Gemini
by Macklemore
User Score
6.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 75 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 43 out of 75
  2. Mixed: 17 out of 75
  3. Negative: 15 out of 75
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  1. ChunkDump
    Jan 9, 2021
    7
    wasn't his best album like he did with ryan lewis. his first solo project has heaters and some misses but all around it was enjoyable. "corner store" was very much a thing i could relate to the most when trying to smoke with the homies. some gospel sound coming from some of the tracks. he hasnt made anything since, hopefully hes cooking.
  2. Tigs
    Mar 1, 2019
    6
    This is a good album. Quite a few good songs on the album. But There are a few songs which I didn't think were good. That's why I give it a 6.
  3. l3x1r0cks
    Jul 5, 2018
    8
    I was never a Macklemore fan, never liked his music. This album completely changed my perspective. Although I agree he did have some relatively bad songs, he also had some really good ones.

    Ratings... Firebreather 8 Glorious 8 Ain't Gonna Die Tonight 9 How To Play The Flute 8 Intentions 7 Corner Store 7 Good Old Days 9 Levitate 7 Zara 8 Over It 7 Church 5 Miracle 6 Excavate    I was never a Macklemore fan, never liked his music. This album completely changed my perspective. Although I agree he did have some relatively bad songs, he also had some really good ones.

    Ratings...
    Firebreather 8
    Glorious 8
    Ain't Gonna Die Tonight 9
    How To Play The Flute 8
    Intentions 7
    Corner Store 7
    Good Old Days 9
    Levitate 7
    Zara 8
    Over It 7
    Church 5
    Miracle 6
    Excavate 7
    Willy Wonka 9
    Marmalade 6    … Expand
  4. LancerReviews
    Nov 17, 2017
    6
    The deep cuts like Good Old Days might be memorable, but Gemini is a fun but forgettable record. Maybe this only proves that Macklemore wouldn’t be as much as effective without Ryan Lewis.
  5. XanferX
    Nov 16, 2017
    10
    This album deserve more praise then it's getting. Some of the songs are not the best perhaps but really its not a bad album. Macklemores Willy Wonka is awesome as well as Zara.
  6. TimW001
    Nov 1, 2017
    6
    Of the four Macklemore albums this one is probably his fourth best. I like Macklemore and especially The Heist. But this album tries a slightly different style with modern, generic, 2017 trap rap and it's just not my style. I actually miss Macklemore's pop-rap style. He still mixes some fun songs with some serious songs. The song featuring Ke$ha is a great song. But overall just a weak album.
  7. Music_Observer
    Oct 12, 2017
    5
    This is quite a rollercoaster of an album with no real consistency in any musical tactics and no real connectable traits, going between somewhat interesting chord progressions coupled with flashes of cool melodic lines to unbearably dull four chords or lame static motion with simplistic pacing and metric accents, leaving the head-scratching piano usage and some wacky choruses to be theThis is quite a rollercoaster of an album with no real consistency in any musical tactics and no real connectable traits, going between somewhat interesting chord progressions coupled with flashes of cool melodic lines to unbearably dull four chords or lame static motion with simplistic pacing and metric accents, leaving the head-scratching piano usage and some wacky choruses to be the most quality part of the work. My Score: 96/180 (Deficient) = 5.3/10… Expand
  8. Recon97
    Oct 2, 2017
    6
    I've always been a fan of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. So when I heard Macklemore was going solo, I was excited as hell. A new album from one of my favorite albums of all time?! **** YEAH!! And then I heard the album... Well, its not bad, I guess. The production is solid, and the lyrics are ok. But I CAN'T STAND SOME OF THE TRACKS ON HERE!! Which is sad, because 'The Heist' is one of myI've always been a fan of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis. So when I heard Macklemore was going solo, I was excited as hell. A new album from one of my favorite albums of all time?! **** YEAH!! And then I heard the album... Well, its not bad, I guess. The production is solid, and the lyrics are ok. But I CAN'T STAND SOME OF THE TRACKS ON HERE!! Which is sad, because 'The Heist' is one of my favorite albums of all time. I'm disappointed that I have to give this album an "eeeeehhhhhh...". 6/10… Expand
  9. YT_Guyyy
    Sep 28, 2017
    1
    I liked The Heist, it was a decent pop rap album, This Unruly Mess was horrible, but somehow this is worse. It's just normal Macklemore with everything bad turned up to 11. More bad lyrics, more mediocre beats, etc..

    Ain't Gonna Die Tonight was OK except for Eric Nally squealing like a pig being killed, Glorious is actually pretty OK but not glorious. Marmalade is kind of a fun song but    I liked The Heist, it was a decent pop rap album, This Unruly Mess was horrible, but somehow this is worse. It's just normal Macklemore with everything bad turned up to 11. More bad lyrics, more mediocre beats, etc..

    Ain't Gonna Die Tonight was OK except for Eric Nally squealing like a pig being killed, Glorious is actually pretty OK but not glorious. Marmalade is kind of a fun song but it's nothing I haven't heard before from Macklemore or Yachty. Especially Yachty. Willy Wonka definitely has some bars as Macklemore himself says, but the chorus(es) are mediocre at best.

    Intentions made me want to intentionally end my life. Goo Old Days was meh. Nothing to really say about it. Levitate got me to fully experience the migraine the rest of the songs had been building up to. Firebreather is actually kinda OK, but that riff is ripped from somewhere. The feature from Reignwolf is one of the better ones on this album. How to Play the Flute is another OK song (two in a row. Somehow). I mean it's not the worst trap song.

    Ten Million is the only song that doesn't have a feature and it's not good. I wish there were a word to describe my thoughts on this. I guess a long groan would be sufficient. It has interesting parts and also just terrible parts. When I first heard Over It I immediately wanted to stop listening, but against my judgement I went into, you guessed it, another bad song. After Zara I genuinely just wanted to stop. Just stop. Just like stop living. It's not that bad just this all gets on you.

    I'm just not gonna list my thoughts on the rest of the songs. I have a headache too big from this album
    Ratings why not:
    Ain't Gonna Die Tonight 3
    Glorious 2
    Marmalade 1
    Willy Wonka 4
    Intentions light 1
    Good Old Days strong 2
    Levitate 2
    Firebreather 5
    How to Play the Flute 7
    Ten Million 3
    Over It 2
    Zara strong 1
    Corner Store 2
    Miracle 2
    Church 5
    Excavate 3    … Expand
  10. mqxwell
    Sep 25, 2017
    9
    Overall, the album has more good songs than bad. How To Play The Flute is...awful. Levitate has a very similar sound to Mack & Ryan Lewis' 'Dance Off' from TUMIM. The highlights of this album: Ain't Gonna Die Tonight, Willy Wonka, Excavate, Glorious, Firebreather and Good Old Days.
  11. NeutralMilkH
    Sep 24, 2017
    6
    Track-by-track Review
    Ain't Gonna Die Tonight-This song screams in your ears and demands your attention, but not in a good way. The rapping is mediocre and the use of brass instruments is interesting but ultimately this song sounds too much like a hype song without ever sounding like actual music. (4/10)
    Glorious-If this album is about sports then I guess it'll make sense... the rapping    Track-by-track Review
    Ain't Gonna Die Tonight-This song screams in your ears and demands your attention, but not in a good way. The rapping is mediocre and the use of brass instruments is interesting but ultimately this song sounds too much like a hype song without ever sounding like actual music. (4/10)
    Glorious-If this album is about sports then I guess it'll make sense... the rapping certainly levels up at certain points and sounds much less generic than the last song. However, this song is extremely familiar to the last and refuses to be anything unique. (6/10)
    Marmalade-Weirdly, I kind of like this one, it sounds extremely stupid but it partially reminds me of Brockhampton's Milk, except without the great rapping and production... it doesn't build up to anything and just stays sort of one-note... The only reason as to why the score is so high is because of the stupid piano. (7/10)
    Willy Wonka-Jesus Christ is this song **** weird... but not in a musically innovative way, just in a way that is absolutely **** stupid... the two notes that come from the synths is the only good part about this song... so here's a 1. (1/10)
    *It's at this point in the album that I wondered, what the **** do I have left to listen to now? I feel like I've already heard everything... I had 12 more songs to go... ****...*
    Intentions-Good start... actually, nothing to complain about here, the vocals are actually smooth... I guess it just feels like it's missing something instrumentally, just one thing really... a weird jump in quality from the last track (9/10)
    Good Old Days-Well, it has Kesha in it, and I actually liked her last album so yeah... of course I like this song, however it feels like a lesser developed version of a Kesha song. The drums sound great, Kesha sounds great, and it's fine elsewhere... it's a tad bit forgettable and jumps around a bit but it's a damn fine song. (7/10)
    Levitate-Damn, this album is really rewarding to listen to when you skip past Willy Wonka. This track floats by off of smooth instrumentation and dynamic vocals. The whole "yeah" thing is pretty **** annoying by now, but it's actually an adventurous jazz track, so here's a good score. (8/10)
    Firebreather-Talking is fine, except when it carries the **** song... it's pretty good talking though... it doesn't change much though. (6/10)
    *Hm, a decent album so far, hopefully it stays that way.*
    How to Play the Flute-Aw **** we're in dumbass territory again... why? Just why the **** did this track make it unto this album? A track is only as good as its guest star... albeit Lil Yachty actually did fine on one of the other tracks... and why the **** are their rain drops on this track? This track isn't fire, it's a **** raindrop. Sneezing=God Bless you is basically the only reason why this song exists.(0/10)
    Ten Million-Still in dumbass territory, it's basically the last song but without a **** flute. The woos in this track are like the woos that Ric Flair makes now, he can't make them, because he's in a **** hospital. (1/10)
    Over It-Thank god for INSTRUMENTATION AND DECENT SINGING! FINALLY!!! Oh **** he's mumbling with his rapping again... goddamnit... there's a violin which is nice, and another... it doesn't suck so here's a generous score (5/10)
    Zara-I actually paid attention to the lyrics for once, so that's good. Just get rid of the annoying vocal sounds... I don't know how to describe it, but it's in a lot of pop songs, and I **** hate it... Since the rapping was actually nice to listen to for once, here's a score that's better than the last one. (6/10)
    Corner Store-Well, it actually sounds fun to listen to, and has some pretty nice brass instrumentation and tricky rap beats. This album is **** weird because it has some good tracks like this one, and some absolute piles of **** like Willy Wonka and How to Play the Flute. (8/10)
    Miracle-Made me think that I was listening to a different album with some subtle instrumentation and background vocals that weren't aggravating. This is a Dan Caplen track? The guy who also did Intentions? **** maybe I should just listen to his music instead... I feel like this album is just a promotion for his music anyway. There are actually sonic layers to this song, so here's another **** 9 for Dan, who's trying to make good music... (9/10)
    Church-Weird to describe, hard to listen to without wondering where the **** it's going next, and finally embraces some uniqueness. Rapping is a little bit sub-par, but I'm not really surprised about that at this point. (8/10)
    Excavate-Overall, it's a pretty solid ending. It's sappy at parts, but I'm glad that this album ended on a song with quality and not on **** Willy Wonka. (7/10)
    Final Score: 92/160 or 5.75/10 or 6/10 for metacritic
    This album was better than I expected... I expected to give this a 2... however, if he took out Willy Wonka, Ten Million, and "Flute" the score would've been 90/130 or 6.9/10... still, this album didn't suck so yay    … Expand
  12. DavidWasHere
    Sep 23, 2017
    5
    This albums i a mess. At it's best it's the same corny Macklemore we all know which is endearing even if it is a bit obnoxious. However Macklemore decides to hop on the trap rap bandwagon, and unfortunately it does not go over well. At all. It just feels so awkward! Especially when it comes from Macklemore, who was supposed to be the antitheses to mainstream rap. If this is supposed to beThis albums i a mess. At it's best it's the same corny Macklemore we all know which is endearing even if it is a bit obnoxious. However Macklemore decides to hop on the trap rap bandwagon, and unfortunately it does not go over well. At all. It just feels so awkward! Especially when it comes from Macklemore, who was supposed to be the antitheses to mainstream rap. If this is supposed to be an attempt to get his mainstream audience back after the disaster of his last album, well I hope him the best but this album is more disappointing than infuriating like This Unruly Mess.… Expand
  13. MyNameIsBlank
    Sep 23, 2017
    8
    With the expectations so high, you could say Macklemore delivered a good, solid project. Less-left side of anything Macklemore has done since his 2005 debut, "Gemini" is the most "rap" album he has made. With bangers like "Willy Wonka", "How To Play The Flute", and "Ten Million" and smooth pop-rap tracks like "Glorious", "Good Old Days", and "Zara", this album doesn't disappoint.

Awards & Rankings

88
#88 Most Discussed Album of 2017

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
63

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. HipHopDX
    Oct 3, 2017
    58
    When Macklemore deviates from his familiar sound, he gets mixed results.
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  2. Spin
    Sep 27, 2017
    60
    It’s too long, and large parts of it are corny or forgettable, but in the context of Macklemore as a pop musician--and not a rapper--it doubles down on his strengths: well-crafted, sincere verses about his personal experiences combined with a better hook, usually provided by someone else.
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  3. RapReviews.com
    Sep 26, 2017
    60
    While the beats are mostly good, it feels like Macklemore missed out on an opportunity to really set his solo career apart from Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
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