Hopelessness
by Anohni
User Score
8.2

Universal acclaim- based on 139 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 117 out of 139
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 139
  3. Negative: 9 out of 139
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  1. edysetiawan
    May 7, 2016
    10
    Thanks to Bjork for introducing me to Anohni. This album is not just beautiful, but also powerful. I love how she use the anger and turns it into something so beautiful.
  2. jotaeseche
    May 11, 2016
    9
    A tremendously unusual collaboration between three of the most enigmatic and compelling contemporary artists creates what is for sure the most disgustingly and brutally beautiful political album of the era.
  3. BrushedRed
    May 26, 2016
    6
    Was quite intrigued to listen to this after hearing all the ranting and raving. Musically it is wonderful... at least from the start. The first two songs drew me in with her gorgeous and unique voice but by the end I grew quite tired of it. Lyrics are quite cringeworthy in places; especially in a song like "Obama," and I think the anger she showed in that song was a little overdramatic.Was quite intrigued to listen to this after hearing all the ranting and raving. Musically it is wonderful... at least from the start. The first two songs drew me in with her gorgeous and unique voice but by the end I grew quite tired of it. Lyrics are quite cringeworthy in places; especially in a song like "Obama," and I think the anger she showed in that song was a little overdramatic. Still, songs like "4 Degrees" and "Why Did You Separate Me from Earth" are very stunning and the shining points of this album.… Expand
  4. atmosphericrex
    May 6, 2016
    9
    Stunningly beautiful, masterfully crafted and politically potent and profound. Nobody has ever sounded so beautiful singing about things that are so abhorrent.
  5. tallonrk1
    May 7, 2016
    5
    Pedestrian lyricism. Musically it is interesting, but I was excited after hearing that this was a grand political statement. Instead, I found the lyrics to be quite shallow and novice rather than insightful and substantial. If you're looking for a solid protest album, this is not it. It reads more like a laundry list of America's problems rather than a damning critique of our policies.Pedestrian lyricism. Musically it is interesting, but I was excited after hearing that this was a grand political statement. Instead, I found the lyrics to be quite shallow and novice rather than insightful and substantial. If you're looking for a solid protest album, this is not it. It reads more like a laundry list of America's problems rather than a damning critique of our policies. Beyonce's "Formation" has captured more political cleverness and brilliance in one song than the entirety of this album has.… Expand
  6. jyo_tirmaya
    Jul 24, 2016
    10
    He keeps growing 12 years on since his debut as Antony and the Johnsons. His albums will be listened to as social commentary of these times for many decades, maybe centuries to come. What is the front cover? It's him, but it's either a masterpiece or just an unfortunate portrait of him as Anohni. Either way, it's all creative and disturbing, yet mezmerizing, stuff from cover to back cover.He keeps growing 12 years on since his debut as Antony and the Johnsons. His albums will be listened to as social commentary of these times for many decades, maybe centuries to come. What is the front cover? It's him, but it's either a masterpiece or just an unfortunate portrait of him as Anohni. Either way, it's all creative and disturbing, yet mezmerizing, stuff from cover to back cover. I'm glad he included the lyrics! "I Don't Love You Anymore" and "Crisis" are my favorites from this album, but how can one really choose a favorite from this album?… Expand
  7. Muddsjr
    May 15, 2016
    9
    I've never been so much a fan of Anohni's previous works within Antony and the Johnsons, but Hopelessness among the acclaim it was getting with also its lead single Drone Bomb Me simply..drew me in. What did i uncover? One of the most truthful, emotional, beautiful and maybe even important albums of this year, and maybe the few before that.
  8. proterospongia
    May 13, 2016
    8
    Anohni's debut album is one of the most powerful records of the last months. The pop appeal in Hopelessness makes the ugly themes she sings about hang above our heads like heavy dark clouds, while the eerie production by Oneohtrix Point Never feels like a cold burst of wind, announcing that the storm is coming

    Best Tracks: Drone Bomb Me; 4 DEGREES; Obama.
  9. teqkira
    Jun 19, 2016
    9
    Quem começou a se interessar no mundo da “música indie” lé pelo meio dos anos 2000 e pesquisou um pouco além dos Strokes e Arctic Monkeys que dominavam a época deve ter se deparado com Antony and the Johnsons, aclamada banda do período que teve quatro discos lançados.

    Com a produção de Daniel Lopatin do Oneohtrix Point Never e Hudson Mohawke (que já trabalharam com nomes como Nine Inch    Quem começou a se interessar no mundo da “música indie” lé pelo meio dos anos 2000 e pesquisou um pouco além dos Strokes e Arctic Monkeys que dominavam a época deve ter se deparado com Antony and the Johnsons, aclamada banda do período que teve quatro discos lançados.

    Com a produção de Daniel Lopatin do Oneohtrix Point Never e Hudson Mohawke (que já trabalharam com nomes como Nine Inch Nails, Drake e Kanye West) temos uma sonoridade influenciada pela trap music e suas batidas graves e distorcidas características causando uma sensação nova de ouvir uma voz já conhecida por cima de beats eletrônicos, o choque inicial na abertura “Drone Bomb Me” se passa antes mesmo do fim da música. Há uma quebra do que conheciamos e que foi construido minuciosamente ao longo dos anos no trabalho da banda.

    Ainda em parceria com “os Johnsons” mas agora sob o nome Anohni, acompanhamos a transição – literal e figurada de Antony Hegarty – para uma nova faceta de sua vida e de seu trabalho. A melancolia e a tristeza que seus trabalhos anteriores eram mergulhados se transformaram e trouxeram novas visões e propósitos em HOPELESNESS. Vemos uma força e uma autoridade sobre suas composições que não tinha sido vista até então, chegando até a se dirigir ao presidente Obama em uma das faixas.

    O usual confronto interno e letras pessoais agora passam para o mundo externo em forma de indignação com os rumos que o mundo está tomando. Vemos a destruição da natureza, as guerras, a política e, principalmente, a culpa que cabe a nós como quase cúmplices nisso.

    Ainda que toda a atmosfera dream pop que estávamos acostumados esteja presente, HOPELESSNESS apresenta uma nova Anohni, extremamente ferida pelo mundo. A tristeza, a dor estão presentes mas sem se abalar. As forças para denunciar os males da nossa sociedade estão em cada letra, cada nota e cada minimo detalhe desse grandioso disco de protesto.    … Expand
  10. Turtletuc
    Oct 24, 2016
    10
    To me, Anohni is more than a singer. Anohni voices the troubles of the 21st century. The disasters we fail to admit happening. 4 Degrees is about global warming and how a 4 degrees rise in temperature will be a total disaster. "It's only 4 degrees", with that sarcastic choice of words Anohni wants to wake us up. 'Execution', ironically, is one of the happiest tunes of the album. It reallyTo me, Anohni is more than a singer. Anohni voices the troubles of the 21st century. The disasters we fail to admit happening. 4 Degrees is about global warming and how a 4 degrees rise in temperature will be a total disaster. "It's only 4 degrees", with that sarcastic choice of words Anohni wants to wake us up. 'Execution', ironically, is one of the happiest tunes of the album. It really invites you to dance as was Anohni's intention. 'Why did you separate me from this earth?' really resonates with how I currently feel about the earth. In my opinion the title track 'Hopelessness' deserves more attention. 'Hopelessness' does not imply that Anohni has give up on this earth. She merely wants to show us that hopelessness is a state of being that might be needed to put us to action.… Expand
  11. the_comedown
    Jan 9, 2017
    10
    Anohni's HOPELESSNESS will resonate with the sort of legacy few protest albums have attained, it is the best album of 2016. Plush pop melodies meet abrasive avant-garde electronica, expertly provided by the genre-hopping Hudson Mohawke and the experimentalist Oneohtrix Point Never. HOPELESSNESS constantly rides the line between love song and lament, creating a mirror for the listener toAnohni's HOPELESSNESS will resonate with the sort of legacy few protest albums have attained, it is the best album of 2016. Plush pop melodies meet abrasive avant-garde electronica, expertly provided by the genre-hopping Hudson Mohawke and the experimentalist Oneohtrix Point Never. HOPELESSNESS constantly rides the line between love song and lament, creating a mirror for the listener to examine their role in a turbulent time, doing so in a way that is truly unique-revolutionary even-in pop.

    Anohni's album is not only politically daring, from an artistic standpoint the album rewards listeners who commit to the full set just as much as those who encounter it track by track. No effective album exists as a mere collection of random songs, and HOPELESSNESS is particularly impressive. The expository material - "Drone Bomb Me," "4 Degrees," "Watch Me," and "Execution" - lays out the album's central themes with painstaking irony, envisioning a grotesque utopian world where Afghan girls beg to be blown to bits by drone bombs, the death penalty is not a national embarrassment (as the only developed nation to still have one) but rather, "it's the American Dream." By not collectively expressing outrage over the NSA scandals, our non-action means that we welcome the constant invasion of our every move - whether it be in our hotel rooms or watching pornography on our personal electronics - as an act of love not a breach of privacy. On the standout "4 Degrees," one of two tracks Anohni, Hudson Mohawke, and Oneohtrix all produced together, a spirited symphonic stampede spells out booming, triumphal brass chords and crisp strings with all the pastoral reverence of the symphonies of Beethoven, Brahms, or Sibelius. This seeming rush to embrace nature is met with lyrics, delivered with a passionate zeal, oblivious to the irony of their meaning, celebrating forests ablaze, millions of fish "lying belly up in the sea," and stampedes of wildlife dropping to their death, tossing off as an afterthought, "it's only 4 degrees." It's rise in temperature that will mark the end life for most living species on earth, and we are careening towards it. "4 Degrees" is an anthem among anthem's on HOPELESSNESS, one of the most brilliantly conceived, potently addicting, viciously clever songs ever executed in pop music.

    Turning from Hudson Mohawke's inherent cheer, a trio of harrowing tracks produced by Oneohtrix Point Never constitutes the set's central climax; Anohni steps into the spotlight in a more direct capacity to air out her pointed grievances with a reverential darkness. First up is the funereal hymn "I Don't Love You Anymore," a line Anohni pleads again and again to an unidentified subject, with church organ accompaniment morphing into electrocution waves flashing through water . HOPELESSNESS then hits its bleakest point on its controversial centerpiece, as a plodding trap-like bass descends beneath Anohni, her voice heavily warped in processing, as she speaks with the songs namesake, "Obama," directly, with the stoic spirituality of a religious cantor at an orthodox church, synagogue, or mosque: "When you were elected/The world cried for joy/We thought we had empowered/The truth telling envoy." Moody, dissonant string synths begin to crowd the texture, "Now the news is you are spying/Executing without trial/Betraying virtues/Scarring closed the sky/Punishing the whistle blowers/Those who tell the truth." As the encroaching claustrophobia of sounds rises, Anohni simply repeats "Obama" over and over again. And in the harmonic resolution? "All the hope drained from your face/Like children we believed." Transitioning without pause, a pungi (snake charmers "oboe") brings us to a glitchy, distorted Middle East for "Violent Men," closing out the confessional with Anohni's stance on eco-feminism, believing that to undo the raping of nature through crude methods of procuring fossil fuels, pollution, war, and senseless violence, the violent minded man must relinquish their leadership power to the ecologically-minded peaceful female. As Trump builds his cabinet, Anohni's words are simply magnified in their rage and resonance.

    To balance the perceived ignorance that fills the exposition, allowing these corruptions of freedom and nature into our lives, the second half takes the listener to the aftermath: apologizing to the mothers, children, brothers, and friends who's relatives we killed with drone bombs and executed without trial on "Crisis," likening humans to cancerous cells in their destruction of the earth on the moving title track. What reward to we reap from all of this destruction? The utter desolation of "Marrow" claims, "We are all Americans now...Suck the oil out of her face...Burn her hair, and boil her skin." Hudson Mohawke's typically optimistic spirit is nowhere to be found in an elegiac piano motive that repeats into the fade-out, absolutely hopeless. Nowhere will you find music today that invokes such poignant bravery.    … Expand
  12. StevenX
    Feb 8, 2018
    2
    While Antony Hegarty's career has consisted mostly of crying and whining over beautiful, sparse, and sad piano music, the nearly-naked emperor has had a couple of transcendent moments with cover versions, first with Leonard Cohen's "If It Be Your Will", then with Beyonce's "Crazy In Love", which was so amazing that you almost forgot it had the instantly-dated line "hoping you'll page meWhile Antony Hegarty's career has consisted mostly of crying and whining over beautiful, sparse, and sad piano music, the nearly-naked emperor has had a couple of transcendent moments with cover versions, first with Leonard Cohen's "If It Be Your Will", then with Beyonce's "Crazy In Love", which was so amazing that you almost forgot it had the instantly-dated line "hoping you'll page me right now" and that the original had to rip off the Chi-Lites to get any attention. Well, those days are gone, as Antony the awkward man has decided he is now Anohni the awkward woman. Not everything has changed, though - while Anohni is much more political and "woke" now world-wise, she is still crying and whining as if her career depends on it (which is probably true). The big news is that she is now crying over sometimes cinematic but mostly just jarring electronic stabs of music that could possibly be made by pushing three buttons and six keys on an old Fairlight. Melody has never been A's forte, and this hasn't changed either - the "melodies" are small loops with differing vocals. Sometimes repetition drives the point home, but Anohni couldn't be bothered to get around to second verses on most of these tracks, and on the career low "Obama" she basically sings new words each time over the same kind of short four-note musical line that you and your sister used while making up songs about going to the mall or your puppy when you were four. The fervent cult that will probably never get larger will lap this up like it's peach nectar from Trent Reznor's eye socket, because for all the squeaks and squawks and, um, personal changes real or imagined, these vocals and lyrics could be stuck into any Antony and the Johnsons album and sound the same, as Anohni even makes anger sound like sadness. Some would call this comforting familiarity, others just stagnation.… Expand
  13. All_ButTrU4
    Apr 10, 2021
    7
    Beautiful as it is powerful. It has a heavy message it warns you with in the title,cover art and when you hear it,her voice. The songs are skillfully crafted. Critiquing politicians, countries and us,society without seeming self righteous or didatic. Instead it feels like a documentary showing you a problem and letting you understand it.tge sequencing itself tells a story involving globalBeautiful as it is powerful. It has a heavy message it warns you with in the title,cover art and when you hear it,her voice. The songs are skillfully crafted. Critiquing politicians, countries and us,society without seeming self righteous or didatic. Instead it feels like a documentary showing you a problem and letting you understand it.tge sequencing itself tells a story involving global warming, war,idealized politicians and death. The production of this record is often heavy, chaotic industrial. Nothing about this is gentle or kind. Extremely objective. Their unusual falsetto perfectly guide you through the musical rap sheet of our civilizations **** ups and inevitable flaws. Favourites:crises,4 DEGREES,obama,drone bomb me… Expand

Awards & Rankings

70
#70 Best Album of 2016
70
#70 Most Discussed Album of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
83

Universal acclaim - based on 30 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 30
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 30
  3. Negative: 0 out of 30
  1. The Wire
    Jul 18, 2016
    70
    The songs with less specific and less contemporary references hit harder. [Jul 2016, p.46]
  2. Drowned In Sound
    Jun 20, 2016
    100
    An extremely compelling, beautifully articulated, bonafide masterpiece.
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  3. Resident Advisor
    Jun 13, 2016
    58
    Good pop is often pliable, its message broad or ambiguous enough for listeners to flex it to their taste. Political pop can be like this without compromising its message, but most of Hopelessness has no interest in pliability. It regards its audience as either fervent believers in Anohni's cause or a pop mass in need of blunt polemic.
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