At a minimum, I put this WAY above Star Boy, some of those songs were so cheesy and cheap sounding, the production on this is some of the best modern music has to offer. I would argue it's more cohesive than Beauty Behind The Madness, if that, has more iconic songs, which we can't really say for this yet.
He stopped doing those kinds of forced songs like "Dark Times", "Angel" and the worst of "Star Boy", "Die 4 You", "All I Have", "False Alarm", I still feel like he hasn't done a real song about himself, introspectively, or perhaps he has, and they just are either A)Shallow and self aggrandizing, or B) melodramatic.
Until I Bleed Out and Escape From LA come close, even if the latter falls a little short, for me, in terms of a compelling narrative. The former is actually very good, probably about drug addiction, who knows what is true, and what is art, but he's trying on that one, for sure.
This may be his best work since Kissland, Beauty Behind the Madness, in retrospect, is such a stadium tour album, like "Graduation", this is way more grounded, and just feels like a more confident work than Star Boy, which had some high points, but a lot of weak tracks, and the high points had no edge.
The polish, effort, and overall execution of this album is pretty career defining. His his transition into a major artist is impressive. His content is mature, for the most part, I could play some of these songs when I am 40, and still appreciate them.
He stopped doing those kinds of forced songs like "Dark Times", "Angel" and the worst of "Star Boy", "Die 4 You", "All I Have", "False Alarm", I still feel like he hasn't done a real song about himself, introspectively, or perhaps he has, and they just are either A)Shallow and self aggrandizing, or B) melodramatic.
Until I Bleed Out and Escape From LA come close, even if the latter falls a little short, for me, in terms of a compelling narrative. The former is actually very good, probably about drug addiction, who knows what is true, and what is art, but he's trying on that one, for sure.
This may be his best work since Kissland, Beauty Behind the Madness, in retrospect, is such a stadium tour album, like "Graduation", this is way more grounded, and just feels like a more confident work than Star Boy, which had some high points, but a lot of weak tracks, and the high points had no edge.
The polish, effort, and overall execution of this album is pretty career defining. His his transition into a major artist is impressive. His content is mature, for the most part, I could play some of these songs when I am 40, and still appreciate them.
