Are Albums Reviews Irrelevant Today? … Um, No.

When I posted my review of Chloe’s new album, In Pieces, I knew I was setting myself up for trouble.

One thing about me, Imma give y’all the cold, hard, unabashed truth every time. That’s kryptonite to stans. I expected my hot takes on her lukewarm album to usher in the usual flood of threats and insults from users like MsChloeBayBay and TheKidsAreAllFight2023.

Surprisingly, that didn’t really happen – everyone was too busy throwing Pitchfork under the bus.

Now I’m not going to defend Pitchfork’s review of Chloe’s album, nor the alleged personal attacks and slut shaming that Twitter claims were contained within – mostly because I’m not defending something I have no desire to read. That site spends too much time fawning over Lana Del Rey for my tastes. I know where I’m not wanted.

However, the backlash to Pitchfork’s review has revived a convo on my timeline that’s becoming louder in the Era of the Stan – are album reviews pointless in 2023?

The easy response is playa please. But allow me to indulge the devilish advocates out there first.

The argument I’ve seen is that album reviews no longer can convince fans what’s good or not. Thanks to social media, fans are now able to make up their own minds!

So… did freedom of thought not exist before Twitter popped up in 2009?

I get it. What critics of critics are REALLY saying is that in the era of social media, it’s easier to find your tribe – like minds that will agree with you. No matter how bad an out-of-touch critic may say your favorite artist is, a quick hashtag search will help you find hundreds of people who will agree that that person is wrong and that all of you are right.

It’s 2023. Validation is the most important currency.

But allow me to blow your mind, Eve and Stefani style – what if I told you that album reviews were never meant to convince you that an album is good or bad?

The reason I fell in love with album reviews in the early 00s wasn’t because I needed someone to hold my hand to form my opinions. I wanted to know what people smarter than me though about the music I loved.

Sometimes I agreed with them. Sometimes I didn’t – and when I didn’t agree, I didn’t want them to lose their job, life savings and teeth. I just moved on, like an adult.

It helped widen discussions with friends about those albums. It helped me become a student of the game.

The reason I launched SoulInStereo.com was because, ironically, during the blog era, the album review writing I loved became a lost art. With social media providing direct access to artists, outlets seemed more concerned with sucking up to their faves for validation (there’s that word again) than providing honest critiques.

If I couldn’t find the type of writing I wanted…

When I write my reviews, I have four goals:

Give background on the project

Clearly state what works

Clearly state what doesn’t work

Explain how to fix what’s broken

Protip: If you don’t have those four elements, sorry, you don’t have a good review.

I’ve been doing album reviews for a decade and a half now, and I’m honored to have a dedicated readership who actually cares what I have to say – even if they disagree. I think y’all keep coming back, even when I piss you off, because of the years of trust I’ve built. Like it or love it or hate it, you know you’ll get that real here.

So yes, there are some pretty bad reviewers out there. But no, the art of informed opinion writing is not dead. In fact, to claim that criticism is outdated on SOCIAL MEDIA of all places is hilarious – social media is 85% criticism of EVERYTHING and 15% dance memes.

I know full well that neither my review nor Pitchfork’s review of Chloe’s album will convince GrownIshBish17 that In Pieces is anything but perfection.

But reviews don’t exist to convince you that you’re right or wrong. They exist to help you think.

We definitely need more of that in 2023.