For 3,519 reviews, this publication has graded:
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81% higher than the average critic
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1% same as the average critic
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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: | The Idler Wheel Is Wiser than the Driver of the Screw and Whipping Cords Will Serve You More than Ropes Will Ever Do | |
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Lowest review score: | Playing With Fire |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 3,085 out of 3519
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Mixed: 407 out of 3519
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Negative: 27 out of 3519
3519
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Critic Score
It isn't a slog, but it's closer in shape and spirit to the loose bloat of Culture II than the carefully sculpted gothic trap-pop opus Culture. Still, it is a satisfying listen.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jun 16, 2021
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- Critic Score
Even despite the weight of expectation, reinvention, and continuity, Wellness marks a fine new chapter for Tucker and Brownstein. It may even be one for Sleater-Kinney.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jun 11, 2021
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- Critic Score
Revels in nervy song structures and unexpected instrumental touches even on its more straightforward tracks, such as the "Polyester Bride"-echoing "Good Side." The horns that rise up to accompany Phair's solidified sense of self on the slow-burning "Soul Sucker" give her inner journey a heroic feel, while her voice's airy upper register makes the plea at the heart of "Lonely St." even more potent.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jun 3, 2021
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Sour doesn't try to be "the next" anyone; instead, Rodrigo distills her life and her listening habits into powerful, hooky pop that hints at an even brighter future.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted May 21, 2021
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It often feels less like a distinct set of songs than a deliberate mood: a slow-rolling swagger through a bygone era, gilded by the band's own faithful imitations. That's bad news for hook-happy fans, maybe, but a living history lesson too.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted May 14, 2021
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Where Anthem positioned Greta Van Fleet as an overqualified cover band in gestation, Battle gives brief glimpses of potential for a collective determined to graduate from Guitar Hero savants. What's hindered Greta Van Fleet's attempts at individualism is their penchant for thrash and bombast.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Apr 15, 2021
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Where Soil embraced the discord of romantic entanglements, Deacon, its follow-up, is a celebration of the opposite: the comfort and assurance that swells from deep connection. [Apr 2021, p.73]- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Mar 24, 2021
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- Critic Score
Chemtrails is less a full transformation than the first step forward in another direction.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Mar 19, 2021
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- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Mar 19, 2021
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- Critic Score
Revelación proves that Gomez is up to the task — and a far more versatile musician than she's been given credit for.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Mar 15, 2021
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Sia's previous triumphs have set a high standard, one that Music doesn't meet. Her "awesome" intentions aside, the album's messages of affirmation and encouragement may be well-meaning, but ultimately fall short while underlining Music's broader, damaging issues.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Feb 16, 2021
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Flowers puts a lens on her weaker moments without any performative brightness. She simply lets her softer side shine. Gone are the animalistic vocals, replaced with a gentler tone that invokes a towering kindness and grace that pandemic-related solitude has allowed. ... She once again proves there is a fragile beauty that comes with facing the darkest parts of yourself, no matter how painful the process might be.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Feb 5, 2021
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The problem with OK Human isn't that Cuomo makes a facepalm-inducing Kim Jong-un reference and rhymes sad with bad, it's that there's not enough genuine pathos to outweigh the places where he can't help himself. Instead, the fleeting moments of authenticity are hidden beneath a pile of hokey one-liners, spotty vocal performances, and awkward arrangements that rely on the accompanying orchestra to provide all of the emotional depth.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jan 28, 2021
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Swift's lyric-writing abilities feel leveled-up on Evermore, its characters drawn in pointillistic detail. ... Similarly, the musical risks on Evermore are bigger, both in scope and in payoff. ... Freedom from expectations has, both with this album and its predecessor, led to Swift's leaps giving new heights to her already-pretty-skyscraping career.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Dec 11, 2020
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Like any contemporary Macca project, III feels like comfort food. Credit that voice, charming and unmistakable after decades of use. Hearing it anew is like curling up inside a warm blanket.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Dec 9, 2020
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Nasty can be funny and furious, bratty and spectacularly off-the-wall. [Dec 2020, p.101]- Entertainment Weekly
Posted Dec 4, 2020 -
- Critic Score
Accordingly, even though Wonder is his fourth studio album, it often feels like the sound of an artist still discovering himself in real time — the pleasant but vaguely unplaceable style of previous hits like “Treat You Better” and “There’s Nothing Holding Me Back” now gilded with swirling psychedelic pomp (on the expansive title track), ring-my-bell disco (“Teach Me How to Love”), and slinky R&B (“Piece of You”).- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Dec 3, 2020
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Despite Cyrus' disavowal of Younger Now's Nashville sound, the best moments on Plastic Hearts come when she delves into power ballads, which blend the over-the-topness of glam with the teary storytelling of country music.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Nov 30, 2020
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There is be little risk and reward on Positions, yet Grande's simple desire to memorialize the beginnings of a new love in real-time, and the new fears it entails, has allowed her to create a body of work not beholden to the narrative of resilience. It might not make for her most arresting album nor her most dramatic, but it’s certainly her most sensuous.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Nov 3, 2020
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It's the prettily composed ballads — wounded, swooning, steeped in regret — that tend to lead.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Oct 29, 2020
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It’s a living document and continued legacy of a once-in-a-generation talent.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Oct 22, 2020
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Snags aside — “The Lost Chord” sounds bloated, and bonus cut “MLS” sands the edges off JPEGMAFIA — Strange Timez (out Oct. 23) adds a delightful new chapter in Gorillaz’s ongoing tale of cross-pollination.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Oct 21, 2020
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Suffused with warmth and memory, this set belongs among your Tom Petty records. [Nov 2020, p.97]- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Oct 15, 2020
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Offers a new kind of glimpse into his private world, singing intimately of desire and raw vulnerability. Maybe that's why Shiver feels as liberated as it does: the sound of an artist in midstream, still discovering how far his voice can go. [Oct 2020, p.95]- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Sep 28, 2020
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On a purely musical level, this collection is a true beauty, with 63 previously unreleased tracks. ... For the completists, you’ll want this set forever in your life.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Sep 25, 2020
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Even at its sweetest, Smile still feels like the the too-familiar work of a star committed to remaining pleasantly, fundamentally unchanged--and that may be the only mortal sin pop music can't forgive. [Sep 2020, p.100]- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Aug 24, 2020
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The record falls off during its latter half as the melodic R&B cuts begin to blend together. And in lieu of a clear-cut concept, the random spoken-word tidbits that appear throughout the tracklist feel frivolous compared to how Blood Orange and Frank Ocean used them on their last albums.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Aug 7, 2020
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He's content to remain firmly within the bounds of where he's always been. The album title may as well be referring to Bryan's artistic development.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Aug 7, 2020
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A much-needed corrective, a back-to-basics palate cleanser that rights the ship with help from co-executive producer No I.D., who was the guiding hand behind his debut record Under Pressure. It’s the cleanest album he’s ever made.- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jul 30, 2020
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- Entertainment Weekly
- Posted Jul 27, 2020
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