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Too Bright
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Too Bright Image
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 31 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 119 Ratings

  • Summary: The third full-length release from Seattle singer-songwriter Mike Hadreas as Perfume Genius was co-produced with Adrian Utley and John Parish.
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Top Track

Queen
Don't you know you're queen Yet even flower bloom at my feet Don't you know you're queen Cracked, peeling Riddled with disease Don't you know me No... See the rest of the song lyrics
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 31
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 31
  3. Negative: 0 out of 31
  1. Tiny Mix Tapes
    Sep 25, 2014
    100
    Too Bright boasts harder-hitting lyrics, more sophisticated arrangements, and his best-fitting production yet. Its musical successes are obvious in their immediacy and variety.
  2. Consequence
    Sep 24, 2014
    91
    Despite its heightened complexity, Too Bright still fosters an intelligible world where Hadreas can bridge the distance between his vulnerability and self-assuredness.
  3. PopMatters
    Sep 25, 2014
    90
    Glittered with transcendent brilliance, gilded shadows do not hide the empowered dramatic turn of Perfume Genius’s Too Bright.
  4. Clash Music
    Sep 22, 2014
    80
    The material more than matches the ambition on these 11 bewitching songs.
  5. Dusted Magazine
    Oct 30, 2014
    80
    As with many works that get tagged as major breaks from an artist’s established work, truthfully much of Too Bright still feels very much like the work of the Perfume Genius, and anyone looking for more of what they got from past albums will be very satisfied.
  6. AllMusic
    Sep 30, 2014
    80
    Equally bold, vulnerable, concise, and expansive, Too Bright dazzles.
  7. Slant Magazine
    Sep 22, 2014
    70
    Nothing here sounds revolutionary or even especially distinctive, but Hadreas has successfully conceived of a new context for his raw lyrical approach, opting for a jagged, complex collection of bedroom pop over another sparsely appointed set of torch songs.

See all 31 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 16
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 16
  3. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. more
    Oct 15, 2014
    10
    .aoty SO FAR.
    The lows arent too numberous. Maybe two songs (longpig, and the one after i'm a mother cant remember the title) arent so    .aoty SO FAR.
    The lows arent too numberous. Maybe two songs (longpig, and the one after i'm a mother cant remember the title) arent so innovative. For the the rest, it's just emotions, extraverted by an introvert, that just dont run away from his feelings, nor statements. He just doesnt hide his face no more. I wanted to mark a 9, but the score overall's too feeble for this masterpiece, had to pump it a bit.    … Expand
  2. Lodz
    Sep 24, 2014
    10
    The best album of the year so far. Lyrically powerful and straightforward. Not for right wing limited minds but likely to be cherrished byThe best album of the year so far. Lyrically powerful and straightforward. Not for right wing limited minds but likely to be cherrished by anybody else. The piano from earlier works now supported with synth arrangements and Adrian Utley (Portishead!) help. No family is safe when I sashay...… Expand
  4. thaleslucas
    Jan 12, 2015
    10
    Perfume is really a Genius and he show it in this album. So creative, unique and celestial. He can be what he wants around screams andPerfume is really a Genius and he show it in this album. So creative, unique and celestial. He can be what he wants around screams and whisperings, feelings and reactions. He's really the best male artist that released an album on 2014.… Expand
  5. SteMail
    Sep 29, 2014
    9
    Perfume Genius' Sophomore release, 'Put Ur Back N 2 It ', was, for me, one of the best album's I'd heard the year it came out. Hadreas'sPerfume Genius' Sophomore release, 'Put Ur Back N 2 It ', was, for me, one of the best album's I'd heard the year it came out. Hadreas's vulnerable, pained voice was such a beautiful fit over the sparce, eerie piano chords found on the song here. This stripped back approach succeeded in that it let the true emotional weight of the songs - the lyrics - hit hard, right at the front of everything.

    On Too Bright, that hard hitting lyrical edge is still just as powerful, but it's backed with some equally emotionally impactful instrumentals, which are more varied, more unsettling, and better performed/produced/written than on anything Hadreas has done before. The lyrical themes deal mainly with being an outsider, or being opressed for who you are, or self hate and self deprication as well as body issues and darker aspects of the psyche. It's a beautiful listen from start to finish, and one of the boldest, hard hitting pop albums i've heard in a while. My only complaint is that it's a tad short at 33 mins, and i feel like some of the songs could be stretched out a bit more, but it's a brilliant record regardless. (And Queen and Grid are probably the best songs I've heard all year bar Carissa from Benji and Body and Blood from CLPPNG)    … Expand
  6. Lopesito27
    Jan 23, 2021
    8
    This album sounds just like the kind of artistic liberation we expect from an artist that never quite lives up to the expectations ofThis album sounds just like the kind of artistic liberation we expect from an artist that never quite lives up to the expectations of creativity, but actually living up to them. This songs feel pure Perfume Genius, like no one else could make them, so props to that.… Expand
  7. inloco
    Sep 28, 2014
    7
    Not a rip off, but very close to the great Mark Hollis. So, not as original as someone might think. PG is largely overrated. It's just a decent album.
  8. WadeVS
    Sep 28, 2014
    6
    I don't really get it. I mean Perfume Genius have always shown restraint, which is unique in itself these days, and the space and emptiness ofI don't really get it. I mean Perfume Genius have always shown restraint, which is unique in itself these days, and the space and emptiness of this album is quite refreshing. But only really on the clsoing track is there anything to really grasp onto in terms of a melody, some soul and a drumbeat. It may be my favourite album after a few more plays but right now it comes across as very overrated.… Collapse

See all 16 User Reviews

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