Critic of Music

When Cyrus writes and sings things like "I feel like a slab of butter / melting in the sun," she is giving her audience the chance to understand her creative process and her way of thinking in her most vulnerable moments: in drug induced highs where anything can and will happen.  She is wonderfully unapologetic; knowing that her critics will completely devalidate her years of work just for relating herself to something as hilarious as a slab of butter, but she does so anyways. Not to mention, these songs in there nature are bangers, but far more effective ones than those on Cyrus's inferior and now shockingly tame album Bangerz.

You’ve never been on land and you’ve never seen the sky 

You don’t know what a cloud is, why did everything I love have to die? 

Vocal Range: C#3 - Bb5 - C6 (Eb7)
Vocal Fach: Light-Lyric Soprano (3 octaves)
Vocal Rating: A-List

Positives: A very fluid voice with an underestimated rock edge. Great fluidity, capable of singing incredibly long and complicated melismas with ease. She is able to utilize this ornament in all areas of her voice. She has explored the whistle register with exclamations, occasionally glissing into the 7th octave.

The lower register while the weakest part of the range, can have a slow vibrato applied to it. The mid-range gains healthy resonance, and it where the voice sounds its healthiest, accompanied by Jessie's lightning fast diction and rhythm. The upper chest voice maintains this piercing quality, though it noticeably thins above E5 and Jessie slides into a mixed voice.

Negatives: Notes above E5 can become shrill and thin, and are often squeezed, making them unpleasant to the ear while low notes (below F3) lack resonance and are breathy. Jessie also lacks restraint, struggling not to rely on melismas to impress. Her vibrato and its speed can also be polarizing (often being too fast).

Vocal Range: D2 - C5 - C6 [C7]
Vocal Type: Lyric Tenor (4 octaves)
Vocal Rating: A

Positives: 
Wide vocal range. Clean cut voice that pierces through heavy instrumentation. The lower register is solid and dark and is accessed without lowering the larynx, while his middle voice gains a bright quality. A great, incredibly bright mixed voice allows for an extensive and resonant belting range (See This is Gospel). His voice can soar into the sixth octave often with no strain.  Easy, appealing rolling vibrato.

Negatives:
The voice sounds limited rock stylings. The demanding nature of his songs and smoking can sometimes cause his voice to sound tired. The falsetto above G5 is hit or miss, with some notes having resonance and others sounding pinched and tired.

Singer-songwriter and Capitol Records recording artist Tori Kelly has finally released her long awaited debut LP. Gaining traction from Vine and YouTube clips - as well as collaborations with acapella group Pentatonix - have given her enough traction for a budding career after somehow missing the Top 24 of American Idol years ago in season nine.

Where I Belong: An awkward, uneventful way to launch the album. Moments where it begins to shine are awkwardly shifted and diverted. 4/10

Unbreakable Smile: The first full length track is an uplifting Natasha Bedingfield style mid-tempo. "God made me sexy / Who cares if only I know?" is the most clever lyric, but also one of the few decent ones. Tori definitely doesn't care, and neither will the listener. 5.5/10

Nobody Love: The Max-Martin produced, summery, moderate hit Nobody Love sets a much more suitable pace for the album, even if it is somewhat of a Problem-copy cat with its large verse-slim chorus format. 9/10

Expensive: Another up-tempo is very appreciated. Essentially a sassy Uptown Funk with gospel undertones, what more could Kelly need? 9.5/10

Should've Been Us: A fiery Kelly has emerged (another appreciated Kelly varient). The chorus is filled with high wails and head bobbing syncopations. The rasp on "both know?" To die for (even if it is strained a bit). 8.5/10



First Heartbreak: From the title, one has to wonder how this song will tie to an album called "Unbreakable Smile." "If you ever loved me / That would be my first heartbreak" is dare one say.. genius? Lyrically it's top notch, but the production is generic and uninspired. 7.5/10

I Was Made For Loving You (feat. Ed Sheeran): A Phillip Phillips style folk ballad that straddles the line between cliché and moving. 6.5/10

City Dove: City Dove gets the same diagnosis as it's preceding track, except it's blatantly cliché. Strangely however, the longer it plays, the more genuine it becomes. Likely a grower for most fans and critics. 6/10

Talk: The intro is laughable with it's awkward Oopma Lumpa upbeat accentuations, but it settles into a genuine groove with Kelly's falsetto front and center. It feels like "Talk" doesn't have much to say, you could very easily skip the song and nothing would be lost from the album. 6/10

Funny - (Live): This live track doesn't even sound live compared to the rest of Kelly's studio vocals, every song sounds wonderfully live on Unbreakable Smile (except for at the end of this track where she sounds out of breath reaching for the top of her range). Lyrically it's pretty corny and it sounds more like slam poetry, but at this point these comments just sound exhausted. 5/10

Art of Letting You Go: Enough with the mid-tempos! The dead horse is being beaten into the Egyptian afterlife. At this point, one should consider turning their sound off. The actual song is again, mediocre to okay at beast. 5/10

California Lovers (feat. LL Cool J): This bouncy and (finally) fun track would've been appreciated 6 tracks ago. At this point it's too little too late. Unbreakable Smile has gone off the road, and it's going to be very hard for it to get back on track. 7.5/10

Falling Slow: Another merciless mid-tempo that's on the wrong side of the metronome. 4.5/10

Anyways: Credits are rolling, thank god we can all go home. Weird way to end the album without reaffirming a message or idea. 4/10

Unbreakable Smile relies too heavily on melodramatic mid-tempos to be a bearable album to listen through all the way. There are moments of great artistry here, but there are also far too many bland and tasteless ones. Unbreakable Smile is a pep talk turned into a nightmare, though it is given some nice moments thanks to Kelly's ridiculously agile and emotional voice. Lesson for the sophomore album? Less reflective mid-tempos, and some more songs that make the listener have an "unbreakable smile."

Run Away With Me: It's unlikely to turn into a hit, but it's still the best pop song of the year, as well as the song that puts I Really Like You to shame. If anyone could do it, it would be Carly. 10/10

Emotion: A groovy, guitar driven track that shows some production restraint, something unlike past Carly works. The biggest and most genius part of the song? The hook being taken not by Carly's vocal, but by a lone electric guitar. That being said, it's still pulled off remarkably well. 9.5/10

I Really Like You: Should've been the song of the summer. Light, fun, ridiculously catchy, Carly just waltzes over the drum beats and synths like a true pro. All of that makes the couplet "Who gave you eyes like that? Said you could keep them?" over-lookable. 10/10

Gimme Love: A stripped back, sultry ballad. A pleading Carly groans over a lone guitar riff before growing into a chorus of backing vocals. Simple, but effective. Likely a track most will pass over. 8/10

All That: And the lights in the club are dimmed for this (shockingly) slow song. "Show me if you want me, if I'm all that" sounds strangely seductive yet heartbreaking, an effective combination. It drags on a bit too long, but if you give this song a chance to hold your attention, it's worth it. 8/10

Boy Problems: A La Roux inspired 80's pop track that just so happens to have been penned by none other than Sia. It's so close to being worth a drive down the beach with the top down, but the song just sounds too timid. Its siblings and neighbors are just too much to compete with. On an album like this, a song this good is just not enough. 7.5/10

Making the Most of the Night: The album has been throwing out some triples, but at this point we're back to home runs. Groovy, head-bobbing greatness with a chorus that masterfully blends darkness with light. 9.5/10

Your Type: The lyrics are uncharacteristically bland for Carly, chucked full of cliches. Easily overlookable, but still not that bad. 6/10

Let's Get Lost: Another home run. A cute and quaint little song that's just utterly charming. 9/10

LA Hallucinations: A sassy offbeat driven track that sounds somewhat similar to Taylor Swift's Bad Blood. Not the best track on the album, but it's worth the listen just for the change of pace and sound. 7/10

Warm Blood: A definite standout. Somehow the wallowing synth sounds strangely blood like. This song sounds much like a hallucination than its predecessor, almost to the point of being psychedelic. Just lay back and let Warm Blood course through your veins. 9/10

When I Needed You: The end of the standard edition of Emotion. This new wave doesn't sound like any typical album closer, but somehow When I Needed You manages to let the credits roll, but also be worthy of some attention, but not that much. 7/10

Black Heart: An 8-bit intro, a confident entry from Carly, why did this miss the standard edition? It's perfectly cohesive with the rest of the album, but also different enough to add some variation. Very few singers could pull-off robotic without sounding emotionless, but Carly manages to do it exceptionally well. 10/10

I Didn't Just Come Here to Dance: The epitome of the groovy dance track you would hear at a trendy clothing store. And it's perfectly addictive. 9.5/10

Favourite Color: "Color" sounds much more like an interlude than a full length track, and it should've been one. 5/10

Never Get to Hold You: It's nice, but it's the first track that doesn't bring a new sound or idea to the table. It's an adequate album filler, which is fine for a Japanese only bonus track. 6/10

Love Again: Another Japanese bonus track, but one that has more value than being just a space filler. A great message and way to close out this specific edition of Emotion, and would've worked well as the overall closer as well. 7.5/10

Where Emotion stumbles, it merely wobbles, never falling completely out of line. The albums tracks all speak to the message of "Emotion," and while there were moments on Carly's previous album Kiss where it felt as if every song was a Call Me Maybe rehash, "Emotion" moves out of that song's shadow, and each new song offers something new and exciting. This album is destined to join Kiss as a Pop standard just outside of the mainstream.