Pitchfork: Love Goes

[COOOK 76,406]

   6.1

"The pop crooner’s third album is at times freer, queerer, and more enlivening than anything Sam Smith has done before, and yet too cautious to make what could’ve been a career-defining leap."

Spoiler

“How Do You Sleep?” was a revelatory moment for a pop star who, save for their breakout song, had relied on a stale combination of mopey piano, campy gospel choir, and self-flagellating heartbreak; it’s a formula that made them famous, but the songs increasingly blended together. The video gave hope that Smith, who came out as nonbinary and changed their pronouns a few months after the single’s release, was proud to embrace their queerness and was finally moving past their typical, buttoned-up schlock."

"Love Goes, Smith’s third album, unfortunately fails to deliver on the promise of “How Do You Sleep?” The album is clumsily split in two, with no regard to sequencing; it begins with a collection of bubbling, at times electric songs spanning melodic funk, pulsing deep-house, and mid-tempo pop, before abruptly veering to five messy ballads that would be better delivered via Hallmark card. As bonus tracks, if the album wasn’t unbalanced enough, Love Goes tacks on six promotional singles after the ballads, like the hugely successful, Normani-assisted “Dancing with a Stranger,” the theatrical Demi Lovato team-up “I’m Ready,” and the Calvin Harris-produced club hit “Promises.” Replacing these songs, which would have fit well on Love Goes, with boilerplate Smith ballads with titles like “For the Lover That I Lost” and “Breaking Hearts” feels like a calculated, and ultimately ineffectual, attempt to keep the fans of Smith’s earlier records engaged despite Smith’s attempts at exploring new sounds. The result is an unbalanced and frustrating album, one that is at times freer, queerer, and more enlivening than anything Smith’s done before, and yet too cautious to make what could’ve been a career-defining leap."

"Listening to Smith fresh out of high school, it was as if a vortex had swallowed the pain of my coming out, rejection, and self-discovery, and spit it back in my face. Yet its impact dulled with each listen. The loneliness and self-pity of Smith’s music has never evolved beyond generalized mushiness, and as a result fails to truly capture the nuance and complication of adulthood and queerness, heartbreak and redemption. It’s one-size-fits-all musical masochism that, in attempting to touch the masses, really touches no one. It works spectacularly to sell records. But when put up against the stuff of real life, or the wrenching emotional artistry of stars like Adele or Frank Ocean—musicians who construct entire worlds out of their experience and feeling—it quickly disintegrates. For a brief moment last summer, swaying their hips and reaching for the sky, Smith seemed ready to leave the formula behind, to reveal something new about themselves, to maybe, even, show us a way to look at our own pain. And then the piano started playing."

Full review here.

Previous scores:

  5.8

  5.5

[LilMonst3r 5,544]

Way to many songs on that album... 10 songs would have been good. The best songs are near the end and I really found it aggravating that I had to get past all the filler songs to hear something I would enjoy. 

[Karl 3,433]

I just think they should have gone full on with the disco and dance music, the ballads are kind of overdone at this point. There are some really good standout songs though.

[franminervini 17,012]

I loved it but it is true that some songs he released +2 years ago were not really fitting the album... at least not musically talking about.

[NORMANDIE 1,586]

Just now, Karl said:

I just think he should have gone full on with the disco and dance music, the ballads are kind of overdone at this point. There are some really good standout songs though.

*They

[FATCAT 60,299]

23 minutes ago, Karl said:

I just think he should have gone full on with the disco and dance music, the ballads are kind of overdone at this point. There are some really good standout songs though.

 

22 minutes ago, franminervini said:

I loved it but it is true that some songs he released +2 years ago were not really fitting the album... at least not musically talking about.

Please make sure you use correct pronouns. (They/Them) 

Thanks

[MessyTop 14,389]

Yeah, the album is such a disappointment, specially after they released “how do you sleep?” The ballads are just meh. Truly a missed opportunity

[NewUsername 11,484]

Really?

I think it’s a great album

[Flawless 2,234]

Agreed on everything. the first singles were so promising!! I had high hopes for it that ended up in disappointment after listening the full album. I think 6.1 is a deserved score for the project

[Stephen 30,431]

Can someone write out which are the best songs vs the underwhelming ones? 

[Daenerys 6,135]

I got their album because of the fun singles I was hearing. Was it worth it, in some ways, the ballads do feel misplaced on the album and (I’m sorry Sam) some of them are skips for me but overall the first half of the album is really good and I hope they take note of the criticism and make a completely realized album with that sound because it fits them well. 

[ThisGuyTony 31,086]

How Do You Sleep? is such an irritating song.  

I wonder how the original album would’ve done (if released back in May).

[littlepotter 75,152]

I'm self banning myself from participating in Sam threads because I'm bound to forget to use their pronouns and get quoted by ten people  

I've never listen to a Sam album but I did like some of the songs they released, I might have to c

[TRILL MONSTER 1,113]

If the songs aren’t  like “How do you sleep?” Then he can keep it

[Sneaky Oliver 22,235]

Maybe that’s what happens when you’re going to release a dance record but your man breaks up with you halfway through the process  

(I have no idea if this is true, just kidding and assuming stuff)