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We've Been Going About This All Wrong
by
We've Been Going About This All Wrong Image
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 19 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.6

Universal acclaim- based on 29 Ratings

  • Summary: The sixth full-length release from singer-songwriter Sharon Van Etten was produced with Daniel Knowles.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 16 out of 19
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 19
  3. Negative: 0 out of 19
  1. Consequence
    May 6, 2022
    100
    We’ve Been… is unmistakably the sound of an artist in their prime, hitting at all the conceptual points that they set out to reflect while remaining true to their strengths. ... We’ve Been… is certainly her strongest, boldest experiment as a songwriter yet.
  2. Beats Per Minute
    May 9, 2022
    88
    Van Etten gives us what is, quite possibly, her strongest album yet. And that sense of breakthrough, of sheer lift, is prevalent right from the start. ... There’s a powerful sincerity and confidence to her vocals throughout the record, as she weaves and bobs around her deceptively simple and emotive melodies, often hitting notes that sounds for a millisecond like they won’t quite work, and then suddenly, they do, as on the final heavenly note of “Darkness Fades”.
  3. Sputnikmusic
    May 9, 2022
    82
    We've Been Going About This All Wrong reflects on the darkest moments of her earliest work with a newfound sense of confidence and control fully discovered in the Remind Me Tomorrow era.
  4. Exclaim
    May 5, 2022
    80
    It's both her loudest record and her most inscrutable, burning away some of the welcoming intimacy of her earlier work for a galaxy of cataclysm and stillness all its own.
  5. Glide Magazine
    May 6, 2022
    80
    While previous Van Etten albums, and pandemic albums in general, carried a somber scarcity to them, We’ve Been Going balances the deeply personal diary entries with moments of levity and hope.
  6. Pitchfork
    May 9, 2022
    78
    We’ve Been Going About This All Wrong is a raging bonfire, and although its scale is monumental, it boasts a revealing depth of field, every dramatic arc finely detailed.
  7. Mojo
    May 4, 2022
    60
    It builds a new stoic eloquence into her vulnerability, even if the stark, birdsong-imbued Darkish drips with Radiohead-like ennui. [Jun 2022, p.84]
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See all 19 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 6
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 6
  3. Negative: 0 out of 6
  1. uvauvauva
    May 14, 2022
    10
    Another masterpiece Sharon gave us! This is - like all her albums - amazing from start to finish!
  2. NWLondon
    May 6, 2022
    10
    Darkish and beautiful. Switch out the lights and enjoy this gorgeous album.
  4. Malts18
    Nov 17, 2022
    9
    This album is sonically gorgeous and very much builds on SVE's marvelous '19 album Remind Me Tomorrow. I do think this one hits closer toThis album is sonically gorgeous and very much builds on SVE's marvelous '19 album Remind Me Tomorrow. I do think this one hits closer to home for her as it really is about about a lot of personally difficult subjects that affected her deeply in the last decade. Sharon has gotten to the point where she is at the height of her craft. Appreciate this album for all that it is-- a superior introspective look and realization of what has not always been easy for her. Couple that with beautiful vocals and excellent songwriting and you have one of the better albums of 2022.… Expand
  5. RiLitros
    May 10, 2022
    8
    The musics are catchy, and I can't still define which ones are the best, except from "Born" - is certainly the unquestionable greatest one!The musics are catchy, and I can't still define which ones are the best, except from "Born" - is certainly the unquestionable greatest one! Maybe "far away", "headspace", "home to me", or "darkness fades". But, i still think "Tramp" or "Are We There"… Expand
  6. Simbirsk16
    May 8, 2022
    8
    I expected no less after Remind Me Tomorrow. Although I would have liked more variety and textures in the instrumentation, Van Etten's voice delivers.
  7. All_ButTrU4
    May 6, 2022
    6
    A beautiful delicate record reminiscent of Laura Marlings 2020 release, " songs for our daughter ". It's a gentle force propelled by theA beautiful delicate record reminiscent of Laura Marlings 2020 release, " songs for our daughter ". It's a gentle force propelled by the sheer power of her voice that always manages to convey any agony that she's willing to share. The opener is a potential song of the year,it's so big with it's despair that you can't help but be pulled in with her. "Home to Me" is a more gradual ballad that is more intrested in amending than separating.… Expand

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