Something I’ve seen recently as a common criticism for albums that were released a long time after the artist’s preceding album is: “this album doesn’t sound like it took x years to make”

Whether it was Mr. Morale, MUSIC, UTOPIA, Don’t Be Dumb, etc. I think Baby Keem and Cole’s albums will probably get the same criticism too.

It just doesn’t make any sense to me because one: what does an album that sounds like it took an extensive period of time to make even sound like?

And two: a lot of these albums either get scrapped and reworked numerous times over the time period or the artist legitimately just doesn’t begin working on them until like a year or two before their release

In the NYT interview, Rocky said the album kept getting leaked so many times that the version we ended up getting he only began working on about a year ago

I just don’t understand why this seems to be a reoccurring criticism for albums with anything longer than a 2 year wait

clearly Frank's been working on the blonde followup for 10 years

depends on the context, artist etc.

Like Cole been working on TFO since at least 2018 that we know of, but he's dropped the off season and might delete later in the meantime. Not to mention ROTD3 which was a huge cultural moment.

the way op answered their own question in the two part

i can see your line of reasoning op but UTOPIA got delayed cuz of astroworld festival so

im lost for words tryna reply rn 🤣🤣🤣

How?

I’d say the reason people think this is because for some reason there’s a perception that leaks are always loosies or never intended for release. Those kind of tracks make up a lot of leaks but what these people don’t understand is if you keep leaking s*** you’re bound to mess around and leak the album.

"this album doesn’t sound like it took x years to make" is just a synonym for "this album wasn't worth the wait"

a lot of times they make multiple albums and stuff can get scrapped or redone.

Yea usually its just people dont like the album and its easy criticism

In terms of Rocky's situation. I hate the" this doesn't sound like it was worth the wait". Like if s*** didn't get leaked we may have gotten a whole different version. Makes me like leak culture less and less never liked it to begin with.

One of the most annoying things people say

@op people have no understanding of artmaking or process and then apply the rules of like a highschool essay to the act of creation

the entitlement that serves as the impetus for leaks is kinda sad honestly

Leaks are on the artist

Can't have the culture unless the source is being sloppy

One thing I’ve always found interesting, sort of related to this, is when songs were created for a previous project and end up on a different one

Like NMPILA originally being made for MBDTF and making its way onto TLOP

Impossible to follow up& he knows it

Kendrick usually starts working on his next album almost immediately. I would expect artists to be in a creative mode and keep churning off the joy and now ease since your pen flowing. whether it’s the next album who knows, but plenty have had quick turnaround times. Travis had DBR ->Rodeo -> Birds in 3 years

Sometimes it’s for the best and a great artistic decision. Other times it’s just plain laziness

i think it's just about intention of the album right? Maybe he felt that song wasn't working on MBDTF's Hyper-Polished maximal pop rap thing, but it was great for TLOP's messy/the chaos of creation look at my sprawling life thing

i think the distinction that needs to be made is between sketching and drafting

When someone's sitting on a piano finding chords is that working on the new album? I don't believe so personally.