2024 has been a wild year for music, as artists have been announcing new albums left and right. Some of the albums released so far this year include Hit Me Hard and Soft, Clancy, The Tortured Poets Department, and the secret double album, The Anthology. Let’s dive in beginning with the pop-rock duo, Twenty One Pilots.
Clancy – Twenty One Pilots
Twenty One Pilots’ seventh studio album Clancy was released on May 24. Featuring thirteen tracks, Clancy is based off of Twenty One Pilots’ fifth studio album Trench and continues Tyler Joseph’s fight with Dema and Nico, who were his rivals in his past four albums. The pop-rock duo has released three singles off their album, with one technically not on it. “Overcompensate” is the lead single from Clancy, which gained over 20 million streams on Spotify in just over a month. “Overcompensate” takes listeners back in time as the song features the iconic introduction “Welcome back to Trench” which is a crucial part of the Twenty One Pilots story line. The song also features a Ukrainian portion of the introduction as the beat continues to climb. The song has a heavy punch as Tyler Joseph begins rapping and Josh Dun plays alternating beats on the drums. Uniquely, the song also features many beat changes and quiet spots, which Twenty One Pilots have not included in their music before.
The second single released and next on the tracklist is “Next Semester”. This song is a new sound for Twenty One Pilots. With 14 million streams on Spotify, “Next Semester” uses more of a 2000’s style of music, reverting us back to bands such as Green Day. The song also features a quieter part where Tyler Joseph brings out his signature ukulele, which was often seen in Vessel. Though the song may seem upbeat, the lyrics are quite depressing once you listen to them closely. The song contains the lyrics, “stand up straight now, can’t break down,” which refers to Tyler’s inner battle with his mental health.
“Paladin Strait” is the closing song on the album, which brings us back to the island of Trench one more time. The song begins as peaceful, but later in the song, it gets super sad, as the third verse includes the lyrics, “I’m all in, I’m surrounded, put my money where my mouth is, even though I’m past the point of no return.” This lyric refers to Joseph’s struggle against Nico and Dema, as he wants to turn around, but he’s progressed too far into the battle he has to fight it. At the end of “Paladin Strait” Joseph takes us back to the beginning of the story which started with the Grammy-winning album Blurryface, by referencing the song “Fairly Local” with the lyrics “So few, so proud, so emotional. Hello Clancy” which was spoken by Nico, who Joseph was searching for during the song. The final lyrics leave the audience on a cliffhanger concluding Joseph’s battle with Dema and Nico is about to take place. My favorite songs from Clancy are “Routines in the Night,” “Vignette,” and “Oldies Station”. Personally, I believe Clancy is the saddest Twenty One Pilots album released, closely tied with Trench. Rating the album, I’d give it a five out of five, as some songs really stuck out to me and some of them felt pretty personal to me. I also loved how the album switched the feel between each of the songs.
Hit Me Hard and Soft – Billie Eilish
Billie Eilish’s third studio album, Hit Me Hard and Soft was released on May 17. Eilish announced her new album last month, after teasing her followers on Instagram by adding them to her close friends story. In the announcement, Eilish announced that she would not be releasing singles, but rather will be dropping the whole album at once. Hit Me Hard and Soft features ten new tracks, with the first one being “SKINNY.” Like Eilish’s previous albums, Hit Me Hard and Soft, sticks to Eilish’s ability to sing peacefully and beautifully, while conveying her emotions to her listeners. Eilish also features more backbeat instruments such as violin and drums throughout the album. Eilish’s new album has been called a “rollercoaster of emotions,” going from bold and confident, to depressed and lonely. The fan favorites off of the album have been decided as “Birds of a Feather” and “Blue.”
In Eilish’s song “Blue” she uses the lyrics “I try to live in black and white, but I’m so blue,” which refers to her wishing to not feel anything, but she ends up feeling it all in the end. In “Birds of a Feather” Eilish uses a catchy beat which she is able to adjust her voice to, creating a beautiful, moving song. Eilish uses the lyric, “I’ll love you till the day I die, I don’t wanna say goodbye.” Through these lyrics, Eilish is able to express her emotions clearly, creating a serene mood to the listener. Eilish’s voice in this song is extremely moving and it conveys her emotions towards her strong desire to be in love beautifully.
As a Billie Eilish fan, I think Hit Me Hard and Soft could’ve made a bigger impact on her audience. Though the album is a way for her to express herself, the album was all over the place seen by songs such as “LUNCH”. I think Eilish could’ve used some of her past music techniques to create the powerful emotional singles she is known for. I do like that Eilish experimented with different music techniques after the hit single “What Was I Made For?” which captivated her voice to create one of the saddest songs on the radio. My favorite song off of Eilish’s new album is “Birds of a Feather”. Rating the album, I’d give it a four and a half out of five, as each of the songs have a different feel to them, and they all highlight Eilish’s beautiful singing.
The Tortured Poets Department and The Anthology – Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift’s eleventh studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, was released on April 19. Swift’s album features 16 tracks. Swifties worldwide were stunned as Swift had released a second album two hours later, making for a surprise double album. Swift’s twelfth studio album, The Tortured Poets Department: The Anthology was released on streaming services at 2 am. The Anthology added 15 more songs for Swifties to listen to, creating a total drop of 31 songs in two hours.
Swift’s new albums are known to be about her long-lasting relationship with her ex boyfriend, Joe Alwyn. Swift’s song “So Long, London” takes us back to her song “London Boy” which was a song off of her album Lover. In “So Long London” Swift mentions the lyrics “You swore that you loved me but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof” This references her six year relationship with Joe Alwyn and how they both endured a tough end to their relationship. Swift had hoped her and Alwyn would get married, though the result turned out different than what she had hoped for.
Though Alwyn was the main motive behind her poetry, Swift also references her struggles with Kim Kardashian in her song “thanK you aIMee” as the odd capitalization of the song title spells out Kim. The song also features the lyrics, “When I picture my hometown,
there’s a bronze spray-tanned statue of you, and a plaque underneath that threatens to push me down the stairs at our school” which takes us back to Swift’s high school life where Kim used to bully her until the point Swift couldn’t take it anymore. Later in the song, Swift thanks her for putting her through trouble, as she has gained a lot of popularity and became a famous billionaire.
Lastly, Swift mentions her current boyfriend Travis Kelce in her song “The Alchemy” by referring to the lyrics “The greatest in the league, where’s the trophy? He just comes running over to me” which refers to Kelce’s behavior at the end of the Super Bowl. As someone who doesn’t listen to Taylor Swift frequently, I think both of the albums were not bad. I enjoyed how Swift was able to add variety to the songs, and how she was able to drop cliche hints about people and her audience had to guess who. Rating the album, I’d give it three and a half stars out of five, with my favorites being “But Daddy I Love Him” and “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?”
