There was definitely an initial freakout, I mean I know my first listen was a pretty anxious one and I absolutely love the album now. I think the fact that we didn't even have a tracklist or a single song, and then it just drops....I was so invested in it being good that my midnight thoughts were like "Oh no these are the features? Oh no I hope that's not a song about covid masks...wait Kodak's his sidekick through the whole album...oh shit he's screaming at this girl...oh shit people ahead of me are tweeting about a song about trans people..." A few days later and I'm just like yup another incredible Kendrick album lol. But this is definitely an album that whoops your ass on first listen if you're super invested in him as an artist
This album really is brilliant. Reading along helps immeasurably. "United In Grief" is a fantastic bit of writing in the opener.
I was hungover and unsure about it on first listen but knew there were some great tracks immediately. I think I've done it like 10 times by now, and its all I can think about.
Idk I tried again and I really just think this is musically his weakest album by far. There is a lot of content but it's not conveyed clearly or enjoyably enough to want to go through it over and over. The beats are either way too standard or too weird for their own good. I think Kendricks trying to do too much, wish there was a song like Fear or sing about me where he just rode a beat. Wish I liked this more, what a let down.
Obviously with an album like this there's always a mad rush to get your take out there, but that doesn't mean that first impressions are inherently invalid
I listened to it in reverse last night and thought it flowed that way as well. I just mean in the sense of the transitions between tracks & music. Not claiming this in the lyrical sense as I’m still trying to discern things myself
y'all were right. disc 1 is Big Steppers. disc 2 is Mr. Morale (also bummed vinyl isn't up yet, but whatever). 'Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers' CD – Interscope Records
it's not that we made a guess or anything, we were literally told day 1 that the first 9 and second 9 are two different parts
Fuck it, song ranking after about 20 listens front to back: N95 Count Me Out Rich Spirit United in Grief We Cry Together (yeah, I'm fucked up) Mother I Sober (Kind of wish this was the final track of the album) Die Hard Savior - Interlude Crown Mr. Morale Father Time Auntie Diaries Savior Worldwide Steppers Mirror Purple Hearts _____________________ Silent Hill (would have been a lot higher if there was no KB feature) ______________________ Rich (interlude)
I made a "DAMN pt ii basically" out of this material and I like it very much united in grief n95 die hard mr morale father time rich spirit purple hearts crown silent hill count me out heart pt v mother i sober mirror
Holy shit is anyone else's tour date absurdly expensive even for nosebleed seats? I got into the presale but I didn't even go through with it because the 400 section was $235 with fees and the actual good seats were $300 or over I'll try again in the general tomorrow but fuck