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Pretend Image
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 15 Ratings

  • Summary: The debut full-length release for the Swedish pop artist was produced by Magnus Lidehäll.
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Top Track

Younger
There's a conclusion to my illusion I assure you this There's no end to this confusion if you let it wish You well Soul to sell Highest bidders,... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 7
  2. Negative: 0 out of 7
  1. 80
    There’s a Gabrielle-style vibrato tremble to Sey’s voice on the warm “Poetic” and hypnotically anthemic “Hard Time”, while producer Magnus Lidehäll finds myriad means, from trip-hop beats to gospel choir, to realise Pretend’s character of the raw and the cooked.
  2. Oct 23, 2015
    80
    Pretend turns out to be an enticing fusion of her wintry, pop-paradise homeland, and the West African musical roots she picked up from her father, the late Maudo Sey, all tempered with raw empathy; her masterful pop-soul captures depressive moments and makes them soar.
  3. Nov 5, 2015
    75
    Seinabo Sey clearly has a fully formed vision in her head of where she wants to take herself musically and Pretend proves that it's just a matter of time before she finally arrives at that place.
  4. 65
    It's no surprise that the best tracks on the album are taken from her two excellent EPs that came before, full of that experimental, genre busting pop she wanted to achieve. The rest of the album, though, fails to truly inspire and stir up those same emotions in the listener that Sey so clearly has in her voice.
  5. Oct 23, 2015
    60
    As is the case with so many musicians of her age, the 25-year-old rummages around in a grab-bag of influences to make this tightly performed, if not slightly over-polished, debut.
  6. Oct 26, 2015
    60
    Other times, this debut tends towards the characterless, making all the right sounds (retro vocals, contemporary beats) but more often than not, choosing the path of least grit, least quirk, and least memorability.
  7. Q Magazine
    Oct 27, 2015
    60
    [Sey] struggles to find a style that's truly her own on an album that see-saws between brooding electronic blues and expansive pop ballads. [Dec 2015, p.113]
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of
  2. Mixed: 0 out of
  3. Negative: 0 out of