This review covers the pop track Halsey – Now or Never.
This track was released in 2017 on the album Hopeless Fountain Kingdom.
The track starts off with some slow strings. This gives the track a relaxing sound. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the track throws in some fast talking slash singing that’s fast enough to be drum n bass levels of BPM.
From there, the track adds a slow drum kit before backing away leaving a bassline, the vocals, and a subtle drum kit.
After this, the track goes into the main chorus. The main chorus features extremely repetitive lyrics that seem to last two whole lines.
Right after this, there is a string element that is barely audible. Suddenly, there is a second cut and the vast talking lyrics come back. At that point, the track then jumps to the main chorus again. After that, the track just cuts off and ends.
My first reaction to this track is to throw my hands up and go, “what is going on with this one?”. The reason for that is that there is a complete lack of any kind of flow. One thing that wrecks the flow of the track is just random near silence that contains no transition to the next fast paced lyrics.
This problem also extends to the beginning because the track did have a pretty decent intro. When the lyrics come in, I almost jump out of my chair because, with a lack of transition, the vocals sound completely out of place. The ending is just as bad as it just sounds like a random cut with nothing really leading the track out.
In a similar vein, the fast paced lyrics combined with the slow melodic sounds makes the track sound bad. Any possible good vibes out of the slow paced synth goes straight out the window. The track is just plain ruined. Even with the slow beat somehow managing to match the pace of the vocals, those vocals just sound, at best, flat.
The lyrics are just not any better. The main chorus just sounds like there is hardly any creative talent behind them with such a repetitive chorus. It manages to get old by the time the first chorus is over.
Going back to the lyrics, there is so much slurring, I thought the singer was asking the listener to drown her or something. That alone is enough to make the track sound awkward.
Generally speaking, this is one of those tracks where I just ask what the producers are even thinking here. The cuts and lack of transitions make virtually no sense. Pairing fast paced lyrics on top of something slow, quiet and melodic on top of it just doesn’t work. The lyrics are repetitive and uninspired and the vocals are slurred. Anything good in this track is simply thrown out the window because of all the bad elements here. A track to avoid.
Score
3/10
Drew Wilson on Twitter: @icecube85 and Google+.
