Chris

Totally fine to have on in the background but not much to really dig your teeth into.

90 minute French pop album? I was dreading it, but I found myself enjoying the album as it went. No clue any of the words, even when sung in English, but she felt like a cousin of Haim, just a bit less rock and a bit more condescension. Nice surprise

Yesssss

Hard to tell if I actually listened to the actual record or some two disc version of it. It clocked in at 90 minutes, which was detrimental. I found it a combo of Lana del Rey and Perfumed Genius with the occasional Fionna Apple like piano. The album opened with numbers that had a decent bounce to them, especially the opener “Comme Si.” Keyboard effects and programmed drums made “Goya Soda” another fun track. I enjoyed the way Christine deployed her voice in numerous guises. Unusual for me to often find the vocal tracks the best part of the song, but she/he deployed her talents in a pleasing manner. The length of the record, and a tendency to dull self-examination diminished the record. Too many tracks like “What’s-her-face” slammed the brakes on too frequently. I did not hear skilled songwriting enough in terms of craftsmanship and variety to warrant a 90 minute opus. I will check out other albums from this artist. It took a few listens for Perfumed Genius to grow on me, maybe the same will happen with Christine.

Chris is catchy. I'm a fan.

Not for me I respect this music but oh man it's a bit limited for me

8/10 Chris is the second of, to date, four albums released under the Christine and the Queens pseudonym. This record was released in both French and English language, but for the sake of reviewing songs twice in different languages, I’m going to focus on the English version here. While I’d heard bits and pieces of Christine’s work in the past, this is the first album that I’ve actually sat down to listen to. And boy, have I been missing out. The record comes absolutely storming out of the blocks with an opening four tracks that are stacked with great rhythms, brilliant 80s styled synth work, bags of space and atmosphere in the production, and hooky and sharp vocal work. The layering of rhythms across the different instrumental parts gives this a fascinatingly funky feel that reminds me compositionally of Michael Jackson’s work with Quincy Jones, in that no single part is overly complex, but when layered together, the insistent groove that is built up is all but impossible not to move to. Tonally, the production here is a bit more open and sparse than that comparison suggests, however, but Christine’s use of space and atmosphere in the production lends a fascinatingly crisp and clean texture to the work. She really knows how to build in and out of sections to create growth and dynamic range within a track, while maintaining a momentum and pacing that guides you through each track without anything feeling jarring or undeserved. After those first four tracks, things did start to become slightly more stretched out as they worked with some broader and more varied approaches to songwriting, while maintaining the general vibe and texture of those open ing tracks brilliantly. I’ve mentioned it before, but the blending space and vibrancy within the music across the whole record is utterly enthralling, and I absolutely adored the shimmering, glassy quality to the production. But all of that would be for nought without the brilliance of Christine’s vocal work. They conjure up some hooky and beautiful melodic passages, while rarely resting on their laurels, and exploring variations and developments of those melodies, but without ever detracting from the soul and centre of the song. What’s more, they don’t just rest on a basic approach to rhythm, punching out interesting counterpoint against the main rhythmic thrust of each track that always keeps you on your toes. Their voice is really beautiful too, working with power and precision, but also subtlety where required. They’re the complete package. Overall, while there were the odd tracks in the record’s second half that matched my unbridled joy for the opening selection, I did get the sensation while listening that these cuts might be the kind of ones that, on repeat listening, actually drag you in more and more. I’m delighted to have heard this, and the strength of the album is enough that I’m definitely going to spend the required time with this over the coming years to familiarise myself with it further. Comme Si - The intro reminds me so much of the opening to Another Part Of Me by Michael Jackson that I was almost surprised that song didn’t follow. The delicate but funky rhythms here are really tasty and the space left in the bass gives it extra power. In fact, space is used really effectively within the groove here. The little dips in and out of different synth parts absolutely rock, and do a great job of backing up the hooky, melodic funk of the vocal. It’s brilliantly cheesy, camp and funky, and I’m here for it. Girlfriend - Oooh, this has an excellent 80s sound to it. The bounce to the groove is solid and, while it’s not quite as font-foot as the opener, there’s a deftness to the funk of it that really delivers for me. The funk guitar work is great, and I really like Chris’ little dashes of interesting variation into the rhythm of the vocal. The Walker - The space and ambience of this is really nice, and while the instrumentation is pretty restrained and sparse, it works really well to add emphasis to a lovely melodic vocal performance. The rumbling bass gives this a solid anchor to pull against, and some of the subtle synth work is delicious. It’s pretty cheesy, but boy does it work. It’s melodically relatively restrained, but still really powerful in its delivery. Lovely stuff. Doesn't Matter - Damn, the layering of rhythmical elements on this album are really, really excellent. I love Chris’ vocal rhythms and the way that the rhythmical counterpoint combines to create a shuffling, shifting but infectiously danceable groove is superb. I love the wide open use of reverb in the top end set against the tightness of the bottom end of the mix. Another banger. 5 Dollars - This is the first moment on the record that I’ve not been 100% in. It feels like there’s maybe a bit too much build up without a completely satisfying resolution. But there are still some stunning moments in here, particularly from some of the melodic writing in the vocal . The production is very cool but again, perhaps a little too sparse in places. It’s still good, but it felt like it was missing a little bit of something. Although as a part of the whole, sometimes a pause like this within a track list works wonders for a record. Goya Soda - That bass is delicious, and again, the use of space within the composition is really well handled. While it’s quite sparse, the slow build and fall of the instrumentation is really nice. Melodically, there are some beautiful moments and, even though it’s sparse, the rhythmical components are infectiously danceable. The delayed synth that comes in near the end is great. It feels like this is possibly a bit stretched out, compositionally, but I still enjoyed it. Damn (What Must A Woman Do) - Now we’re back in cheesy pop-funk land. There are elements of modern dance music about the production, mixed in with some more 80s synth tones and the kind of shuffling rhythms reminiscent of Michael Jackson. The chorus in particular reminds me quite a lot of Jackson in melody, rhythm and delivery. Musically, this is slightly less broad than the best tracks on the album, but I’m still finding it fairly irresistible. What's-her-face - This is a slow burn with some lovely production. Some of the vocal work is really, really strong and the atmospheric production is really nice. Ultimately, it’s a bit rhythmically one-dimensional underneath the production, although I can see what they’re going for. It’s very patient and restrained, but perhaps a bit too much so for me. Might be a grower though. Feel So Good - More nicely built rhythms here and some punchy and engaging vocal work. While the sound design is excellent, this feels like it’s perhaps missing something more legato in the middle to tie everything together. The grooves are great, and the layering of what’s there drags the ear around really nicely. In fact, I think this is growing on me. Not 100% there yet, but still enjoyable. Make Some Sense - Now this is pretty. I love the vocal, with all three of the melody, rhythm and delivery completely on point. It’s restrained and subtle, but the occasional use of backing vocals really works well to add texture. The dreamy synth pads are lush, and there’s actually a bit more going on instrumentally as the track progresses, even though it’s drifty and atmospheric for the most part. Beautiful stuff. The Stranger - I’m not sold on the lead synth and vocal following the same melody. This feels a bit too staccato, and doesn’t quite have the flow and variety of the album’s strongest cuts. There are still some very good moments here, but when you’ve hit such heights, a bit of a dip can feel a bit disappointing. There’s something about this that makes things feel like they’re not pulling in exactly the same direction, which is a bit of a shame, and the quality of the melodic writing doesn’t really match up to what’s come before.

Not interested in listening to this album fucking twice. I get that you're a French singer, but pick one and stick with it per album. Plenty of bands and singers do this. Other than me being mad that it's the same songs twice just in French and English, this is an alright pop album. I'm docking it a star for the doubleness of this double album.

Boring

kinda bland but not in a super bad way

Not my thing sorry. French disc better than English

This didn’t really do anything for me and I wonder if it would have been better had it just been left in French.

Tää kuulosti vahvasti siltä vuodelta, jollon tää oli julkastu. Jos olisi ollut vain ranskaksi olisi ollut helpot neljä tähteä, nyt jää kolmeen koska jouduin kuunteleen nää biisit kahesti. Siinähän ne meni ja osa hetkessä kuulosti tosi hyviltä, mut en mä niitä kyllä enää muista.

Mä en ymmärrä miks tän piti olla kahella kielellä (lue: totta kai oikeesti ymmärrän)! Kun alotin ton enkkuversion niin olin ihan neljän tähen kannalla, sit matkan varrella tippu mielessä kahteen mut sit tuo ranskaversio pelasti monessa mielessä. Jotenkin huvitti miten yhtä aikaa hyväksi hiottua kaikki oli mut sit kuitenkin enkun lausumisessa oli pikkujuttuja off. Esim. miten dollars oli edelleen dols, tai mun lemppari misheard hetki: damn, what must a puma do. Tuotanto oli kuitenkin top notch ja biisit sinällään hyviä, mut oisin kyl selvinny yhelläkin kiekalla XD

Oon huomannu että tykkään yllättävän paljo tämmösestä noin 10v vanhasta popista, joku näissä soundimaailmassa ja meiningissä hivelee korvia. Mutta oon huomannu myös että näissä on aina sama ongelma, levyllinen tätä on vähän liikaa, jos pysyy näin samankaltasena kokoajan :D Ps. Toimi paremmin ranskaksi!

Tosi kova avausraita! Pääs yllättämään. MJ vaikutteet vahvasti läsnä tuotonnossa. Varsinki tos ekas myös paljon samaa ku Anna Puun Nälkänen sydän lätyllä. Tainnu Immosella ollut samoja esikuvia. Alkuun tuntu jo vahvalta neloselta, mutta vähän lässähti kuitenkin loppua kohti. Toimi melkeen paremmin ranskaksi kun ei noista enkkulyriikoista meinannu mitään jäädä käteen ni sit ei tarvinnu ees yrittää 😅 Viiden dollarin vauva blues ei puhutellu 🙂‍↔️

Tää oli nyt jotenkin outo. Periaatteessa tykkään tällaisesta popista tosi paljon, ja kuuntelin tällaista 2010-luvun lopulla ihan sikana. Mut ois varmaan pitänyt kuunnella tämä vain ranskaksi, jotenkin tuo tosi epäselvä enkku söi levyn uskottavuutta ja muuten mietittyä kokonaisuutta. Aika tasapaksu, moderni poppilevy. Ranskankielinen versio oli parempi, yksin sen olisin saattanut arvostella vielä paremmin.

bisschen lange, aber sonst solider Pop

Ich war vom Albumcover schon genervt, dachte ich ahnte was kommt. Aber hat mich positiv überrascht. Fand ich gut.

Fairly obvious response is to bemoan the length of this double LP. Having given it a fair crack, there are lots of nice moments and generally an enjoyable listen but without being a fan or knowing any of the context, I'm not convinced there's any argument for the double album concept here. The first half is ok then she performs almost all of them again, in French. Again, the music is all decent and it’s listenable but I’m hearing almost the same exact ideas and melodies twice. And spending 90 mins with it. Now, unless you're someone of serious gravity or significance, that feels massively self-indulgent or purely an idea to come back with on a deluxe release.

I’ve been brushing up on my French skills, so I decided to listen to the French version of this album, which was kind of a fun way to practice listening to French. And that’s about all the positive things I have to say about this album.

I quite liked it. More modern than the regular stuff you find in this website. But the kind that will survive the pass of time, because it is good.

Love Christine and the Queens. Glad they’re on the list. This is one that has wandered into my algorithm many times and that I eventually sought out on my own. Not sure if I had listened to this particular album all the way through. Not in my top albums of all time but one I’d happily put on any day.

Super geile videos!!!!!!!mega!!!!

It’s fine

I listened to the French version. Pretty cool, although got a bit repetitive at the end. Saved a few songs.

Dreadful. Like parody level bad.

OK but not really my thang.

(4/7) I could see listening to this once in a while

What's the reason for this album being on the list. It's only 8 years old, no one can tell if anybody knows or is interestsed in this album after a few years time. And … one more average pop album on the list.

French version was better than the english. Still both boring. A sad day for gay pop

I’d be perfectly fine if I never heard this again

Bilingual double disc - one in English and one in French 9 (same songs). Neat idea, a bit dated sound, but solid

I’m one song in and already know this is garbage

These are the kinds of things I wanted from this list, albums I had missed that are actually good and interesting. Instead it's either Oasis, Rolling Stones, Beatles, or some combination of the 3.

I listened to the French version. It wasn’t bad. But there was nothing about it that makes me want to return to it. It seemed pretty standard overall

Kind of did not expect to like this but i did..

Never heard of this pretty solid French synth pop if just a little bit derivative/boring

Its fine but pretty pedestrian musically

C'est plate de donner cette note pas fameuse pour une percée francophone dans cet impérialisme anglophone. Tout à fait d'accord avec ce qu'écrit Félix.

Ça c'est quelqu'un qui préfère attirer l'attention plutôt que de se concentrer sur faire de la bonne musique. Déjà que l'album soit en français et en anglais, on voit le désir de plaire. Et je me lancerai même pas dans les délires de genre et d'identité, ça pourrait être mauvais pour ma santé. Je lui souhaite de trouver la paix et le bonheur. La musique est pas mauvaise en soi. Et je me rappelle d'avoir appris à aimer quand j'étais en voyage à Nantes, pour faire concept.

De l’electropop comme on en a entendu jusqu’à saturation dans les 2010’s.

Immerhin so gut das sich nicht so einfach weiterspielen kann

Incredibly average pop album that is way too long

i have a person vendetta against the french language and therefore was unable to enjoy what should have been a cool queer pop concept album.

4,0 Highlights: Girlfriend, 5 Dollars

Tykkäsin laulajan äänen soinnista ja väristä. Musiikki oli liian rauhallista makuuni.

Comme si - 2 Girlfriend - 2 The walker - 3 Doesn't matter - 3 5 dollars - 2 Goya soda - 2 Damn (what must a woman do) - 2 What's-her-face - 2 Feel so good - 2 Make some sense - 2 The stranger - 2

Pop music but nothing interesting about it

Not exactly my kind of thing but I enjoyed it. And wow! Two albums by queer people in a week. Almost makes up for having to listen to Van fecking Halen yesterday. The 80s synthpop influences are very clear, but it's much warmer and more varied and interesting than most of the stuff I've heard from that era. For me, it outstayed its welcome a little bit, but I could tell certain songs and lyrics were recurring in variations, so I think there are interesting things going on which would repay a repeat listen.

When I was a little boy my mum used to tell me that the French hated the English because we bombed their fleet in WW2. Now isn’t it about time the French let bygones be bygones and stop inflicting us with this stuff? 1/5 3/10/26

Album 337. Chris (https://open.spotify.com/album/08LcAgUEeFV4tM3WPPpbYh?si=TeyQ0lUZSnmU_1BotLxcHA&utm_source=copy-link) — Christine and the Queens (2018) Is it a joke or wtf. Why is there Shaman on the album cover. It's relatively okay, but wtf really. I can't say it was a total waste of time, but it's definitely not an essential album. It was added to be deleted later and it's exactly what happened. I enjoyed the French version a little bit more. 2/5 Liked: — The walker

I refuse to believe this album came out in 2018, but then again I feel like this album could've come out in any decade between the 1980s and 2020s and fit in perfectly fine. I do think it's neat that they included both English and French versions of this album in one, if nothing else just to hear the difference between the two. I think this album could've suffered a little from having just one or the other released. The music itself is fun and I love the little sample hits in a few of the songs, along with just the sound of the album as a whole. It's fun and a little bit moody in some places in a way that keeps the album interesting for at least the first of two listens, although I did start to get a little bored towards the end of the French version.

01/10/2026 I judged way too hard, way too early and didn't want to like this album. However, it definitely surprised me, ignoring the French of course. Spotify listeners: 1.7 million

Voice was ok but it was too much dance club

I mean it’s just catchy pop. Nothing really interesting here

Yawn... Leave this sound in the 80's where it belongs... I just got so bored so quick with this one.

French is my main language. It' far from the best record you can find from that period. Even her first record is better than that. It's simply not good.

Some pretty good tunes. Enjoyed both the French and English versions.

I think it's mining for their own sound and that is commendable. Some songs are great, some are a bit repetitive and I don't love the gimmick of doing your album in two different languages, but it was interesting mostly and though it didn't arrive to where I wanted to be, it was enjoyable

3.7

Un peu bizarre ça va

I really enjoyed this album. Some well written songs Christine has a pleasant voice to listen to. Reminds me of sophisticated girl group songs and 70s punk rock.

poppy synthy, sounds a little like jackos softer songs at times. Not my bag

nett.

Pop halt

It’s a pop album. Nothing more and nothing less. It’s not horrible but I can’t die yet.

No va

música de lésbica com o charme francês, amei

Another double album...... Look it's very pleasant music. Nice tunes, nice voice. Some in French so she could be saying I hate all of you and I wouldn't know. But... I just don't see the artistic merit to be a must listen to. Now it came out in 2018 so maybe it meets some sort of criteria in having albums from recent years. Thank god I read the wikipaedia page before posting a review as I though the singer was male not female. I guess that androgyny for you. I now understand why this is on the list. It's because this shows how artistic and sensitive you are by listening to this. If I was trying to impress a 20 something year old alternative woman and show her how sensitive and in touch with my feelings I was then I could just put this album on when she came over. If that didn't work then game over. Very atmospheric which marks a recent trend on the generator for me. Could I have some metal for a style break please? Another 3, sigh.... To rate it a 4 I would have to be happy to put it on again and I wouldn't. It's just too inoffensive to rate it lower, which is not really praise. And it is just too long without any style changes.

2.538

This had great bass synths all over it, awesome production reminiscent of MJ in peak 80s. I liked it, more by the time I was a few songs in, then began to unlike it by the back 3 songs. Not to say it got bad, just a bit samey, and the half English half French hard to understand lyrics made it difficult to connect to the subject matter. Amazing production though

I just found nothing of note in this slog of a work. I started with French and was so disinterested by the time the English versions rolled around that I had trouble completing the album. Maybe if I stopped and just listened to the French which I think is the native tongue of the artist, I might have given it the benefit of the doubt at 2 stars but after forcing myself to slog through the English versions of the songs my opinion just kept going lower. Obviously not every album is going to be for everyone but this one was especially painful given the length.

I’m sure this album is good for people who are into this type of music but that is not me.

Ehhhh, not for me. It's not bad, and I thought about giving it three stars, but went with two because I had a hard time finishing the whole album. It's all pretty similar-sounding, so I feel like one or two or three tracks would have been plenty. I guess I could have skipped the French half of the album, but I'm really trying to listen to the _full thing_ for every album in this project.

Just bad. There are plenty of albums on here that aren't my personal preference...but I can still see why they're on here. For me, that's the interesting thing about this project, having to listen to stuff that I normally wouldn't seek out on my own and maybe getting surprised by it and ending up really enjoying it. Or maybe I don't like it, but I can understand why it's on this list. But this isn't one of those albums. It sucks. The production isn't great, the vocals aren't great and I'm not sure why it's here. First, I don't like her voice. And that's fine...this music doesn't require a great voice....I don't think Madonna has a great voice, for example...but at least Madonna is believable. Second, the production is just thin. This sounds like it was recorded with a midi-player and a Casio keyboard in a bedroom. Maybe that's being a little harsh, but there's nothing about the music itself that makes me think that any of this is interesting. I will admit that this album had a huge hole to crawl out of for me: 2018, dance music and French. But that doesn't doom this album, there have been plenty of things on here I've rolled my eyes at and been like "Oh, wow...not bad." However, this album just needed to give me something unmistakable to get me excited...an incredible voice, amazing grooves, undeniable hooks, SOMETHING and none of that is here. If the reason that this album is on this list is that late 2010s need to be represented along with electronic pop/dance music from Europe...okay, fine. But this is the best representation of that genre and that era? This is the best we can do? I really reserve a 1 ranking for something that's absolute dogshit. I think it's a lazy ranking, really, and I don't enjoy giving them out...but also, in this particular case there are a 1001 chances to convince me that all of these albums belong on this list in some way, shape or form and this just doesn't do that.

Fun stuff!

+: Girlfriend, Doesn't matter, 5 dollars, Feel so good, Make some sense +-: Goya Soda -: Comme si, The walker, Damn (what must a woman do), The stranger --: What's-her-face 3,2/10

rare find

Great bass and synth sounds. Really catchy but still quite personal sounding.

I didn't notice much difference between the French and the English. It all went by in a glistening blur. That may sound like damnation, but I was expecting much worse. Like many others, I'm sure, I gave poptimism a go after reading Words and Music: A History of Pop in the Shape of a City by Paul Morley in 2004. Indeed, Paul F and I may have been ahead of the curve, recognising that pop had won out by 1999 and that the rockist obsession with grit and authenticity had gotten nowhere and that pop's sugary rush was just as meaningful. However, I look at the last quarter century of popular music now and think everyone was too lenient, too permissive. As a recent New Yorker or New York Times piece admitting, popular music criticism had grown soft. What other reason could there be for the prominence of Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter, et al? Nobody dared say a word against them. Even while Michael Jackson sold trillions of terrible records, he was the subject of ridicule. I fear we have left pop music to run rampant like an indulged child, showing it no boundaries, doling out no admonishment, finding significance in everything it does. Should we be surprised when it grows up weak and incapable? Even when a pop star attempts to be authentic, as I understand Chris does, does the contrivance and desperation to be widely and easily enjoyable countermand the artistry? What a surprise then that I enjoyed this pretty well. Or at least I recognised that I would enjoy the tight little hooks and grooves if they were on an 80s Prince album, so I may as well enjoy them here too. Of course, Prince was an absolute rockist himself, playing mad solos and controlling the artifice of the pop machine by writing for a million other acts. And in that sense, Prince trumps Queens. But this was a decent imitation and, for all the authenticity in the expression, it isn't much more than that. 2 I realise this morning that I haven’t taken trouble to try to get a sense of an ‘album’ here. I started yesterday as we agreed by listening to the French version of this - presumably the ‘proper’ version - first. I then spent much of my listening to the English version in my head pondering broad questions about the relationship between melody and language and rhythm, and about translation. Generating this album yesterday - when I had a ticket for Carmen at the GOH in the evening - seemed like fate was obliging me to ponder broad questions like that; across musical genres, across a century and a half, about French and English in particular. Honestly I find I couldn’t be arsed presenting the compliment of grand comparison like that to either Carmen or Chris. Carmen was/is shite. Even if you translated it into English - the verifiable Worst Language for Opera - I don’t think that it would suffer much. The libretto is awful, whatever immortal earworms were fashioned from it. The story is nothing. The big songs repetitious fluff. The main characters are spectacularly unsympathetic - José BOTH an arsehole and a psychopath, and Carmen a melter. The orchestration is boring, even if the lines sounded exotic in 1875. Chris really isn’t that bad. There is nothing here as profoundly irritating as the Toreador’s song. But is that honestly for lack of trying? Christine and the Queens has carried an air of absolute artistic seriousness from the beginning. Seriousness in the tone of his voice; like Michael Jackson always dramatically committed, never sloppy, never mucking around, never ironic. Seriousness in the dancing in the videos. Seriousness in the vigilant attendance to identity, to sexuality, to the shifting pronouns. But the musical artistry is basically frivolous. The baseline is always pleasing the listener - straightforward beats that we can all dance and have a good time to, even and repetitive phrases, pretty melodies, hooks. If all this together with the conceptual character of CATQ albums calls for comparisons with Bowie or Bjork, the music fundamentally fails to get anywhere near that kind of artistry - that kind of daring. But even a comparison with Michael Jackson seems to flatter a little. The merciless commercial grind of that sort of pop machinery isn’t to be found here either. In the almost naive ornamented prettiness of some of the melodies, often sweetened by multitracked backing vocals and reverb, I thought a few times of Enya. In the synth bass and primitive electro pop ticking I thought a few times of the Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack. I have been very negative here, so I should mention that I like Enya and Beverly Hills Cop. I also really like People I’ve Been Sad - from an EP which followed and, in my opinion, improved upon ‘Chris’. As I said above - I got sidetracked yesterday with more or less irrelevant notions. In fairness I should probably listen again to Chris, perhaps the English version, and attempt to *just* measure the album before I rate it. I will listen again sometime though and I’ll come back if I feel I’ve done it dirty. I think CATQ is ‘artist’ enough to be worth that much. I am never watching or listening to Carmen again though. Shite. 2/5

Decent, but I'd have preferred if it was fully in French. That way it had a unique thwang to it.

Why make two versions of an album? Really strange... Only listened to the french half, that version of damn (girlfriend) was popular on the radio for a while and hearing the translation is just... Weird. I kinda like the retro sound but they only lifted a small slice of that broad time period. It makes for a one-note record.

Really awful

I definitely can see the importance of an album like this. The queer, gender bending, and sexual topics are definitely more reflective of the post 2010's. I think historically, albums like these will be looked at as reference points down the line. I think the writing is the strongest part of this album. I will say however, that the minimalist, stripped down pop is very very very ran through at this point in 2018. I think the standards set by pop queens like Lorde (I guess, in the 2010s moreso) are very high for someone to just come along and expect to be showered with praise for because they hit different topics. On a musical basis, I don't think the songs are here are as strong as some of the songs you'd find on other minimalist pop albums. It is what it is. Also, I admire the fact that the 2nd disc is strictly in French, but when these types of plays are made, I can't help but look at the lyrical differences between the 2+ versions. I compared the lyrics and the songs are thematically similar, so I see the potential crossover and increased audience reach when this is done well. I think for what it is, it's nice, but it's not strong enough to warrant a 4+. I think it's disrespectful to give it a 2, but it is somewhere around a 2.8+ I just think the minimalist pop has been done really well already by 2018.

Pretty bog standard contemporary pop, such as you might hear piped over the speakers whilst wandering around Asda. Nothing remotely interesting or special about this album whatsoever.

This felt very generic 2000s pop.

I think my biggest surprise with this was realising it’s a modern album, given that the cover looks like it’s firmly rooted in the 80’s; but that style of whispering, minimalist pop production feels very modern. That said, where some albums in this style can grate for me, this one was pretty fun. I liked the use of synths, and there were some actual grooves to latch onto. I’d say it’s slightly unremarkable in general, in that there’s nothing that’s really grabbing or exciting me within it, but it IS still solid pretty much all the way through for what it is.

I was not prepared for how perfect pop this was. This probably should be up there for consideration along with anything that Taylor, Katy or Olivia can put out, but I am guessing the marketing for a slightly androgynous woman with a male alter-ego means this is a bit less likely to hit the mainstream. Well, that is their loss.

I don't mind the 80s style production, I mostly just found this album boring

Caught my attention. 3/5

I started listening to Chris and ended up liking its weird, stylish vibe. It’s definitely got those catchy '80s synth-pop echoes, channeling major MJ and Prince energy with a cool, gender-fluid twist. The production is super clean, and honestly, the French version hits way harder and feels more authentic than the English one. Songs like "Girlfriend" and "Doesn't Matter" are total bops and show off some really fun, experimental pop instincts. But, essential? I'm not totally sold. Even though I dug some of the hooks, a lot of the record just felt like a generic, polished throwback. Plus, the double-album thing where its doing the same tracklist in two languages just makes the whole experience drag, and after a while, the synth beats just kind of fade into background noise.

6/10

liked it!

I enjoyed this quite a lot! Sure it's a little basic bitch at times, but several of these songs really vibed with me. Particularly liked Girlfriend and Doesn't Matter. Can see myself returning to this one quite a bit in the future.

nothing special.

I think my subconscious wants me to listen to A Tribe Called Quest because every time "5 dollars" was said I heard "Phife Dawg"

meu veredito é que é RUIM puta merda cara tanto álbum bom por ai o cara me puxa esse vsf

eu to bolado que o emotion da carly rae jepsen nao tá aqui, mas esse aqui tá. se o synthpop oitentista voltou, foi por conta da carly pô enfim, eh xoxo. nao curti mto nao e ouvir no onibus me deixou bolado

3/5