![]() ![]() Like 2016’s “Major Key,” this album finds that Khaled does his best work with guests rooted in real hip-hop who are not a product of pop’s bastardized spin on the genre. That’s not an easy balance, and with his tiresome repetition of his name, “We the Best Music!!!” and “Another One,” Khaled reveals himself to be someone anchored firmly in formulas. He wants hip-hop cred, but he also wants to bring the party to pop radio. Amid the huge, glaring bits of pop flash are glimpses of hope with Fat Joe and Raekwon doing some nice work on “Billy Ocean.” Pusha T and Jadakiss both do similarly decent work on “Good Man.” Really there are two sides of Khaled at war with each other. You’d expect many rappers to dislike his approach to the genre since it is so flagrantly commercial, but Khaled is still able to get a lot of classic rappers on his records. On A Tribe Called Quest’s “Check the Rhime,” Q-Tip once said, “Rap is not pop/If you call it that then stop.” Khaled is someone who has dragged hip-hop from its essence into the pop world. I’m not sure what is going on with the Migos-assisted “Major Bag Alert,” but it is definitely odd. There’s very little there.Įven Beyoncé and Jay-Z sound a bit bored on the unimpressive “Shining,” which doesn’t adequately kick into high-gear. This song may be doing alright on the charts, but will people be still pumping it in a decade or two? Probably not. Meanwhile “I’m the One” has Khaled joined by Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne on a syrupy and saccharine, quite forgettable pop song. The Rihanna and Bryson Tiller-featuring “Wild Thoughts,” merely finds Rihanna and Tiller singing of the backing track of Santana’s “Maria Maria” while Khaled inserts a yell every now and then. Khaled can keep a groove going but there is something incredibly unimaginative about his approach. ![]() ![]() Amazingly, the results are shockingly repetitive. Khaled delivers populist party-jams flooded with guests and “Grateful” is a double-length album packed with almost 90 minutes of music. To a certain degree, at this point when you hear a DJ Khaled record, you know what you are going to get. What do they bring to the table? They are capable in places but still trying to find their way with admittedly radically uneven results. Closer “Dancing in the Dark” is an airy bit of chilled electro-pop.Įven though there are a few successful moments here, after three albums, I’m still hard-pressed to figure out what makes the music of Imagine Dragons special. “Thunder” has a profoundly annoying sing-song-y energy while “Start Over” sounds like an oddly Tropical slice of eighties R&B that sort of works. Meanwhile, “Mouth of the River” has some pretty decent moments, fusing a bit of a rocking drive with some pseudo-gospel energy. “Yesterday” on the other hand sounds like it is mastered WAY too loudly, as its clunky stomp pounds in your ear. It has an 80s-infused, built-in sense of schmaltz. “I’ll Make It Up to You” has its moments, even if its insistent kick-drum is a bit cheesy. With all their attempts to adapt to the narrow standards, it is sad to realize that this is what passes for “alternative rock” in today’s landscape. Maybe pressures from their label for pop hits is causing them to drift into banal formulas, peppered with modern pop clichés. While “Evolve” has its moments, three albums in, Imagine Dragons are still looking for their unique sound. Similarly, as Reynolds shouts “Eh Eh Eh!” on “Rise Up,” it sounds like he is trying to be a male counterpart to Rihanna, before he bursts into an awkward, bellowing chorus. “Walking the Wire,” works but it sounds like it is their attempt at writing a Taylor Swift song. The band still feels a little faceless and aimless. “Believer” on the other hand sounds like it might fit better in their catalogue, even if Dan Reynolds’ vocals are still working with same kind of ominous energy heard on “Radioactive,” seemingly almost repeating himself. No, here the band is at least taking chances, even if the nodding stabs at hip-hop and R&B-influence heard on “Whatever It Takes” seem ill-fitting. “Evolve” is not as dire a record as 2015’s “Smoke + Mirrors,” which found the band working in territory that made latter-day Coldplay seem inventive by comparison. Imagine Dragons showed a bit of promise on their debut, “Night Visions.” Singles like “Radioactive” and “It’s Time,” although anchored in a forced, anthemic formula, were decent examples of what they do best. ![]() In addition, it is a really big week for archival releases with deluxe reissues from both Radiohead and Prince along with a “best of” collection from Big Star. — - This week, Imagine Dragons return with their third album, DJ Khaled releases a double-length, star-studded affair, the members of 311 prove they still have incredible momentum on their twelfth album and Vince Staples drops rhymes over a very experimental backdrop. ![]()
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