Variety's Scores

Select another publication »
For 424 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 94% higher than the average critic
  • 0% same as the average critic
  • 6% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 12.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 85
Highest review score: 100 The Beatles [White Album] [50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition]
Lowest review score: 40 Jesus Is King
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 411 out of 424
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 424
  3. Negative: 0 out of 424
424 music reviews
view
per page
    • 71 Metascore
    • 88 Critic Score
    Unlimited Love
    It is this balance of experimentalism and familiarity, of the tentative and the trusted, that makes “Unlimited Love” utterly unstoppable and unlike anything you’re likely to hear this year.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Romance
    “Romance” is a record that bumps her up a level as an artist, without trying to advance her into maturity too fast. Those closing tracks do set you up, anyway, for larger leaps.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 83 Critic Score
    Man on the Moon, Vol. 3: The Chosen
    The album generally finds his deep-breathing, sing-song-y baritone nestled almost exclusively in ambient synth-hop. Ultimately, this nearly single-sourced sound is more consistent, and easier on the ears. ... But it’s when Cudi is by himself — lonely and punching through the darkness — that his somnolent, bittersweet reveries are at their tastiest.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Hurts 2B Human
    The amount of emotion she puts into even the less worthy numbers reminds you why she remains one of our worthiest superstars. But you may find yourself missing the more idiosyncratic Pink who runs off at the mouth as much as she runs off at the heart.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night
    Sometimes, however, the grandness of Antonoff’s sonic vision is squandered by studio production. ... While “Take the Sadness Out of Saturday Night” is perhaps not as conceptually ambitious as 2017’s “Gone Now,” the album beautifully tells the story of a man caught between his past and his future; between New Jersey and New York.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Electric Light
    For all the gloss and floss that accompanies the release of Electric Light, Bay is still very much at home in the earnest ruminations and folk-rocky tones of his debut, only now with higher production values and more bounce to the ounce. With that, “Electric Light” has the feel of a transitional effort; one that safely dips its toe in the cool Ocean front of soul synth-phonica, while maintaining Bay’s clay feel and rootsy emotionalism.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    Spell My Name
    This is a not an R&B record made on a bedroom laptop: It’s expensive sounding, with a stellar cast of collaborators and dramatic orchestrations. And by the time the country-soul closing track rolls up — fittingly, a Babyface number, with a put-your-hands-in-the-air chorus’ — fans will be ready to start the whole thing over.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    so sad so sexy
    A mind-boggling host of collaborators are along for the ride yet the album-- including Bhasker, Malay (Frank Ocean, Zayn), Rostam (Vampire Weekend), Emile Haynie (Lana Del Rey, Eminem, Bruno Mars), even Skrillex--and the vision never feel like they’re anyone’s but hers, and the title track, “Deep End,” “Sex Money Feelings Die” and especially “Last Piece” and “Utopia” are easily among the best songs she’s ever done.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    The Big Day
    On “The Big Day,” Chance’s mixture of reflection and fun is translated in his reliably impressive wordplay and flows, but its production palette can feel confusingly packaged and at times lacking intention. The result is a somewhat flat record that contains shades of Chance’s supreme talents, but lacks the dynamism of his previous works. It is undoubtedly Chance’s big day. But it’s hard not to feel a little let down.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    Everybody's Everything
    Lil Peep’s sad and beautiful world is something dear to behold. If his estate is going to keep releasing posthumous works, they must keep them of this caliber and level of discovery.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 92 Critic Score
    Felt
    The group’s artful combination of beauty and ugliness, familiarity and not-always-pleasant surprises has reached a new peak with Felt.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Queen
    An epic 19-track collection that stands as her best and boldest recorded work to date.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 95 Critic Score
    Scarlet
    The album is loaded with singles, but it’s a real album, with most of the other songs branching out her sound and showing off her killer flow. With 17 tracks spanning almost an hour, it sags in a couple of spots, but “Scarlet” sets a new bar on multiple levels, and not just for female rappers.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    The Lockdown Sessions
    John’s open-hearted vocals and sincerity make “The Lockdown Sessions” a charming listen.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Madame X
    Madame X is best, though, not when it goes all CNN on us but when it plays primarily like a musical travelogue, taking us to magical mystical places so fascinating that we might not even notice the stormclouds overhead.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 95 Critic Score
    Actual Life 3 (January 1 - September 9 2022)
    It all adds up to one of the best and most memorable albums of the year.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 84 Critic Score
    Shoot For The Stars Aim For The Moon
    “Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon” holds weight, innovates and – pardon the pun – blows more fire than smoke.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sob Rock
    His performance style is just affectless enough that he’s always tended to be more of a heart-tugger than tearjerker. And yet there’s a real pathos at the bottom of these era-specific arrangements that lends itself to the idea that a lonely boy might seek solace from the troubles of today in the musical comfort food of the yacht-rock era. All of which is to say: The damn thing kind of works.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    The Idol, Vol. 1 [Music From the HBO Original Series]
    A soundtrack that stands as a far more rewarding and cohesive document than its televised counterpart.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Notes on a Conditional Form
    By putting us off-guard so many times earlier in the album, maybe Healy feels he’s earned the right to be mawkish, in the clinch. And maybe he’s also earned our willingness to put the whole 22-track affair on replay, give or take a mere half-dozen skips.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 72 Critic Score
    When You See Yourself
    The band’s ongoing shift away from its scruffy roots into something less easily identifiable is the most notable development here (additional kudos for making the album available as a first-of-its kind NFT). Who knows where it fits in this modern age, but some of it sounds pretty great.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    Solar Power
    Does the drastic gear shift work? It does, although there’s no avoiding that it may divide a previous fan base that looked at her widow’s peak and imagined they saw a dagger. ... But small things like this are quibbles in the face of how well Lorde has pulled off one of the more difficult stunts in pop music: making a happy album that’s a good album.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 66 Critic Score
    Courage
    One could argue that “Courage” is the sound of Celine Dion unbound and unwound, ready to experiment beyond her usual theatrical soundscapes, and play in the fields with her tween chart contemporaries. That’s fine. Get it out of your system now. At least half of the album is fantastic. But don’t let her make a habit out of this.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Live Life Fast
    From “hibachi” with Kodak Black and 21 Savage to “no way” featuring a few motivational words from actor Jamie Foxx, the album rides a sonic wave of high-octane bangers and more subdued, reflective respites that provide fleeting glimpses into who Roddy Ricch is.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Twelve Carat Toothache
    “Twelve Carat Toothache” finally feels like a transitional album for one of pop’s biggest stars. (And we do mean pop, not hip-hop) ... But with no small help from Bell, who’s the best kind of musical enabler, Malone’s turns of melodic phrase and aptitude for true confessions are making him a far more interesting artist than we could have guessed even a couple of albums ago.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Father of All…
    The effort feels more like a sidestep than a leap forward.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 94 Critic Score
    Gloria
    With songs that are both sacred and profane, with R&B and pop and disco and chorales, “Gloria” is all of that and more.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Voicenotes
    Voicenotes may be pretty effective in chronicling the sexual paranoia of beautiful twentysomethings who just can’t trust each other not to trade up, but it’s also a pretty good time, just like the one you imagine Puth has been having, the occasional betrayal notwithstanding.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Scorpion
    The Southern-fried flows on “Nonstop” and “Mob Ties” may raise eyebrows, but they also show off Drake’s versatility; “Summer Games” and “In My Feelings” cast Drake’s signature nocturnal musings over interesting new textures; and Jay-Z and Ty Dolla $ign both bring welcome energy to their guest slots. But it’s hard to listen through the entire expanse without performing a backseat edit, and even after several spins, too much of the album remains an indistinguishable muddle.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 95 Critic Score
    Utopia
    Where “Astroworld” brought spectacle, “Utopia” brings subtlety and innovation.
Page: