• Record Label: Atlantic
  • Release Date: Jun 8, 2018
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 7
  2. Negative: 0 out of 7
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  1. Jun 8, 2018
    100
    Bad Contestant is a stunning debut with two very opposing personalities.
  2. Jun 14, 2018
    80
    Bad Contestant is full of strange little pop songs that can delight and subvert in equal measure and makes for a pretty startling debut, all in all.
  3. Jun 11, 2018
    80
    This record contains meticulous instrumental arrangements and clever storytelling. It is protest music without the cliché heavy rock sound and direct lyrics. Instead Maltese uses satire to place pity upon the world but mostly himself, all delivered with a wry grin and a sparkle in his eye.
  4. Q Magazine
    Jun 8, 2018
    80
    Bad Contestant may sound studiously restrained, but Maltese never lets things stagnate, buoying the album along with his amusing lyricism. [Jul 2018, p.115]
  5. At times joyful and at others surprisingly moving, Bad Contestant sets Maltese on the start of a path that marks him out as a true prodigious talent. This is the voice of a true original. The future, it seems, is schmaltz.
  6. 80
    Everything Maltese conveys feels like a direct connection to the mind that bore it. It feels filterless, and with the music playing its part perfectly, we're all privy to the cool, calm and collected, swooning and crooning, world that Matt Maltese sees. And we're all the better for it.
  7. Mojo
    Jun 25, 2018
    60
    While Maltese's playfulness extends to queasily imagining Theresa May and Donald Trump in flagrante as a nuclear holocaust rages on As The World Caves In, both Less and Less and doomy ballad Mortals prove he can deliver without relying on irony as a crutch. [Aug 2018, p.89]
User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. Jul 12, 2018
    8
    If you enjoy your witticisms in the mode of say, Jens Lekman, then give Maltese a try. Some great self deprecating one liners matched up toIf you enjoy your witticisms in the mode of say, Jens Lekman, then give Maltese a try. Some great self deprecating one liners matched up to some surprisingly engaging chamber pop melodies. Full Review »
  2. Jun 21, 2018
    7
    Bad Contestant is a debuting surprise filled with great instrumental riffs and melody as well as catchy lyrics which are very hard hitting andBad Contestant is a debuting surprise filled with great instrumental riffs and melody as well as catchy lyrics which are very hard hitting and direct in his story telling. Thoroughly surprised and look forward to future work! Full Review »