Album Review: “For The Throne” by Game Of Thrones, Various Artists

I don’t know what made me decide to do this review, but I thought it would be fun and I also really wanted to talk about how you feel about these types of releases, are you fan of them or think they’re kind of annoying because they don’t match what you pictured in your head for the last nine years? You’ll find out my answer soon!

This album is pretty hefty, which I was kind of surprised but grew to like it because that leaves more room for other artists and genres they mainly work in on a daily basis. It’s also a collection of popular and no-so-popular artists as there were two that I have never heard of before so I am a bit intrigued to begin with so that’s a plus! When I started writing this review, I was already listening to the album but quickly stopped before I went too far to come back. Hmmm… sounds like something you’d hear before going over The Wall. Anyways, let’s start, shall we?

The first track is called “Kingdom Of One” by Country singer Maren Morris. It is such an eerie, but soft song that definitely embodies that Game Of Thrones vibe, as it’s darkness and somber look with every episode. I think it has the right amount of edge and makes you curious to what the rest of the record will sound like after it’s over. It’s perfect. The first single to be released was “Power Is Power” by The Weeknd featuring SZA & Travis Scott. I thought it was interesting how different this one and the previous song were, but I liked them for what they bring to the album as a whole! However, it does sound like the Black Panther song, “Pray For Me” with this popping beat at the end of the chorus, so that pretty much bummed me out a bit.

Check out music producer Tommee Profitt and artist Fleurie’s cinematic release “Gloria Regali” that was also inspired by the HBO series “Game Of Thrones.” 

We move on to “Nightshade” and I cannot lie, the first thing that jumped up at me was the big green explosion in season six. It is sung by The Lumineers, and thanks to the band’s background in folk music, the vibe of this song is totally new. In a way, it has this peppy sound mostly because of the pianist using the higher notes, so it has this urgent but calming atmosphere. I kept thinking something else was coming but it never doesn’t. It just stays in this one place and usually I’d find this really annoying but I liked it. The fifth track is “Hollow Crown” by Ellie Goulding and this may be an unpopular opinion to some, but you can’t have a movie or in this case a television show soundtrack without Ellie Goulding in it. Now as I say that, I thought this wasn’t as good as some of her others. I figured it would be much darker like the title somewhat suggests, but it’s not like that at all. The beat is fairly boring; nothing about it really grabs my attention and I was really shocked by it.

Next there’s “Baptize Me” by X Ambassadors featuring Jacob Banks. This was one of the artists I was unfamiliar with, so I had to go check him out after I was finished. I swore up and down it was Rag’Bone Man with his deep voice. I enjoyed the laid back vibe of this one. It has a nice groove to it, and I thought it was weird because I didn’t think it was a GoT type of song but then I thought, we need a light=heart song because it’s not all about blood and glory. One song that I thought brought out the most GoT feelings, was “Too Many Gods” by A$AP Rocky featuring Joey BadA$$. This was very mellow as far as rap songs go, so I ended up really loving it! It wasn’t too much in your face and gave you this calming perspective. Our seventh track is “Turn On Me’ by The National. They are a rock band that have been making music since 1999. I really, really liked the softness of it. I am so used to hearing epic songs for movies that I keep forgetting that rock-pop could be a really good change, because there are sweet moments between our characters and so I have grown to appreciate this take on these songs.

The ninth song is “From The Grave” by James Arthur. I love James Arthur. He gives out so much emotion and a rawness that I feel like I need to hear on a weekly basis to remind me “this is what men sound me”. I really loved this one because I feel like it could be a dedication to the characters that died throughout the duration of the show. We move on to “Me Traicionaste” by ROSALIA and A.CHAL. I thought this was an interesting track because this completely in Spanish. So, we bring in other worldly sounds to the album and despite having a couple of rap songs included for some reason I didn’t think there should be a song like this on it, but I enjoyed having it be apart of it too!

Our next song is “When I Lie” and it’s a remix of the original version. It’s by Lil Peep and features Ty Dolla $ign too. One thing that I really liked about it was this hip hop mixing with rock sound. It’s one of my favorite combinations! I’m familiar with Ty but not Lil Peep, but I thought both of their voices were great in that echo-y sense and it all has a nice groove to it so I thoroughly enjoyed myself with this. We move on to, “Love Can Kill” by another artist I never heard of before, but I grew to like her voice anyways. Her name is Lennon Stella. She reminded me of Alessia Cara and Billie Eilish. Anyways, I like this pop-y thing going on, but I didn’t get it was inspired by GoT but then once I really paid attention to it, I thought it could work. The twelfth song is “Wolf At Your Door” by Chloe x Hallie. I think these girls each have a beautiful voice and the beat itself embodied that vibe of the show. It was eerie but pop-y at the same time, it’s really good honestly!

These are the last couple of songs on the album. We have “Devil In Your Eye” by Mumford & Sons. I was surprised we didn’t have an Ed Sheeran song on here, but if there was an alternative route I guess Mumford & Sons is a good way to go! This was a great song, I liked the lightness of it, between the lead vocalist’s voice and the overall sound itself. It was nice. The final song is “Pray (High Valyrian)” and I’m really glad to see this type of track on the album. It is an essentially an instrumental, there are words but you can’t really hear them clearly to make out anything but maybe “pray” and unless you are an expert on Valyrian language, you’re kind of screwed. However, the song itself is really good. It’s mysterious and makes you wonder if it’s a clue to the ending of the series.

I was really surprised with this album. I actually ended up liking the majority of the songs on it. I also really enjoyed the variety of genres on it as well. It gave everybody a chance to release something they thought needed to be expressed, whether or not they are fans of the show. However, I’d hope everyone involved are fans in the first place! I definitely didn’t picture any of these songs and the artists on this, but I thought it was really cool to see this basically come alive.Anyways, I definitely recommend any fan of Game Of Thrones to listen to this soundtrack!

Have you listened to the “For The Throne” soundtrack yet? If you have, what were your favorite track(s) on it? 

Album Review: “Liberation” by Christina Aguilera

Today, we’re going to be talking about Christina Aguilera’s new album “Liberation” and I have been looking forward to this since before she had her daughter Summer back in 2014. Her last album “Lotus” came out in 2012 so it’s been a good six years since she’s put out a good batch of songs so I was more than ready to see this pop up on my Spotify on June 15th!

Let’s get into this, shall we?

One of the things I’ve really enjoyed about listening Christina’s music, especially her albums is how she tells a story within each song, including little introductions that go with the next track. So when the album begins, you have the title track “Liberation” and all it is, is a very elegant, orchestral and you hear a happy little child in the background with it. It’s very mysterious but gentle too. Next is “Searching For Maria” and this is a great example to the real beginning to the song that starts afterwards. Again, it’s only a snippet of Christina’s voice in the softest quality. Finally, the albums starts with “Maria” and it has a sweet, string introduction but then turns into this sharp hip hop beat, which is really good. I like it!

Fourth is “Sick Of Sittin'” and I really liked it, but at first I was little weirded out on how it sounded, because it reminded me something that we’d hear from Joss Stone, not Xtina! However, I thought this was a different song and I actually like it. Next is “Dreamers” which is another introduction to “Fall In Line” but firstly we have to discuss how cute but powerful hearing those girls, in various ages, say what they wanted to be when they grew up and I thought was such a touching reminder to put in front of a popular song that “Fall In Line” has turned into, because you have both Christina Aguilera and Demi Lovato! They’re telling other little girls to not fall in line with what other people expect them to be. Personally, I don’t like the song, it starts off good, but towards the end, having both of their voices at full blast is kind of annoying.

As we discussed the musical direction of “Sick Of Sittin” when have “Right Moves” and it also has a different route than we’re used to hearing from her. This definitely has a smooth, slow Caribbean beat. You can dance to it, more like sway but still it’s good. This features both Keida and Shenseea too. Next there’s “Like I Do” and this has GoldLink in it. When I first listened to this song when it came out, I didn’t really like it and now as I am hearing it again, I still don’t know what I think of it. A part of me thought the beat is so chill that it doesn’t really mesh with GoldLink. I feel like he wasn’t needed for it, but I do think Christina’s vocals are okay, but I still don’t like the track as a whole.

The ninth track is “Deserve” and when this first started, I thought to myself, is this going to be dance beat? I was a little disappointed when I was wrong, but I do love the lyrics though so that made up for that. Afterwards, we have “Twice” which came out probably four days after the first single, and I absolutely love this one. I like the acapella beginning and the piano, it’s beautiful and raw.

Now she has also an interlude on this album, and it’s titled “I Don’t Need It Anymore” and I was fairly curious on what we would hear on this. The track is of her and her background singers, singing acapella and it’s so dreamy! I really wish it was longer, I had an issue with another of her many interludes on her Back To Basics album in 2007.

Her first single was “Accelerate” and it features both Ty Dolla $ign and 2 Chainz. I like the beat and I’m perfectly fine with the sexual messages mentioned in it, because if you call yourself a hardcore Xtina fan but yet you hate it when she talks about sex, you’re not a real fan! Sorry not sorry! I will say, I didn’t like either rapper on it. Whoever’s on the chorus with her, did a bad job! His voice cracked and it just sounds weird. “Pipe” is afterwards and it has XNDA I figured once we’d get through the interlude, we would see the sexy songs of the album, but I do like this one. I like the sultry, but chill tone of the track.

The final two songs of the album begins with “Masochist” and I’m not going to lie, but I had to look up what this word was, because I didn’t know it. So thanks to Google I now know that it means, “a person who derives sexual or other gratification from their own pain or humiliation.” After reading the definition, and begin to really listen to the lyrics, everything started on make a little sense to me. The beat itself is very light and sweet, despite the direction you take the meaning of the lyrics. And lastly, we have “Unless It’s With You” and I really liked the soft piano introduction. I really enjoy hearing a singer’s voice, especially ones like Christina Aguilera. She has such a large range, but here she is, in the smallest quantity. It’s so pretty!

I have to say I’ve actually only loved one of her albums straight through and that is “Lotus” so in a way, I knew there would be a 50/50 chance that would actually happen again. Overall, the album is good. There’s not a lot of heavy hitters, but I liked the many different musical changes she went through, but it’s not that bad, I just know how I am whenever I listen to her music, and unfortunately I don’t think that part will ever change about me.

Have you listened to Christina Aguilera’s new album “Liberation” yet? What did you think about it?