and I just want to listen to something fun and bubblegum. I like Emotions for when I wanna dance out the boy problems lol. But I listen to both all the time. She's not a powerhouse belter but I don't care. She sounded awesome when I saw her and she makes little interesting choices with her vocals that I find pleasant. her voice conveys emotion and sucks me into the song and that's all I need! It's actually ridic how I'm not sick of these albums yet lol
I mean that's a jam but I've also heard it about a bazillion times and I almost think of it differently because it's a radio single that's been pounded into my head than consumed in the album format, may have thought of it differently if I heard it for the first time in that context and not heard a trillion times