So after listening to all of 808s and Heartbreak, here’s my review for it.
I’m going to quote David Cho’s blog: “Kanye is a bad singer, like, he can’t carry a tune really (you can especially hear that on Late Orchestration), and that hurts it— a lot. His vocal abilities, or lack thereof, restrict the potential of how good his product can be, putting a clear ceiling on the product, whereas if he were just rapping (or producing for someone who could sing) it wouldn’t be a problem.”
Now I agree with this, Kanye isn’t the best of singers—but the melody is there. The production values are there. The songs are catchy and some are even pretty intricate. I don’t think the album would be that great with someone else singing. The appeal is that it’s Kanye. And while I wouldn’t want to feed his ego, maybe that makes him some sort of pop star. He’s no Michael Jackson, but still.
I don’t think Kanye should stay in this style, but it’s interesting to see an artist try something new. The album doesn’t compare to his last, but I think that’s because it isn’t supposed to. It’s completely different. It sounds great in my car when I’m driving at night. It doesn’t have the “party” feel that his other albums have and that’s ok.
Overall, the album has a really cohesive theme—that of heartbreak, and I like that. Maybe it’s because I just like sad music. Anyway, my mom likes it. It’s not as bad as everyone says it is. And hopefully, it’s just Kanye trying something new (like a little filler) before his next album drops.
