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Chapter 1: Snake Oil
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Chapter 1: Snake Oil Image
Metascore
46

Mixed or average reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
3.3

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 22 Ratings

  • Summary: The country-inspired release from the DJ/producer features guest appearances from Danielle Bradbery, Blanco Brown, Zac Brown, Ben Burgess, Cam, Clever, Noah Cyrus, Jonas Brothers, Julia Michaels, Orville Peck, Thomas Rhett, Morgan Wallen, and Young Thug.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 0 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 10
  3. Negative: 2 out of 10
  1. The Observer (UK)
    Jun 1, 2020
    60
    It’s a perfectly serviceable album, as one might expect, given the pedigree of those involved. But it’s hard to imagine it being met with anything but bemusement at the Grand Ole Opry.
  2. Rolling Stone
    Jun 3, 2020
    50
    Playful spirit is in short supply on a record where club beats, acoustic strumming, and parched guitar lines usually get siphoned into unobtrusively earnest background pop. [Jun 2020, p.71]
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  3. AllMusic
    Jun 5, 2020
    50
    Neither country nor Americana, Peck is a hip outsider who is now rubbing shoulders with the anodyne likes of Thomas Rhett, Morgan Wallen, Blanco Brown, and the Jonas Brothers, a group that makes for a passable enough half hour of entertainment but collectively don't add up to a cohesive or surprising country-pop aesthetic from Diplo.
  4. Entertainment Weekly
    May 28, 2020
    42
    Diplo's second album might be a cheeky bid to stake out a spot in Nashville, but the end result is largely a bummer, a collection of dourly self-conscious "chill" accessorized with the kind of cheap cowboy hat that gets left behind on the way to the festival parking lot.
  5. DIY Magazine
    Jun 8, 2020
    40
    The result is still just a big, slick, debatably-decent pop record.
  6. New Musical Express (NME)
    May 28, 2020
    40
    This isn’t a country album at all; rather it’s an excuse for Diplo to wear some razzle-dazzle Nudie Cohn-style suits and fancy cowboy hats.
  7. Clash Music
    May 28, 2020
    30
    Part of the problem is that Diplo has never done subtlety. He’s in his element when blasting vuvuzelas onstage, working with cliff-edge drops and acres of bass frequencies. Out on the open plains of songwriting he often feels lost, resulting in some startling lyrical simplicity.

See all 10 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. johnoal
    Jun 1, 2020
    10
    Quite possibly one of the greatest and most groundbreaking experimental records of all time. I thought that Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash andQuite possibly one of the greatest and most groundbreaking experimental records of all time. I thought that Merle Haggard, Johnny Cash and Chris Stapleton were capable country singers but they have nothing on Diplo and if Haggard and Cash were still alive they would be working in McDonalds now!… Expand
  2. Jansterseeky
    Jun 9, 2020
    10
    This is an impeccable true country album, with the most beautiful and precise production and harmonic quality that I have ever heard on anyThis is an impeccable true country album, with the most beautiful and precise production and harmonic quality that I have ever heard on any album. It is such incredible stupidity to believe that this is not country, in the typical way that people that don't understand the amazing reverence of pop music would think, when country should at all times be progressing that way, because pop is the genre that is the epitome of what people are. All music progresses to become more mainstream, because all people progress to become more mainstream as their life goes on. This album has finely produced masterpieces like Dance With Me with the brilliant talented Thomas Rhett and Young Thug, Heartless and Real Life Stuff with the amazingly masterful Julia Michaels and On Mine with the beautiful and talented Noah Cyrus. Country should always be working with pop aspects now, because the age of traditional country the same way is over. This is still by far a traditional country recorded in a new way that's actually up to date with what people are now. Highly recommended for a stellar fine listen in the country.… Expand
  4. RageNate
    Jun 17, 2020
    7
    Worthies (8/12):
    - Heartless
    - Lonely
    - Dance with Me
    - Do Si Do
    - On Mine
    - Real Life Stuff
    - Hometown
    - Old Town Road (Diplo Remix)
  5. tasby
    May 30, 2020
    5
    it's okay! i liked the video on his instagram where he was playing with his belly button
  6. Joel_Freecheck
    May 29, 2020
    5
    Diplo saw "Old Town Road" as a chance to capitalize on a trend that has come and passed. The song with Thomas Rhett and Young Thug is slickDiplo saw "Old Town Road" as a chance to capitalize on a trend that has come and passed. The song with Thomas Rhett and Young Thug is slick but not enough to propel the project higher than a mediocre trend-chasing miss.… Expand

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