June’s jams: A review of the latest album releases

Featuring albums by Charli XCX, Don Toliver, and Gracie Abrams

Mitchell Eng, Graphics Editor & Business Manager

Jul 6, 2024

“BRAT” – Charli XCX, June 7, 2024

In an age where pop music often sounds the same, “BRAT” by Charli XCX delivers a remarkably different take on a genre that has grown stale in recent years. The English artist offers a refreshingly new sound for listeners, including fast-paced songs that break pop’s monotony. Although songs can get repetitive, tracks “Club classics” and “Girl, so confusing,” have Charli XCX’s distorted vocals front and center, backgrounded by harsh synth and keyboard heavy instrumentation—a revived take from our usual pop. The content of this album mainly focuses on her relationships: with women, with her fianceMatty Healy, and potentially with her fellow rival pop star Taylor Swift in her track ‘Symphony is a knife’.

After bursting onto the scene with two top ten hits — “Fancy” as a feature artist and “Boom Clap,” in the mid-2010s — Charli XCX has returned to the mainstream. Despite being framed as a borderline underground artist, she has consistently improved, releasing music that succeeds in paving her own path within the genre. Overall, “BRAT” is a great album, providing a new era for pop, making it worth a listen or two.

“HARDSTONE PSYCHO” – Don Toliver, June 14, 2024

“HARDSTONE PSYCHO” by Don Toliver is a refreshing album to listen to in an otherwise dull hip-hop and rap landscape. Featuring five four-song discs, each holding its own musical content. Tracks like “KRYPTONITE” and “PURPLE RAIN”, the latter featuring Future, offer energetic rapping from Toliver, alongside bass-heavy production which compliments Toliver’s vocals. The lead single “BANDIT” includes a highly recognizable Tame Impala sample, one of the highlights of this LP. Lastly, “DEEP IN THE WATER” and “INSIDE,” featuring Travis Scott, highlight Toliver’s melodic side, effectively slowing the pace of the album and keeping fans on their toes.

While some listeners may become bored during the slower middle part of “HARDSTONE PSYCHO,” the project ultimately presents a different side of the rap genre that is hard to come by nowadays. This is a step in the right direction for Don Toliver, and I am excited for new music from him in the future.

“The Secret of Us” – Gracie Abrams, June 21, 2024

2024 has been a big year for Gracie Abrams, with a Grammy nomination and headlining performances for Taylor Swift’s worldwide “The Eras Tour.” This buzz has culminated in Abrams’s second studio album, “The Secret of Us.” With all this attention, I expected this album to be a solid step up from her 2023 debut studio release, “Good Riddance.” Despite all these high expectations, I found this album to be mediocre at best, mundane at worst. In what Charli XCX succeeds in with “BRAT,” Gracie Abrams struggles by putting out a collection of indie-pop songs that, in my opinion, are monotonous and lifeless. Songs like “Close to You” and “Risk” are decent, but much of the tracklist like “Tough Love” and “us.” featuring Taylor Swift, are two-dimensional and fall flat.

Although I don’t find this album bad, I simply don’t find it very interesting. Like much of contemporary indie-pop, it sounds decent on the surface, but in reality doesn’t inspire much thought past the first listen. In a word: dull.

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About the Contributors

Mitchell Eng, Co-Editor-in-Chief

Mitchell is a senior and serves a Co-Editor-in-Chief for the Oracle. Outside of school, he enjoys photography, listening to music, and spending time with friends.

Ava Li, Web News Editor, Social Media Manager

Ava is a senior and serves as Web News Editor and Social Media Manager for the Oracle. Outside of school, she enjoys dancing, drawing, and running hurdles for track.