Olivia just got universal acclaim for a decent album. So ig it's still thriving.

2 hours ago, gustavothehuman said:

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.

Those are just mediocre pop records. The good ones still score good.

I wish

2 hours ago, gorgeouss said:

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 remember Ari saying shes gonna take a break from music for a while to focus on acting again, when is this break? she needs teh creative diversity IMMEDIATELY

1 hour ago, CherryBay said:

If it is… Jack A. next please

I don't usually dislike posts but this deserves one.

No, the MPGs are releasing subpar work after subpar work and are being judged as they deserve

It's not 2024 anymore and it shows

21 minutes ago, Vixen Eyes said:

i remember Ari saying shes gonna take a break from music for a while to focus on acting again, when is this break? she needs teh creative diversity IMMEDIATELY

no fr! we need a whole new sound from her bc atp she's made the same album 3 times

i feel like she did a bait & switch after Wicked 2 kinda flopped. she knew her acting future wasn't rly set in stone, so she made a vague, visually and sonically muted album about her annoyance with the public speculating about her - a public figure who chose to be a famous pop star, a journey she began as a literal child on Broadway. like girl do you wanna be in show business or not? but i digress...

no because the girls that deserve it get good ratings

4 minutes ago, gorgeouss said:

no fr! we need a whole new sound from her bc atp she's made the same album 3 times

i feel like she did a bait & switch after Wicked 2 kinda flopped. she knew her acting future wasn't rly set in stone, so she made a vague, visually and sonically muted album about her annoyance with the public speculating about her - a public figure who chose to be a famous pop star, a journey she began as a literal child on Broadway. like girl do you wanna be in show business or not? but i digress...

Eternal Sunshine was a great album though? i got the deluxe on CD and its pretty much perfect!

Taylor's on her third straight underwhelming album.

Ariana's on her third straight year of heightened public scrutiny.

Neither are in a positioned to be praised for faceless or uninspired music.

People are getting what they deserve a little bit more now so yes.
But the main problem that will never end is critics being biased because they were affected by hype. Charli xcx deserved 75-80 but as MFF came out after brat she got more. The same can be said by Cowboy Carter and midnights for example

Maybe they're less scared and are giving more honest reviews and scores.

Edited July 31Jul 31 by Erreur2 La Nature

3 hours ago, MonsterFandom said:

Artists can release bad albums you know

not in the streaming era. Watch Petal get to 25m CSPC.

12 minutes ago, Erreur2 La Nature said:

Maybe they're less scared and are giving more honest reviews and scores.

cough Rolling Stone x Showgirl cough cough

I can't really think of a single MC score for a big pop album recently that I cannot make some sort of defense for. If anything i think we've entered a period of albums getting the reception they mostly deserve.

IDK, they're still praising pop albums that are aggressively whatever, but usually its by artists who are newer with less baggage. With Taylor and Ariana it's the phenomena where it's mainly the person who is under review, and critics have been doing that sort of thing for year and years.

It's not but it should be because hardly anyone is releasing good pop music anymore. This tired trend of monotonous mid-tempo/ballad bedroom pop with whispery vocals needs to die already.

If anything I think critics are overrating scores for recent pop albums. That said seeking validation from what critics say is futile imo and you're better off listening to stuff disregarding what others say.

No just look at anything Olivia releases

Who gives a ****? Most of the time the 80+s are unlistenable critic-bait garbage. I'd rather have 4 or 5 good catchy songs on a "bad" album than a bunch of feaux deep snoozes

No its just bad pop music

I think we need to be less accepting of the concept of a music critic in the first place. Most of them are just random people. How many of them have actually studied music or have real backgrounds in music and have actual expertise vs how many of them are maybe journalists and maybe just some guy? Unless they have some sort of credientials I dont see why we even think their opinion matters more than any other random poster on the internet. Sometimes good and bad reviews dont reflect cultural trends, they just reflect the opinions of a small group of random people on the internet.