Oftentimes, artists will release an extended version of their new album shortly after the release of the original album. Why they bother doing this, though, is beyond me.
Recently, I reviewed Charli XCX’s album Crash. I really enjoyed the project and I had plenty of positive things to say. After finishing my review, I found out the album actually had a deluxe edition already released on Spotify. The original version of the album was released on March 18th of this year.
The deluxe version was released March 25th.
Now, this could come across as me nitpicking or being purposefully annoying. After all, it’s more music on a good album, who can turn down good music?
Well, here’s the issue:
The new music stinks.
Charli dropped four new tracks a week after her album dropped and they are all a complete waste of time. They’re all lackluster versions of the sonic vision of the album but with much lazier lyrics and ideas.
Why bother?
This is a question I’ve wondered for a while. Half the time I listen to a mainstream pop album these days, there’s a bloated deluxe version sitting next to it on Spotify. One example which comes to mind immediately is Lizzo’s album Cuz I Love You. The momentum of that album’s release was propelled by the popularity of Lizzo’s song Truth Hurts (which is her most streamed song to this day).
When the album dropped, Truth Hurts was not there.
One might think that this was done as a statement of the quality of the album. The album is a continuous piece of art and the single just doesn’t fit in the track list.
Less than two weeks later, Truth Hurts was on the deluxe version of the album.
So much for artistic integrity.
Maybe I’m overreacting. To be honest though, I just don’t understand why artists bother with this. It’s one thing when an artist drops a classic album and released a deluxe version years later with remastered tracks and unreleased tracks from the sessions. Oftentimes, the deluxe tracks are only worth a curiosity listen, but at least it’s a new track from a great artist in a classic period.
I went out of my way to listen to the Esher Demos on the deluxe version of The Beatles eponymous album released a few years ago because I really enjoy their music and I’m always desperate for new music from them.
Do I really need new tracks from a mediocre Panic! at the Disco album right after the album drops because they didn’t want to put Kaleidoscope Eyes on the album Vices and Virtues?
At the end of the day, a deluxe version of an album these days usually means lackluster tracks which weren’t good enough to make it on to the album the first time, but now I’m expected to listen to them because the album was good. In the case of Charli XCX’s album, the deluxe version actually made me like the album a lot less.
The lack of effort on the deluxe tracks made me reevaluate why I enjoyed the original songs. I wondered if all the songs were actually bad after all.
So, keep this in mind when I tell you…
The deluxe version of Denzel Curry’s Melt My Eyez See Your Future is really good.
I was not fond of this album when I first listened to it. I was worried about the sonic direction of Curry’s music because while it wasn’t poorly made, it didn’t hit the same highs as his previous works. At times, it felt like he was just walking through the album instead of putting all he had into it.
When the deluxe version came out, I wasn’t interested at all. However, people online began raving about the sonic direction of the deluxe version. It wasn’t just a few songs from the cutting room floor, it’s rerecorded live versions of many of the tracks with a full band.
Curry appeared on NPR’s YouTube concert series Tiny Desk with the band back in June to perform some songs, and it clicked immediately why he went the direction he did with this album. Performing his old works with this band (called the Cold Blooded Soul band), it felt… off.
Tracks like Ricky and CLOUT COBAIN|CLOUT CO13A1N felt almost unfinished when performed with a jazzy arrangement like this. On the other hand, tracks from the new album like Walkin’ and Troubles actually sounded much better with the band than they did on the album.
Granted, I think the production on the original tracks was better just by virtue of having been run through by producers instead of being recorded live. However, Curry’s vocals seem to have more energy from being propelled by the band as opposed to being confined by the studio. It makes more sense in this setting to not see the screaming and yelling Curry when he’s performing with a jazz band.
There’s actually two new songs performed with the band as well and they’re fine. Not any better or worse than anything else on the album. I’m not in love with the lyrics now that we have this new version, but I do think this was a much more pleasant listening experience. It was so different than anything else Curry has done, it never felt like it was trying to be something it’s not.
I never felt like Curry was trying to hold back or appeal to radio. It felt like he was having fun performing with this band and it’s palpable to the listener.
If I ever have to listen to another deluxe/extended version of an album, I need it to be something like this. Something totally different than anything on the album while simultaneously improving on the content of the album. It should do something interesting with what the album provided initially instead of some scattered ideas from the album sessions.
In general, I think artists should stop doing this deluxe album stuff. We don’t need an extended version of an album that was released two weeks ago; I’ve barely had time to digest the content of the album you already gave me before throwing these mediocre tracks at me.
If you’re going to do something like Curry did on this new album, please drop it as soon as possible.