Bad Bunny - Debí Tirar Más Fotos
Genre: Plena; reggaeton
Review
Now this is the Bad Bunny that I really like! I did enjoy his previous album, but the latin trap sound that Nadie Sabe Lo Que Va a Pasar Mañana had wasn’t something that I personally love. On the other hand, Debí Tirar Más Fotos is a love letter to his home country, Puerto Rico. There are plenty of moments that feel very current, but there are also moments that feel unstuck in time, being constructed with instruments and grooves that will live forever. Just listen to the mid-tempo salsa groove that dominates the six-minute epic “Baile Inolvidable” and tell me that it doesn’t make you want to dance. Songs like “Weltita” and “EoO” are incredible upbeat dance tracks that show how easily enjoyable this album is, but there is a deeper layer that will go over many non-Spanish speaker’s heads, mine included.
The album is not only a love letter to Puerto Rico, but it also shows Bad Bunny talking about keeping Puerto Rico a special place and not letting it be colonized or destroyed. One of the biggest examples of this is, “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii”. The song is about Hawaii and how the United States destroyed the entire culture of the people that were living there. Hawaii had its own language, spiritual practices, and way of living before they came over there and took it all over in the name of profit and colonialism. Bad Bunny proclaims that he won’t let this happen to the Puerto Rico, and this all comes to fruition with the last line of the chorus being, “Que no quiero que hagan contigo lo que le pasó a Hawái” (translation: “'Cause I don't want them to do to you what happened to Hawaii”). The album even ends with a repetitive, victorious cry that no one will ever kick him out of Puerto Rico. Bad Bunny is a fantastic artist, and although I’m not yet sure if Debí Tirar Más Fotos is my favorite album of his, it’s a great listen nonetheless!
Favorite Tracks: “Lo Que Le Pasó a Hawaii”, “EoO”, “Turista”
If You Like…: Thoughtful music; fun Spanish-sung dance music
Ethel Cain - Perverts
Genre: Drone; slowcore
Review
After her 2022 album, Preacher’s Daughter, launched her into indie-pop stardom, she decided to take a different turn with her next project. Perverts is 90 minutes long, with the shortest track on the album still being almost six and a half minutes long. Some of the songs don’t feel like music in the traditional way, as some are just drones that go on for ten minutes. Songs like those make the project one that’s hard to revisit for me. The overwhelming heaviness of the album leaves me in an almost catatonic state while listening to some of these drones. Even the traditional songs where she does sing feel unmovable under the molasses sonic palette. None of these are even necessarily bad things, they’re just things that make me want to not visit this project again, especially as a whole. I think Ethel accomplished what she wanted to do with this project though, so even if I won’t be returning to it very often, I appreciate the artistic offering that she presented here. I do hope she returns to at least singing on every track, as a combination of the Preacher’s Daughter vocals with a bit of the extended intros and outros of Perverts could make for a really cool project.
Favorite Tracks: “Amber Waves”, “Punish”, “Vacillator”
If You Like…: Horror movie scores; sitting outside in an abandoned town while a wind storm is happening
Knock2 - nolimit
Genre: Dance; Bass-house
Review
Knock2 has turned into not only one of my favorite electronic artists currently, but one of my most listened to artists of any genre! He has garnered a loyal, massive fanbase and has collaborated with genre staples, and this was all before his debut album! Nolimit is 17 songs and just under an hour of Knock2 proving that he can hold his own in just about any electronic subgenre! There are plenty of his traditional combination of bass and house music, but there are also trap cuts, a DnB song, a couple dubstep moments, a bit more hip-hop sounding drops, and so much more! To be honest, a lot of the features here don’t add that much to the songs, they just add another sonic layer to the already detailed instrumentals. So even though there are dozens of features on here, most aren’t noteworthy. I could go more into the specific moments within the tracks that will likely help make this one of my most played albums of 2025, but all you really need to know for now is that nolimit is a high-octane party for 55 minutes!
Favorite Tracks: “select@”, “feel U love me”, “party! (dance alone)” (feat. riovaz & cade clair)
If You Like…: Dancing; any type of EDM music
FKA twigs - Eusexua
Genre: Art-pop; electro-pop
Review
It’s been since before the pandemic since we got an album from FKA twigs, and a lot has happened since then. We did get a mixtape in 2022 called Caprisongs that showed her working with about a dozen artists to create her most accessible project to date, but it’s what she’s done outside of music that has been most important, and I’m not talking about that The Crow remake she was in. What has dominated her life has been an ongoing lawsuit against ex-boyfriend Shia LaBeouf for sexual assault, battery, and emotional distress. I feel like people forget that she’s been in and out of lawsuits and public battles to even be taken seriously, let alone to get a trial date, all while Shia keeps coincidentally “losing evidence”. That feeling of freedom, but also needing a distraction to help feel that freedom is rampant throughout Eusexua. This album combines the club atmosphere with the airy, otherworldly soundscapes created by the producers and twigs’s incredible voice. Songs like the title track, “Drums of Death”, and “Childlike Things” are pure club bangers, but it’s the ballads on here that show off twigs's talent the most! Twigs’s operatic vocals are unlike anything else in pop music, which helps turn these soundscapes from something other artists would fumble, into something that is mystifying. I don’t know where this falls in her discography yet, but it’s another great project from one of pop music’s most forward thinking artists!
Favorite Tracks: “Drums of Death” (Feat. Koreless), “Striptease”, “Eusexua”
If You Like: Björk; music that sounds otherworldly
Megan Thee Stallion - Megan Act II
Genre: Hip-hop
Review
After dropping her newest album at the end of June, Megan is already back with Act II! It’s not as long as a normal album, but it’s another 13 new tracks that prove she’s a great rapper! The first four tracks on this project are actually fantastic! I don’t understand how people can listen to these four songs and not think that Megan is one of the best rappers the mainstream has to offer. Her flows are malleable, the bars she says are witty, and she’s able to construct a well thought-out song. I really don’t understand how Megan the rapper has become underrated even though Megan the pop culture icon is bigger than ever. Now, the rest of the project is a bit more hit or miss, but her rapping ability is still evident. I mean, who else would put a remix to “Like A G6” on their project? And not only did she remix it, it sounded fantastic! So while everything on here isn’t a home run, when she sticks to more straightforward rapping, she’s still as great as ever.
Favorite Tracks: “Bigger in Texas”, “Roc Steady” (Feat. Flo Milli), “Number One Rule”
If You Like…: Southern hip-hop; mainstream hip-hop
Short Reviews:
This is one of the first projects to make me feel old.
This makes me feel slightly less old, but I still don’t completely understand it.
The most forgettable Young Nudy album in a while. It’s still decent though, but don’t start here if you don’t like his previous music.
Poppy’s return to metalcore was a great success! As much as I enjoy her wild music, I do appreciate that she can stay in any genre and write fairly straightforward tunes. It almost made it onto my end of the year list, SZA dropping at the end of the year just made everything more chaotic.
As much as I loved her previous album, something about this 070 Shake album just isn’t connecting with me yet. The Courtney Love feature was an unexpected surprise though.
Bout to Break is a pretty solid trap EP from Viperactive. It’s not mind blowing or anything, but it’s good enough to remember his name in case he does release something great later on.
Middling trap album at best.
This might be the most forgettable album he’s ever put out, but that could also just be due to the time that it dropped. I still really enjoyed it though, I just haven't felt the need to go back to it much yet.
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