Artist: Mac Miller
Album: Blue Slide Park
Go Download: “Under the Weather”
As a fairly new rapper, Mac Miller released his newest album Blue Slide Park Nov. 8. This album meets all my expectations; he brought a fresh style to the game including sick beats, witty lyrics and a singsong voice anyone could love. Blue Slide Park takes you on a journey through Mac Miller’s roots and illustrates why he is known as the future face of hip-hop. Being 19 years old, he knows how to reach out to the teenage generation with his music and Blue Slide Park demonstrates that fact with perfection. He has his fans in the palm of his hand; they’re just waiting to see what else this young rapper is capable of.
— Jessica Clayton
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Artist: Scotty McCreery
Album: Clear As Day
Go Download: “Clear As Day”
American Idol winner Scotty McCreery came out with his new album Oct 4, Clear As Day. This 12-track CD did not make anything very clear to me at all. McCreery’s deep-toned simplicity is not utilized in these songs one bit. The CD does feature some of his popular singles like “I Love You This Big” and “The Trouble with Girls,” both of which did not stand out very much in the first place because the songs do not have an original sound. One song that sticks out is “Clear as Day,” which reminded myself and probably many others of why he won American Idol in the first place. This song portrayed McCreery’s true talents in a sentimental way.
— Ally DeJong
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Artist: Florence and the Machine
Album: Ceremonials
Go Download: “Bedroom Hymns”
Ceremonials does not live up to the high Florence standards set by Lungs, a better, previous album. While the songs from Lungs were pretty and fantastical, on the new album Florence seems to have obtained this urge in her voice to yell and sing aggressively; the new songs almost sound like ranting. It’s a little bit more hipster/rock-girl than classic bluesy, soulful Flo. It’s become pop music. Regardless, her voice is intoxicating, and I love the beat of each and every song, especially when people are pounding on drums in the background. It’s feel-good music. All of the songs are great before you hit the chorus. They have this great climax of soft melodies on a strong beat building up to the chorus, then the chorus comes in and it’s a totally different song. Suddenly I am left wondering what I am listening to.
— Kaitlyn Mattiace