Entertainment Weekly's Scores

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For 3,519 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 81% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 18% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 78
Highest review score: 100 The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do
Lowest review score: 0 Playing With Fire
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3,085 out of 3519
  2. Mixed: 407 out of 3519
  3. Negative: 27 out of 3519
3519 music reviews
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    • 61 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Grateful
    With so much talent and so much content, it’s frustrating that he couldn’t deliver a higher-quality product.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Big Fish Theory
    The full-length follow-up to his 2015 debut, Summertime ’06, surpasses expectations, with incisive lyrics and beats that spurn current trends for a set that sounds unlike anything else in hip-hop right now.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Melodrama
    It’s Lorde’s own storytelling that offers Melodrama‘s most rewarding twists.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Crack-Up
    On their latest, the band’s melodies are crisper and sonic dynamics and tempo-shifts are employed to greater effect.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Witness
    Chilly melodies meshes well with Perry’s diary of reflection and self-enlightenment. In fact, many of these songs are written in sad-sounding minor keys as opposed to cheery major ones. It’s a smart trick. ... If there were a few more pure pop moments like those songs [[Bon Appétit and Swish Swish], Perry would’ve made something truly worth witnessing.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Gone Now
    His most accomplished to date. On the proper follow-up to Strange Desire, Antonoff is more sonically self-assured and conceptually mission-driven, weaving together a 12-song cycle--inspired by the heartbreaking death of his sister, Sarah, from brain cancer when he was 18.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Harry Styles
    Reconciling the folkie and the rogue hardly seems like Harry’s priority; instead, the 23-year-old basks in the privilege of paying tribute to his many musical heroes, and trying on all the styles that fit.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Pollinator
    If songs like these paint Pollinator as Blondie’s self-tribute album, who cares. They deserve it after all these years.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Pleasure
    Many of the songs are slow-building numbers that gradually swell to a heightened moment of release. But Feist is too gifted a songwriter to ever need to rely on a mere formula; each time, the payoff is delightfully unexpected.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Strength of a Woman
    The LP is missing a killer cut or two; the empowering title track is the closest thing to a classic MJB anthem. ... Blige fares better with the spiritual uplift that bookends Strength: the Kanye West-assisted “Love Yourself” and the straight-up gospel “Hello Father,” which riffs on Stevie Wonder’s “Jesus Children of America.”
    • 95 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    DAMN.
    After delving into the personal on 2012’s good kid, m.A.A.d. city and going broader on Butterfly, Lamar has found a middle ground on DAMN. that yields some of his most emotionally resonant music yet.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    The Search for Everything
    The most deeply personal album Mayer has ever released. At the same time, the slickness of the music blunts some of the impact. To nearly the same degree that Mayer’s lyrics explore the limits of control, his music seeks to enforce it.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Hopeless Romantic
    Branch’s commitment sells the project as a whole. And for all that’s different, Branch’s longtime lyrical preoccupation, the intense dissection of love lost and found, remains intact.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Pure Comedy
    On Pure Comedy, Father John Misty is just about clever enough to glide entirely on his intellectualism, but by emotionally removing himself from his own narratives, he’s ended up making a record that’s smarter than it is affecting.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Climate Change
    He presides over the festivities like the affable if occasionally annoying host, relentlessly pumping up you and his many guests--ranging from fellow Miami MC Flo Rida to usual suspects Jennifer Lopez and Enrique Iglesias--even when the track is tired.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Hot Thoughts
    This 10-song collection is dominated less by taut rhythm guitar than by synths, handclaps, and kickdrums. ... A band that never gets sick of adding tools to its bag of tricks.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Spirit
    It’s the political songs, however, that give the album cohesion and purpose, not to mention an outlook that’s admirably unafraid to express contempt.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Heartworms
    True to the band’s spirit, but willing to push beyond aesthetically, Heartworms is a rewarding and singular addition to the Shins’ catalog.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 67 Critic Score
    Divide
    If the familiarity of the album bodes well for its commercial success, key elements of Sheeran’s schtick don’t add up creatively. Despite the wrinkles of wit and flashes of detail in his writing, he’s horribly sentimental, idealizing love into anonymity in a song actually called “Perfect,” as well as one titled “How Would You Feel (Paean).”
    • 78 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The Breaker
    Although the rest of The Breaker may not be blessed with the T-Swizzle magic, there are some more strong contenders for your next breakup playlist.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Dirty Projectors
    He’s applied some of his musical tourism to Dirty Projectors to convey a batch of hyper-specific lyrics through an often-thrilling blend of electronica, prog-rock, Afro-beat, R&B, and pop.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Windy City
    Windy City does more than just remind listeners of her prowess, it enforces her legacy as one of American music’s standout talents.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Prisoner
    Prisoner doesn’t differ enough from its recent predecessors to stand out as a singular mid-career achievement for the ever-prolific songwriter, but it’s one of Adams’ most fully-realized, sturdy collections to date, and quite possibly his finest record of the past decade.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Life Will See You Now
    Yielding vibrant optimism where Lekman had typically sulked with a smile. Life is the perfect pick-me-up for the winter of our discontent.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    I Decided.
    It’s a supremely listenable album, loaded with comfort-food hip-hop fit for booming club sound systems and earbuds on the subway alike. It’s also Sean’s most cohesive, personal work to date.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Process
    Over Process‘ 10 songs, Sampha executes a sonically adventurous vision that’s entirely his own and builds on his enormous potential.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    SweetSexySavage
    She sometimes coasts on a singsong, nearly spoken flow that squanders the expressivity of her understated but resonant pipes. Yet haunting highlights like “Piece of Mind” and “Everything Is Yours” prove that beneath SSS’s padding, there’s a succinct, sassy, and sincere album waiting to be slimmed down to Kehlani’s own soul-searching essence.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Near to the Wild Heart of Life
    Noisy but built on articulate songwriting, Near radiates a sincerity often missing from bands this brash. At a time of doubt and fear, it’s screamingly optimistic.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    I See You
    The payoff is the boldest work yet from a band famous for subtlety--the sound of the xx hitting the caps-lock key.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    DNCE
    Thankfully, the group ultimately finds its groove with retro, funk-heavy tracks like new single “Body Moves” and “Blown,” which is about exactly what you imagine it is. It’s better for the band—and everyone else--when they don’t overthink it.
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