Introduction #
This is adapted / cleaned up from a live-reaction thread I did on the fediverse while listening to the “Constant Companions” by Jamie Paige pre-release listening party.
Tracks #
Dyad: Mixed feelings. I like the lighter voice bits on this song for the most part but not so much the deeper voice parts. 3/5? maybe 4/5?
Not Quite There (with telebasher): Jamie usually uses pretty heavy autotune on her own voice which I tend to dislike, But sometimes I still end up liking the songs in spite of them. Usually I don’t know that until a number of listens though and for this listening party I can only really get to listen it to one time, so… Guitar section at ~3 minutes is pretty fire. The vocals stop around this bit and its pretty fire. Then a vsynth comes in which is also pretty good. The music itself is pretty good, that autotune just hurts things a lot. But again, expected issue. 2/5 to 3/5 for first impression?
Rot for Clout: Teto vocals good but the music itself is a bit more simple than the last two songs, not as exciting, for the first ~2 minutes. There’s an interesting bit like ~2:30 in with some synths. Overall still first impression is a 3/5. It sorta reminds me of “nothing (with you)” but weaker.
I Wish That I Could Fall: Peak, obviously. Already released. 5/5.
Cadmium Colors: 4/5. Also already released. I feel like some of the lyrics are clunky and too on the nose. Still a good song though.
Breeze Blows (with Marcy Nabors & Marlow Jacobs): Cute. I like the vocals. Definitely the best new song so far. 4/5.
Aggrandicize: Funny intro lol. Probably my second favorite new song so far. Jamie seems to always make the autotune heavier when she gets louder which is making me like the loud parts a lot less. There’s a bit of that here. “Jamie Paige is goated with the sauce. Watch her bust it down sexual style.” goes hard. 3/5? 4/5?
Liaison: Sounds cute. Think I could like it more after I listen to it a few times and hear the lyrics more (though that’s partially true for every song on this album). Could be my second fav new one to breeze blows, or maybe my favorite.
Object of Affection: Oh god. Jamie’s autotune. It’s so bad. The intro and the outro were both too long. But teto and her segment on this was so good on this. Tons of references to other Jamie Paige songs. This switches between like the worst song on the album and the best new song on this album. Multiple times.
My Darling, My Companion: “me when im goated as fuck” was a hilariously out of place line on this song. not sure how i feel about this song. Don’t like Jamie’s voice on this one either.
Machine Love: Already released, and peak. 5/5.
Conclusion #
Overall, I’m pretty disappointed by this album. I took issue with the extreme use of autotune on Jamie’s album Bittersweet, but I was hopeful with their recent work that she would’ve worked that out for this new album. She did not. I wish this album was fully vsynth and vocaloid. I even like her voice, even just a little autotune is a vibe, but not to the degree it’s used. I had two not previously released standouts, Liaison and Breeze Blows, and I don’t even know how much I like those yet. But, even so, it’s rare that any album has songs as fucking good as Machine Love and I Wish That I Could Fall. So, that is certainly something. I’ll certainly give this album some more listens when it’s actually released.