haven't played any of it since it dropped...
Me either. Album is forgettable and feels tailor made to appeal to specific demographics and get festival money. Good for him but at the same time...Abel can literally do whatever he wants. I'm not saying he should go left on some Kendrick or Frank Ocean shyt. But this feels like such a weak move. Last album felt like a blend of Abel's shyt with synthpop, electronic music etc. Illangelo is all over the album. Max Martin is on a couple tracks: Blinding Lights, ie one of the biggest songs of the last decade...and then two of the corniest, cheesiest songs on the album (In Your Eyes, Save Your Tears). So for this album Illangelo is gone, and Max Martin is now on virtually every track.
I get trying to find that next hit with the guy you made magic with but...there are no hits on this album. Sacrifice debuted 11, fell to 22 in its next week. Gasoline didn't do anything. So you've got this expensive, big sounding album with nothing truly big to show for it. And a tour that keeps getting delayed and delayed. To the point it's now a stadium tour because arenas are booked out/unavailable. Is he gonna sell out stadiums? I think he can but...this is not the album to sell out stadiums with. With no hits. For a tour that will (hopefully) start in the summer, so 5-6 months from now. At a point where the music climate could be completely different. Drake could drop again, Kendrick will have dropped, SZA will have dropped, Rihanna might drop, Beyonce, etc. A lot is riding on this and it seems like there's a chance it just doesn't work...