Pitchfork reviews Hold the Girl

[monstertoronto 7,562]

I love this album. I think this reviewer wanted a rehash of the first album. Criticisms like, it sounds like she just mashed up these  genres “ because she could” , in italics no less, are empty. Why else would she. She could and she did and she found artistic merit in doing so. I hate when reviewers imply that every artistic choice needs to be justified to their personal satisfaction. 

[Ladle Ghoulash 11,291]

2 hours ago, Dr Fudge said:

Well I’ve decided to review Pitchfork and I’ve given them a 1.6. 

Ok Drake

[Edonis 25,989]

For anyone that has heard the album, is it closer in sound to a lot of her pre-Swayama work? Cyber Stockholm Syndrome, Cherry, Tunnel Vision, etc. ? I sometimes feel like some fans assume her "signature sound" is what is on her debut album, but she really dabbles in pop and R&B as much as she has with rock.

Now if the album is just...boring...then that's a different story altogether.

[HIM820 1,594]

Why are they always opposite from other publications? It’s like they read those and say hmm let’s spice this up a little. 

[Ronk 14,081]

1 minute ago, monstertoronto said:

I love this album. I think this reviewer wanted a rehash of the first album. Criticisms like, it sounds like she just mashed up these  genres “ because she could” , in italics no less, are empty. Why else would she. She could and she did and she good artistic merit in doing so. I hate when reviewers imply that every artistic choice needs to be justified to their personal satisfaction. 

Exactly.  Every word.  I celebrate the fact she mixed genres in this album.  Shows the greatness of her talent.

[alsemanche 87,364]

I disagree, it should be lower 

[AURAOFSHEISSE 6,514]

4 minutes ago, Edonis said:

For anyone that has heard the album, is it closer in sound to a lot of her pre-Swayama work? Cyber Stockholm Syndrome, Cherry, Tunnel Vision, etc. ? I sometimes feel like some fans assume her "signature sound" is what is on her debut album, but she really dabbles in pop and R&B as much as she has with rock.

Now if the album is just...boring...then that's a different story altogether.

It’s not like her old stuff at all rlly except for a handful of songs . most of HTG is more basic production and more quite than the rest of her work idk why people said it was like BTW

[Wolf Boy 2,931]

It’s an accurate score. The album is very hit and miss.

[Papergangstuh 2,534]

I prefer Hold The Girl!

I love Sawayama now but it took FOREVER to grow on me. I'm not a huge fan of the "2004 Avril/Kelly Clarkson screamo Linkin Park/Evanescence hybrid packaged into a new pop girl" thing that a lot of people are/seemed to be craving. I'm just not nostalgic for that 

[Wolf Boy 2,931]

7 minutes ago, Edonis said:

For anyone that has heard the album, is it closer in sound to a lot of her pre-Swayama work?

No.

 

[jimmytimestep 2,157]

Fully disagreed

She experimented on this album; that’s what you’re supposed to do. And the songs are for the most part, very strong. 

everyone kissed Taylor swift’s ass when she went dark electropop; if we celebrate that experiment, why can’t we celebrate Rina’s?

[hieronymus 8,227]

44 minutes ago, Ronk said:

Exactly.  Every word.  I celebrate the fact she mixed genres in this album.  Shows the greatness of her talent.

What genres were mixed?

6 minutes ago, jimmytimestep said:

Fully disagreed

She experimented on this album; that’s what you’re supposed to do. And the songs are for the most part, very strong. 

everyone kissed Taylor swift’s ass when she went dark electropop; if we celebrate that experiment, why can’t we celebrate Rina’s?

You're saying this album was experimental? Have you heard Sawayama? HTG is by and large more traditional pop.

[Ziggy 10,359]

1 hour ago, monstertoronto said:

I love this album. I think this reviewer wanted a rehash of the first album. Criticisms like, it sounds like she just mashed up these  genres “ because she could” , in italics no less, are empty. Why else would she. She could and she did and she found artistic merit in doing so. I hate when reviewers imply that every artistic choice needs to be justified to their personal satisfaction. 

They mean the exploration leads to something lol I wouldn’t say her foray into country early aughts pop rock really found anything. Your comment doesn’t make a lot of sense to me bc you say she found artistic merit in it but then also that artistic choices don’t need justification…the merit found is that justification. They’re questioning the merit directly. On SAWAYAMA, she explored nu-metal as a means of contrast to the curated pretty pop image of ourselves and the world we put forward. It’s the Dorian grey of sorts underneath. That’s interesting and perspective. To pitchfork, this direction lacks perspective and feels shallow. That’s fair to make point of in a critique. It sounds like your issue is with critique itself because, yes, an artist can do what they want but to make a cohesive body of work, there needs to be coherence front to back in its thoughtfulness. The EP had it. SAWAYAMA had it. This doesn’t really. You can obvi still enjoy the album but a critic’s role is to judge the artistic merits of a piece and if something lacks that they’d be doing their job poorly not to point that out.

[Wolf Boy 2,931]

1 hour ago, jimmytimestep said:

Fully disagreed

She experimented on this album; that’s what you’re supposed to do. And the songs are for the most part, very strong. 

everyone kissed Taylor swift’s ass when she went dark electropop; if we celebrate that experiment, why can’t we celebrate Rina’s?

This isn’t dark electro bar a couple songs. Most of it sounds like Shania Twain.

[jimmytimestep 2,157]

1 hour ago, Hold My Ham said:

What genres were mixed?

You're saying this album was experimental? Have you heard Sawayama? HTG is by and large more traditional pop.

yes, she is experimenting with new sounds.

Just because the sound of SAWAYAMA doesn't fit the current pop landscape and Hold the Girl is closer to it, does not mean that Rina herself, as an artist, is doing "less experimental" things.

She IS experimenting.