I'm not sure what your argument is supposed to establish here. My point is simply to say that these songs lack artistic merit because they sound pedestrian. Its reminiscent of the hundred other radio friendly pop songs that are out there, ie, something that doesn't have its own identity. As for these songs having clear identity in LP discography... that would've been alright in my books if these songs didn't sound so clearly formulated for radio airplay. I give Shadow of the Day a pass, despite it being so derivative of With or Without You, because it doesn't sound like its pandering to mass radio audience. I'm not one of those fans who went apeshit when they drastically changed their style in MTM/ATS or leave comments like "Nu-metal LP was the best!!!" In fact I welcome them to try different styles. But I do have a problem when I see them make, what in my opinion is, shitty radio-friendly pop songs that lack identity.
Just for the sake of thoroughness, what current radio hits do these new LP singles resemble so strongly?
My argument is that artistic merit maybe shouldn't be judged on how unique something is. Are you really annoyed that theses new songs sound reminescent of hundred of other stuff? Or are you just annoyed that it sounds like hundred of other stuff you don't like to begin with? And, yes, I know. Those new songs are reminescent of the pop scene. It's obvious. But the point should more be like : are they doing a good job at it?
There are so many people saying they want the return of MTM/ATS/LT characteristics yet they'll be quick to call out anyone else saying they want a return to things found in HT/M.
Um its because those albums were shit, duh. ATS and MTM are way superior in every single way! We need to be hating on the supporters of the old albums!!!!1!1!
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not, but I consider Minutes To Midnight and A Thousand Suns probably the best albums the band have ever done, as do a lot of people, it seems. I love Hybrid Theory and Meteora to death but they aren't better than Minutes or Suns, I mean c'mon.
To be fair I don't think people have a problem so much with fans who'd like the band to incorporate elements from their first two albums into their new music (as they did on both LT and THP), but more with the ones who feel the need to go around constantly telling the band to "make Hybrid Theory again".
After giving it some thought, I must say I'm fairly disappointed in this album's length. Yes, I know LP has put out other songs that are under 3 minutes, but after the sometimes unconventional structures and lengths of songs on ATS and THP, I was anticipating longer songs in general for future albums. If OML feels/sounds as full as HT, minus instrumental tracks, maybe I won't be that disappointed. We'll see what happens next.
Tip for reading comments on the internet: If the person throws in 1's in with an excess amount of exclamation points, its sarcasm.
Well my point is that people are starting to sound like the "make hybrid theory again" people but they'll refer to MTM and ATS. It's just as bad tbh. Sure comparisons to previous works are fair but there's some good amount of irony surrounding the whole thing
Yeah pretty much this. Its cool to say "oh it'd be cool if on the next record they incorporate unique/different song structures like they did on ATS," or "I would love to see them return to the style that they did with the softer songs they did on MTM." But to say "wow ATS and MTM were so much better, they're on a decline at this point," you're really no better than the people who have bitched about their sound since MTM was released.
Yeah I agree. While I do genuinely prefer ATS to everything they've released since, and while I'll definitely voice the things I do and don't like about the new music, going around and complaining about the new music incessantly is a bit silly.
I know there are major differences that set the songs we've heard apart from the ones I'm about to list, but there are also clear similarities that make them comparable. I'm super enthusiastic about OML, but I also think it's fair for the ones criticizing it to say it sounds like it's trying to be trendy. The percussion is hugely influenced by modern pop. The big reverbed snaps in Heavy and BS are clearly reminiscent of big songs like Roses by Chainsmokers, or can't feel my face by the weekend. Kiiara's presence alone on Heavy makes it feel more pop (as she is definitely pop star status now), and the way her vocals are mixed are reminiscent to Chainsmokers and her stuff too. The big reverb/stereo vocals that she has when she first comes in for example. Not to mention the way she jumps around the beat on her "it's not like I make the choice" delivery. The "riff" that starts Battle Symphony is a chopped up vocal sample, much like Kiiara's Gold. Other songs that do that are Chvrches' Mother we Share, Sorry by Justin Bieber, or This is What You Came For by Calvin Harris. Where we would normally hear guitars in the "drop" of battle symphony, synths are way more prevalent. I don't think I need to cite specific songs to get the point across that they made what could definitely have been LITE part 2 sound-wise into a more synth-pop sound, which is more radio-friendly these days. Purity Ring is another artist that you can draw connections to with BS. Invisible's intro/chorus synth reminds me a lot of the sidechained synths in songs like Colors by Halsey. The way the percussion drives the beat along with the synth in the Colors chorus is pretty similar to Invisible. The tone of the guitar in Invisible (and what I can hear in Heavy) is a lot closer to songs like "something just like this" by coldplay than most of LPs past guitar work or any guitar you'd find in anything labeled metal today for sure. Good Goodbye is riddled with Trap/EDM buildups with the clap/hi hat stuff. That's all over the radio from Calvin Harris, Chainsmokers, Justin Bieber, etc. I don't know much about rap so I won't try to comment on the rap aspects of GG. But yeah, these are some of the most obvious pop elements of the songs we have so far, and some songs that I can think of off the top of my head that had this stuff long before LP put it out. Yeah, there's stuff that sets them apart from radio pop too. Heavy's chorus feels undeniably LP and not like a trendy radio melody, BS' bridge has a rock edge to it we don't hear much on the radio, etc. But these are my thoughts and I think it's totally fair to say instead of having some super unique sounds (like all of ATS, some of LT, even some of THP which was supposed to be a callback to rock they grew up on), this album feels like artists who are more utilizing styles they've heard than trying to invent new styles.
You're 100% right. there's no need to deny that LP tried to follow modern electronic pop production style on this album. but I don't see any problem with it. because this is the shit that I lisen to all the time Just that Chvrches & Purity Ring are nowhere near to be played on mainstram pop radio
Where I'm from I had heard The Mother We Share a few times on the same station that played Dark Horse, so I felt they were worth mentioning lol. And I'm pretty sure I've heard both on commercials too, so that's saying something about mainstream I think.