REVIEWS: Single Drive-bys

 Yes, miss Swift dropped 4 new tracks. 3 are re-recordings, and one is an outtake from Lover. 

The first is a re-recorded version of "Safe & Sound", a track she did for the Hunger Games soundtrack along with the now broken up Civil Wars. To be honest, the re-recording doesn't feel as strong to me. Her voice seems weaker in the new take. 

The next is the other track she did, "Eyes Open". This new version I think is superior to the original. Her voice is fuller. The production is way better than the original to me. They made it a little rockier. I wasn't too into the original honestly. 

We then get the re-recorded version of "If This Was a Movie", the first we've gotten to hear of anything Speak Now re-recorded. Honestly...she really ramped up the production of the track. I think she's trying to overcompensate for the lack of rawness of the new version. 

Lastly we have the outtake. "All of the Girls You Loved Before". I was not a fan of Lover. Anyone who knows me will be very aware of this. I was hoping perhaps the outtakes would be better. I'll be swift about it. It isn't. It has a sort of soulish-leaning pop sound which I rather leave in Lover as it was a terrible direction for her. 

So 1 out of 4. Now let's get to other people who did something this week!

I know Joji is very popular and all but I find him a bit boring. So hearing Ali Gatie do his best impression of being comparable is even worse. But if you're into that kind of thing, "Seasonal Love" awaits you.

I hadn't heard anything by FIDLAR before. "On Drugs" is definitely a punk song. If you like that sort of thing...go for it. I'll question you for not listening to Punk with a real message or something though.

Sabrina Carpenter released an extended version of her last album which includes 4 new songs. We will visit them:

"Opposite" is a bit gut-wrenching discussing a guy moving on from her with someone nothing like her. Very good track, kind of sad it was an outtake.

"Feather" is an upbeat track that feels like unimpressive filler. 

"Lonesome" is more impressive than half the album in general. I wish this and Opposite were more her direction than stuff like "Nonsense".

"Things I Wished You Said" seems it fits the tracklist more than some other songs did even though it isn't a favorite of mine.

Back to more random things. 

Tori Kelly is back! She doesn't have a bad voice but I always found her a bit bland. This is somehow even worse than usual because she went an over-produced pop direction with a dance beat that doesn't fit at all.

Lana Del Rey is back with another single. "The Grants" starts off with a soul sample before getting into the main song. She made it into a pretty sweet song actually. 

Wow, Usher? Usher is back? Good lord I wish he wasn't. This is an R&B soul-pop track that spends too much time in his nasally falsetto.

Something sounds eerily similar to parts of this Nothing but Thieves track. Oh yeah...The Weeknd's Dawn FM. Oh my god at least try to cover it more.

Natalie Jane's single "seeing you with other girls" actually had potential, but she oversings most of the song.

Wow, Matchbox Twenty returns? "Wild Dogs (Running in a Slow Dream)" is a lot poppier than I recall them being. Kind of feels like radio sell out.

Hozier, I question you anyway but the title of this song is literally "eat your young". Honestly a compelling song using irony about how horrible we are at being caring to those less fortunate than us.

Melanie Martinez finally gives us a taste of "Portals" with "Death" being the lead single. I like it, I do think it is likely to make more sense in the full album. She's done nothing but concept albums so I am interested in where it is going.

And I will take my leave with that.