Welcome to the latest installment of Jake’s Take’s New Music Reviews! (Bitmoji property of Jake’s Take with Jacob Elyachar)
By: Jacob Elyachar, jakes-take.com
This edition of Jake’s Take’s New Music Reviews is dedicated to my mom, Gloria, as she is celebrating her birthday today!!! Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you to Neptune and back, Mom!!!
We got a lot of new music to unpack, so let’s start this party!
Future and Metro Boomin’s WE STILL DON’T TRUST YOU’s only fantastic material is the Weeknd featured tracks. (Album cover property of Freebandz, Boominati, Epic & Republic Records)
We Still Don’t Trust You by Future & Metro Boomin
Rappers Future and Metro Boomin released their second collaborative album just a month after releasing We Don’t Trust You. The 25-track album features collaborations with ASAP Rocky, Brownstone, J. Cole, Lil Baby, Ty Dolla $ign, and the Weeknd (who is featured in three songs). There are several issues I have with the album:
- It does not make sense to release an album so soon. Recording artists should normally wait at least a year or two before they release their latest project into the universe.
- Only the Weeknd-featured songs are the strongest on the album. There are many filler tracks that are not full of substance.
- We Still Don’t Trust You feels redundant.
Do better next time, Future and Metro Boomin. D
Tracks to Download or Stream: “We Still Don’t Trust You” & “All to Myself.”
Taylor Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department will be on many Best of Lists for years to come. (Album cover property of Republic Records)
The Tortured Poets Department by Taylor Swift
The 2020s are turning into the Decade of Taylor Swift. She re-recorded and re-released four studio albums, released three documentaries, was named Apple Music’s Artist of and TIME Magazine’s Person of 2023, and is part of one of the hottest pop culture supercouples. The Tortured Poets Department is her eleventh studio album that reunites her with longtime collaborators Jack Antonoff and Aaron Dessner and featured artists Post Malone (“Fortnight”) and Florence + the Machine (“Florida!!”). The Tortured Poets Department combines the best elements of Evermore and Midnights while unpacking the last few years in her world, including her breakup with her six-year relationship with Joe Alwyn and battles with critics and rivals. I truly believe that The Tortured Poets Department will be on many Bests of Lists for not only 2024 but for many years to come. A+
Tracks to Download or Stream: “Fortnight,” “The Tortured Poets Department,” “Down Bad,” “So Long, London,” “Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?” & “Florida!!!”
Tori Kelly’s TORI. marks a new chapter in her career and features some of her best music this decade so far. (Album cover property of Tori Kelly Publishing and Epic Records)
Tori by Tori Kelly
Singer and actress Tori Kelly began a new chapter in her career. Tori is the first album of a new partnership between Epic Records and Beautiful Mind Records. Listening to Tori reminded me so much of the CDs I listened to growing up in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Tori recruited rising pop-soul group Lawrence to help craft the songs for the album, and Arya Starr, Jon Bellion, and Le Sserafim’s Kim Chae-won, she and The Diner co-produced the album. Tori is a new start for the “Should’ve Been Us” performer that has some of her personal best material to date. Bravo, Tori! A-
Tracks to Download or Stream: “Thing U Do,” “Missin U,” “Cut,” “Oceans,” & “Shine On.”
X Ambassadors’ Townie is the most vulnerable album that the trio has released to date. (Album cover property of Nyle Records)
Townie by X Ambassadors
It feels like ages since we heard new music from Ithaca, New York-based alternative rock band X Ambassadors. The trio (Sam Nelson Harris, Casey Harris, and Adam Levin) dropped their fourth studio album, Townie. Townie is the most vulnerable record that X Ambassadors have released, thanks to songwriting that tugs at listeners’ heartstrings. It is also refreshing to see them perform acoustic songs, and there are potential anthems that could dominate many streaming playlists throughout the rest of 2024. B+
Tracks to Download or Stream: “Sunoco,” “Smoke on the Highway,” “Rashad,” & “Fallout.”
“I Luv It” by Camilla Cabello featuring Playboi Carti
Camilla Cabello is expected to release her fourth studio album, C, XOXO, sometime this year! The “Havana” singer-songwriter’s first single, “I Luv It,” apparently marks a change of direction in her music career. The hyperpop and avant-pop song that she co-wrote with Playboi Carti (who also drops a short cameo on the track), Radric Harris, Shondrae Crawford, Beninu Abolemiau, Jasper Harris, Howard Khaylan, Mark Volman, and Pablo Diaz. It will take a while for listeners to warm up to this change of music direction and “I Luv It.” C+
“Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond of Each Other” by Orville Peck & Willie Nelson
At Willie Nelson’s 90th Birthday Celebration concert, Orville Peck tackled the “Always On My Mind” singer-songwriter’s 2006 hit “Cowboys Are Frequently, Secretly Fond of Each Other.” Recently, the two recorded the song; it is one of the top surprises of the year so far. Listeners could believe this could be a passing of the torch moment between two of their respective generation’s top country music artists. A-
“Oh Well” by Slash featuring Chris Stapleton
Rock music god Slash is celebrating the blues on his sixth studio album: Orgy of the Damned. His latest single tackles Fleetwood Mac co-founder Peter Green’s iconic “Oh Well,” which features vocals from Chris Stapleton! I loved Slash’s arrangement of this song; the “Tennessee Whiskey” performer’s vocals elevate the track to another level of excellence. A
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