**The songs mentioned can be found at the bottom of the review!**
Welcome back to another semester of me writing whatever the hell I want about music, with no qualifications whatsoever other than my subpar music taste. This album was a suggestion from my roommate, and I’ll admit it was weird listening to songs that I’d only listen to in the summer when it’s a whopping 0° out, but besides the point. I wasn’t the biggest fan of this album, simply because it’s not what I want to be listening to when I’m curled up in three blankets in my room, but it’s definitely one that every person has to listen through once.
Best Overall: Blame – It took me so long to figure out that I knew this song. I have so many great memories with this song, and it’s so much better than Summer (also in this album). The music gets you hype, but it isn’t extremely overbearing or too exciting to listen to any time other than summer or at a party.
Most Underrated: Ecstasy – I think this song was the biggest change of pace in the entire album, and I certainly needed it after listening to so much electronic music. I had never heard of Hurts, the duo featured on the album, but I think that their voices mesh really well with the music. This is the only song I think I could listen to on a normal basis; it’s not extremely in your face with electronic music and it’s actually quite calming compared to the rest of the songs on this album. It was nice for a song like this to be included in an otherwise extremely exciting album.
Most Popular: Summer – Ah, the classic dance song from Calvin Harris. If you haven’t heard this song, I genuinely don’t know where you’ve been. I don’t think there was anything better than listening to this song while down the shore with your friends, having the time of your life. If I was in the mood to listen to this song, I would, but it definitely isn’t something I could have on repeat on my playlists.
Honorable Mention: Outside – I guess that I had no idea what these songs were called, because I didn’t think I had any idea what these songs were going to sound like, but this is surprisingly the third one from the album that I know. Again, gives off summer vibes with the exciting electronic background music. People have sent me so many TikToks that are all about leaving your life and taking a spontaneous trip to Hawaii for a couple months to live a brand new life with new people and a new place, while also forgetting about all of your responsibilities. This song makes me want to do that just so I can have a cool little montage of my trip to have with me forever.
Least Best: Slow Acid – To me, there’s just no appeal to this song. I know that Calvin Harris makes songs that are made to be very electronic and should make you want to dance, but this song had nothing redeeming about it. My issue with this song is the fact that I can’t imagine someone playing it at a party, but I also couldn’t listen to it if I were anywhere else.
I am a fan of this album. Blame, Outside, and Summer are for sure the top 3 songs in the album. I disagree with y0ur thoughts on Ecstasy; Under Control is the better song in this album featuring Hurts. I really like this blog topic and can’t wait to see which album you write about next week!
Hello! First of all, I love the whole idea of this blog, it is very creative. Second, I felt so much nostalgia from this album that it was almost painful…. but I loved it! I pretty much agree with everything you said about these songs, although I do think I kinda like Slow Acid more than Ecstasy….
If you are in need of any album ideas, perhaps you could try Torches from Foster The People? It is an alternative/indie band, so depending on your taste in music you may not like any of the songs, but Torches is their most popular album and includes songs like “Pumped Up Kicks.”
I’ve never listened to the entirety of this album before, so I’m glad you wrote about it here. I really like how you take a more general approach to talking about all of the songs, talking about how they relate to you, more than the technicalities of the songs themselves. I think that that makes it much more approachable, keep up the good work!
I have never really listened to his music before, but your post made a lovely introduction! I definitely agree with your ranking of the songs!