Album Rating: 4.5

nowhere, nobody is such a beautiful closer

might be one of her best

"oh well" is very pinkpanthressesss

nowhere, nobody ft. the caretaker

im not an enormous fan of eternal sunshine but tracks like yes and, bye, the boy is mine, eternal sunshine, and don’t wanna break up have a really nice, upbeat sound to them. Very melody forward. There were definitely some filler tracks near the end

Album Rating: 3.0

wait, let's not ignore that budgie comment

Album Rating: 4.0

Wow, didn't think that she had an album like this in her. Such a surprising album and after two low-impact records, this hits very hard. Rivals thank u, next for her best one.

Just wish she leaned on some of the newer influences a bit more. Some of these songs veer on pop-rock and shoegaze (while still very much pop/R&B) and it's such a refreshing change of pace for her, so hopefully she channels more of that next time around.

For now, one of the year's biggest surprises for me.

Album Rating: 4.0

Yeah Budgie, like a fucking dilapidated skeleton warlock covered in glitter holding Ari's head by the ponytail. Petal to the metal

Album Rating: 4.5

Maybe if she one day pulls a Poppy and goes pop-metal

Album Rating: 4.5

And incredibly well-put, Panos. It's so refreshing to see an artist like her create a true album and not just another batch of singles surrounded by who-tf-cares. DW was her strongest album IMO prior to this, although thank u next proved she might have had this in her. I should probably go back and revisit it because it's been years. Regardless, after just a few days, petal is already my favorite album of hers and it's not close. I don't think this is quite a 5, so maybe I need to push DW down to a 4 just to create some separation in the ranking.

love the artwork

really looking forward to hear this

Album Rating: 4.5

It's unlike her other albums. Very atmospheric and unified.

Album Rating: 4.0

The mixed reaction to this by most critics is really baffling to me. Sure, she doesn't belt every song here and tones her vocals down to fit the dreamy soundscape, but this is what makes the album all the better for me. We know she has immense range and she has shown it in the past, but I am very interested in her exploring her lower register here.

So I do think you hit the nail on the head here, Sowing:

"Oftentimes, the best album of a musician’s career isn’t immediately appreciated, and I could see that being the case here."

Album Rating: 4.5

Couldn't be more on the same page with you. Obviously everyone is entitled to their take, but this seems like it should have been a critical slam dunk. A lot of publications criticized her past works for not being cohesive enough, citing a collection of singles with no real purpose or unifying atmosphere. She finally created it, and now those same publications are calling it boring and asking where the big belting refrains are. It makes me wonder what she could do to make them happy, ha. Not trying to sound overly defensive because I hate when pop stars get stanned by fans and treated as infallible by critics, but this is a very intriguing pivot from one of the world's biggest musical icons. I think some writers will eat their words with this, but we'll see. Either way I'll happily be on the "this is a pop AOTY contender" side of any divisiveness.

Album Rating: 4.0

To add to that: eternal sunshine, a very inconsequential and average record to me, was praised left and right as an emotionally potent, mature and catchy album whereas the actual emotionally potent and melodically rich album has been criticized as "too muted"

Everyone is entitled to their own take, yes, but eternal sunshine over this? Come on

Album Rating: 4.5

That's what I mean. When did ES become her measuring stick? It's weird how it was widely met with shoulder shrugs two years ago but now it's being cited as something borderline life changing among a ton of online commenters. I figured I just missed a ton of context about how well that album aged but I'm glad I'm not the only one confused by it, lol.

Album Rating: 4.0

No I am equally baffled lol

To be fair, eternal sunshine does feel like a precursor to this when it goes for a dreamier version of R&B ('supernatural' is a good example). But this new album feels much more fully realized and entrancing and exploding with memorable soundscapes. I'd really love to sit down with someone who finds eternal sunshine to be a unique, life-changing record, because I find such a train of thought fascinating.

Album Rating: 4.5

Since we're tangentially on the topic:

petal > Dangerous Woman > thank u, next > My Everything > Eternal Sunshine = Yours Truly > Sweetener > Positions

Still sorting out my petal track by track rankings, which is tough because it's so consistent

Album Rating: 3.5

Just wanna point out how intelligent and thoughtful the discourse on this thread has been so far lol

Is she okay? I haven’t seen her since that Wicked movie came out… she was already looking pretty frail then but she just looks sick now. And I’m not even being an asshole when I ask that, her appearance is genuinely concerning, like I feel bad for the poor woman.

Album Rating: 3.0

she looks awful in that last music video. i really hope she gets help, legit scary to look at her.