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Straight No Chaser Image
Metascore
63

Generally favorable reviews - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
7.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 6 Ratings

  • Summary: The second album for the British singer was produced with Kanye West, who also appears as a guest artist.

Top Track

Supernova
And I feel like taking off, let me be your supernova Before you make the biggest mistake of your life Just give me the chance to get it right They... See the rest of the song lyrics
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 8
  2. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. 90
    Matching catchy pop songs and good production to hip-hop's most wanted, it all comes full circle in Straight No Chaser.
  2. Pretty much every song on Straight No Chaser is a future pop anthem of powerhouse proportions.
  3. It’s a talent for smallness in spite of showy surroundings, an Englishness that’s as convincing as anything Jamie T, Mike Skinner or Lily Allen has produced, infiltrating the upper echelons of the American music establishment.
  4. Uncut
    60
    Accept the general aura of legwarmers and it's fun. [Nov 2009, p.90]
  5. Q Magazine
    60
    It's the very real emotional core that save Straight No Chaser from being just a slickly anonymous pop confection. [Nov 2009, p.100]
  6. Plenty of time is wasted on auto tune, to the detriment of almost all the album's vocals.
  7. It’s not Hudson’s foghorn bellowings that are the real enemy on this record, it’s that motherfucking computer program [Auto-Tune].

See all 8 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Feb 1, 2013
    8
    This album is excellent. The risky combination of acoustic guitar riffs, synthesised overtures, deep bassy beats, and Hudson's emotional voiceThis album is excellent. The risky combination of acoustic guitar riffs, synthesised overtures, deep bassy beats, and Hudson's emotional voice pays off greatly, resulting in some amazing songs. The album is filled with deep, meaningful lows and roaring, climatic highs. A hidden gem. Expand
  2. MatthewA.
    Dec 6, 2009
    7
    The bad reviews only cite that fact that Hudson "sold out" and give zero deference to the actual songs. Yea, there are some questionable The bad reviews only cite that fact that Hudson "sold out" and give zero deference to the actual songs. Yea, there are some questionable production choices (as NME, the nadir of music journalism, notes, the main problem is the autotone), but Hudson is still a fantastic composer and lyricist. That still shines through on most of these songs. Not even close to as good as his last album, and would have been a homerun if West were not involved, but still a fine album. Expand