If you told me Ariana Grande and Taylor Swift would score less than 80 with the critics a few years ago I would laugh to be honest.

Slayyyter, Charli, and Gaga just received scores that leaned a little high. Olivia and Madonna received credit they deserved. Sabrina's MBF 75 felt fair. I just think some of the other girls have been releasing mediocre work for their standards.

those 2 scoring anything above 30-40 is a sign that poptimism is still here

Artists can release bad albums you know

No they're just not releasing their best work. Ari and Taylor are too comfortable if anything.

1 minute ago, suburbannature said:

Slayyyter, Charli, and Gaga just received scores that leaned a little high. Olivia received credit she deserved. Sabrina's MBF 75 felt fair. I just think some of the other girls have been releasing mediocre work for their standards.

MBF getting a 75 felt a little high. High 60's seemed more appropriate.

idk why people can't just accept that Ari and Taylor released mid to bad albums. Like Stan's get so shocked when they realize their fav is human and won't always release a masterpiece smash

No because even with Taylor she still got plenty of bias favorable reviews initially, and without all those asskissing ones she would've realistically been in the 50s.

Also Olivia, Billie, Beyonce, etc are still getting scores that literally no mainstream woman was getting pre-Poptism lol. They still go overly high when a pop girl releases a decent album.

1 minute ago, Wildflower99 said:

MBF getting a 75 felt a little high. High 60's seemed more appropriate.

idk why people can't just accept that Ari and Taylor released mid to bad albums. Like Stan's get so shocked when they realize their fav is human and won't always release a masterpiece smash

Don't agree. I know you dislike Sabrina, but MBF made some bold production choices and it felt overall like a strong lighthearted pop album. Mid-70s is perfect for that.

Thank god we have Olivia this year

where is Beyonce...

the critics will ass-kiss whoever they wanna ass-kiss regardless of the quality of work, lbr

Some of you conclude far too fast...

I think the demand is somewhat switching a bit as well. We've had 3 good years of Pop Music 2023-2025.

It's a trend dying down, and now another trend will come up.

Ariana was on a trajectory to end up here, not sure what's going on with her but I think she needs a break and to recover/heal.

Taylor's record has some fantastic songs but yes, as a body of work it didn't live up to the presentation or claims she made. Since it's so short there really isn't much opportunity to chop and change it like you could with Lover.

6 minutes ago, suburbannature said:

Don't agree. I know you dislike Sabrina, but MBF made some bold production choices and it felt overall like a strong lighthearted pop album. Mid-70s is perfect for that.

I don't dislike Sabrina. lol

That being said, the era of poptimism made to where stans can't handle it when their favs flop critically

Edited July 31Jul 31 by Wildflower99
Not done

a pop girl released one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the year just last month…

No

https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/normani-dopamine/

we had this same discussion back in like 2017-2018, pop just has cycles of good and bad, under trump pop is just destined to flop and lowkey suck… it is what it is….

definitely not

No, critics are just starting to not heap praise onto any release.

You guys always say this every time an MPG releases an album that isn't universally acclaimed by critics like-

27 minutes ago, Killah said:

Thank god we have Olivia this year

where is Beyonce...

Either in The Hamptons or in Italy…. act iii in 2044!

46 minutes ago, JO1s said:

No they're just not releasing their best work. Ari and Taylor are too comfortable if anything.

this. Ari just made her middest album and she's skating by purely by her fame, reputation, and hype for her to "return to being a pop star"

I hope it's on its way out.

I'd hate for the critics to start going like the 2000's and look down on great Pop music but so many mid albums receiving 80s, 90s etc recently has been overkill.

If it is… Jack A. next please

I don't believe in critics anymore. They've been giving some artists with very questionable records high scores just because they vibe with the artist's reputation, the goodwill around them, their personal life, the hype, or even their politics.

If they dislike an artist or is goin through a controversial time—they can be absolutely merciless, like what happened to Miley.

Edited July 31Jul 31 by AvadaKedavra

2 hours ago, suburbannature said:

Slayyyter, Charli, and Gaga just received scores that leaned a little high. Olivia and Madonna received credit they deserved. Sabrina's MBF 75 felt fair. I just think some of the other girls have been releasing mediocre work for their standards.

Slayyyter deserved 200 on Metacritic