ALBUMS CHART
ALBUMS CHART
ALBUMS CHART
review 1: 96
Months after the release of her third studio album ‘Livid’, which seemed to hit a slump by debuting at #2, the independent singer is back and better than ever. Now able to create whatever her heart desires, the singer has dropped a new EP titled ‘Freelance’ with accompanying visuals in music video format. Surprise released after her VMA performance, the record takes a new approach to Milian’s music. Rather than opening with a rap/hip-hop banger, the singer begins with the melodic and very stropped back ‘You Can’t Live Without Me’. The track follows a post-breakup relationship and how Christian observes a man trying to erase the last traces of her but emotionally still can not move on. Personally, I wish this song had been a bit longer as the theme and sound are beautiful but the poetic writing makes it understandable that she recorded it as an introduction. Next up the singer kicks up the tempo with the mom anthem ‘Work’, where she discusses the struggles and expectations of her. Personally the verses and production are absolutely perfected, but I’m sure we can all agree that she’s done way more creative and less repetitive choruses. But the song is very enjoyable and definitely a great pop song that will receive commercial praise if sent to the radio.
Truly a musical masterpiece next up comes ‘Problem’, which features both her colleague Celine Dion as well as the talented Danity Kane singing the chorus. This song shows truly her lyrics at talent and how good the girl can rhythm. The only criticism I can offer is card metaphors in the first verse feel a bit original (don’t be bluffin with your muffin that Ms. Gaga didn’t give some inspiration), but the content and actual song is perfect which is why I gave it such a score. With another feature comes up ‘Caballero’, with it serving some killer lines by rising hitmaker Camila Cabello. With Spanglish lyrics discussing a gentleman and the specialness of their relationship, the singer definitely shows how much of a mastermind she can be with this latin bop. The most stripped back and honest of the record is the lead single and closer ‘Outskirts’. The song’s verses are highly complicated and show a deep level of emotion, which are complemented by sweet pop chorus lines like “I’m falling in love”. Truly Milian served some of her best work to date, nothing more of less. The record was perfectly completed and her decision to drop a short yet quality EP was an excellent one. Well done!
You Can’t Live Without Me-9/10
Work-9/10
Problem ft Danity Kane & Celine Dion-10/10
Caballero ft Camila Cabello-10/10
Outskirts-10/10
review 2: 60
When Christina Milian announces she's releasing new music, you best believe that this is going to be an stellar project with great songwriting and songs that will make you either feel sexy or make you dance like her prior albums but this time, Milian left a bittersweet taste in my mouth.
I think that this EP isn't up there with Christina's incredible work as a singer and songwriter, this EP just shows that Christina is trying to regain her lost popularity but she isn't clicking. I started listening to this EP with hopes I could get something like 'Hometown' or her GRAMMY winning song "Secrets" with Jeremih but, it's not there. The song we heard at the VMAs, "Work", has to be Milian's worst work to date, with the repetitive lyrics and the cringe lyrics from the beginning to the end. I guess the instrumental is nice, but the song as a whole leaves you wanting more and makes you want Christina's catchy hook and clever punchlines to be back again. Camila Cabello and Christina's collaboration was the most promising one from the EP, with them serving and representing their Latin heritage with an Spanglish track that sounds like Britney's "One Night Stand", but the lyrics make no sense because they are all wrong grammatically. I am reading them and I can't believe that someone like Camila Cabello and Christina Milian who have shown they are very proud of their Latin heritage and are very careful with the stuff that they put out, let this song be the way it is. I still don't understand how Cabello, whom I think has more experience writing songs in Spanish, saw the lyrics that were written and didn't help Christina to arrange them. It feels like she went, did her thing, and left the same day. Or just sent her verse and didn't even look at the song.
The other tracks of the EP "Outskits" and "Problem" with Danity Kane and Céline Dion aren't exactly the best songs from the project but they are the ones that stand out the most, I believe. I think that listening to Christina being so vulnerable and in love on "Outskirts" shows you a new side of her that her fans haven't seen which is nice. "Problem" is a good song, don't get me wrong, but I have to ask, what are these random names? I guess that they are a part of the song's story but I didn't get them. I am patiently waiting for Christina's new music, if there is some coming up but this is something that I would've preferred for it to not be released. Maybe Christina just needed a little more time to focus on her music because this project kinda feels rushed.
review 3: 77
1) You Can't Live Without Me - 7/10
Short and sweet, this is a somewhat unexpected opener as Christina hits us with a gentle, interlude-esque, piano-driven little number that has little to nothing in common with what is to follow, on both a musical and lyrical level. You Can't Live Without Me tells the tale of Christina returning to a man that she had left previously and her realizing just how utterly incapable he is of living without her. However, as the final verse reveals, this dependence isn't mutual: Christina can very well do without this guy. In terms of emotional dynamics, this song is definitely the most complex and most intriguing one on the entire project, and Christina's passionate vocal performance matches that complexity perfectly. The only area in which this song is lacking - to me, that is! - is when it comes to the production and melody aspects of it. For me, this song is really one that I have to be in a specific mood to listen to because of its acoustic arrangement which stands in such stark contrast to the track that follows. I can see myself starting off future listens of this EP by pressing play on Work rather than You Can't Live Without Me because the latter just brings such a different energy. But that does not take away from the fact that this right here is a truly beautiful, captivating song and a definite standout in the context of this whole project.
Standout Lyric: "I thought my body had taken all the air with me / The moment I left your bedroom"
2) Work - 6/10
Okay now this IS a bop and it achieves everything it sets out to achieve - it gets you motivated to get yourself TOGETHER and get to work on that self-improvement (Lord knows I've been slacking in that department... and pretty much every other department... anyway!) plus it gets you motivated to put in work on the dancefloor. "Okay but why did he give Work a 6 outta 10 then" I hear you type in a furious PM to Ronlop titled "I DEMAND A RECOUNT OF THE SCORES CAUSE THEY'RE RIGGED (JUST LIKE YOU BUT WE'RE NOT DOING THAT TODAY)". Well, I'm about to tell you! What kind of turns me off from really liking this track and getting my non-existent Caucasian groove on is the fact that its instrumental just doesn't do IT for me. Idk, blame it on the aforementioned Caucasianism. But this instrumental just won't click with me. And while the lyrics on this one for sure get the job done and are very straighforward (yet, once again, 100% effective), they don't really grab me in the way some of the other lyrics on this project do. (I wanted to write something along the lines of "Well, this is just MY personal taste though blablabla" here but that's like true for the entirety of this review and every other review for the matter so yeah xtfgchvjgh)
Standout Lyric: "I've got tens of millions / People waiting on me / I've got tens of millions / Dollars waiting in the safe"
3) Problem (feat. Danity Kane & Céline Dion) - 9/10
This track is basically a Revolution Records family reunion as Danity Kane (a group formerly signed to the label) teams up with Céline to assist Christina on this chill yet still club-friendly urban banger. Don't let the gritty, cold, steely production of this track deceive you: It's all about having fun and getting coin on this one (or, mixing paper with pleasure, as the ladies of Danity Kane aptly put it). The post-choruses have Christina talking about how she treats hook-ups like transactions, with her name-dropping various guys (including one named Jackson... I've heard there's an up-and-coming artist with that name.... maybe him and CM should come together on a track someday, hm?), and honestly, these portions of the song contain some of its most fun and effortless writing. And then there's Céline's VERSE. God I love her ftcghj. She's giving us EVERYTHING on this one, references galore, a "skrt!" ad-lib, and some not-so-humble brags. Sounding NOTHING like the innovative, ambitious tracks Miss Dion has shared from her forthcoming album Conspiracist thus far, Problem is bound to supply diehard Rachettes with their dose of lighthearted Céline bars and definitely needs to be released as a single sooner rather than later (just imagine that video!). Actually, I'm surprised that THIS isn't the lead single of the EP - Christina's really hitting us with left turns this time around!
Standout Lyric: "It's not sensitive when I've got half the nation's dividends"
4) Caballero (feat. Camila Cabello) - 9/10
Okay first off I have to clarify that I am NOT a Spanish speaker so I am in no position to judge this song's Spanish lyrics according to their grammatical correctness or eloquence. But I will say that to my Caucasian ears all of these lyrics sound absolutely BEAUTIFUL because well SPANISH. As for their meaning, I've chosen to put my trust in the English translations that can be found in the listening guide that comes with this album. To talk about this track's Spanish lyrics a bit more, I really love how this song is called Caballero and features Camila CABELLO, it adds to the playful vibe of the whole thing and the collaboration itself feels very organic with Camila and Christina's tones meshing well together. That chorus might just be the most chant-friendly moment on the album and ugh I just love how fun it is. CC and CM are really bringing the ATTITUDE on this track, declaring their goddess status (well, actually... their status exceeds even that of a goddess!) and letting the titular caballero know that at the end of the night, it's HE who should feel privileged to be in the company of women like them. A lyrical moment that particularly stands out to me in regards to attitude and whatnot is when Christina lets it be known that she's also perfectly capable of pleasing the caballero's WIFE. I mean! One thing's for sure, a video for this song would be one hell of a ride (imagine Get It Wrong on steroids).
Standout Lyric: "Creado uno illusión / One that you've expanded with your desire / Con un mente así, de uno maestro"
5) Outskirts - 10/10
I have to say I really, REALLY wish this song would have retained its original title 'REmote' because it just fits the mood of this song so perfectly. It's so romantic and melancholic and simple and calming and ahhhh I just love it. And the lyrics complement this vibe all the way through. I really like how Christina wasn't afraid to get a little poetic with the verses ("We'd frolic in the art, up in the sky / Through gradients of all sorts") but the most effective and most immediate and most beautiful lyrical moment in the song for me is actually one of the more simpler ones - the hook: "We're so remote... / I may be falling in love...". There's something so sweet and simple about this hook, I can't really explain it. It just blends in perfectly with the lushness and lovesickness of the production and really comes off as a simple, genuine, romantic sentiment. I'm really glad that this was chosen as the single to spearhead this project despite not being the obvious choice (that would have been Problem due to various reasons). It showcases a side of Christina that none of the QMOI or Livid singles really showcased and it's just one of those songs that give you this MOOD, that just flow. Idk how to explain it tbh cgvhjbhk but this is by far the most instant song on this EP for me and honestly, also the BEST. Whew, SNAP, STOMP, SHART.
Standout Lyric: "Isolated, it's just us two / In our own, alternate universe"
Production - 7/10 (ngl I personally wasn't a fan of a lot of the production on this album BUT I can see why the individual productions/arrangements were chosen for each song and they definitely work for those concepts, so objectively, the production on this album perfectly fits the bill of what Miss Milian set out to create [Idk if any of that made sense, let's just roll with it teehee])
Packaging/Visuals - 4/10 ("I am beautifuuul, no matter what *** says, scores can't bring me down, nooo-oh" - Freelance, 2018)
Effort - 10/10 (I saw INTENT, I saw EXECUTION, I saw CONCEPT - Christina DID what she HAD to do!)