By: Kemar Noel
On Feb. 16, MAX dropped his fourth studio album, “Love in Stereo.”
This album has been in the works for some time, containing hits from individual releases in the past few years like “Butterflies” and “It’s You.”
MAX has been in the music industry for well over ten years with his first big musical appearance on the Nickelodeon movie “Rags” released in 2012.
This album, while containing one of my favorite songs from Max, isn’t a step up from his previous album in most ways, and it is arguably inferior. The album lacked any substance and felt a step below typical radio pop. Max’s soundscape isn’t too unique in the pop world, but his vocals carry this album, heavily.
The first song on the album “Stupid in Love” is arguably one of the best songs he has in this album. This song features a K-pop artist from “Le Sserafim,” Huh Yunjin. The chorus of the song is fun and catchy.
“Let’s get married in Vegas / We don’t need a guest list / I don’t wanna think too much / Let’s get matching tattoos/ I don’t wanna think it through / Baby, I’m so stupid in love.”
Much like the other songs Max writes this song is about him and his wife. The song basically shows how “stupid in love” he is for her proposing some ridiculous ideas that people stereotypically have when they are stupidly in love with another person. The blend of vocals and the pop melodies used is also great and was a spectacular start to the album.
The second song “It’s You,” featuring Keshi, was released two years ago and is another amazing track on this album. This song is slower than the first song on the album and changes the tone of the album in a good way with a seamless transition to a slower song with good vocals.
“Like this forever (forever) / White dress or whatever / I keep dreamin’ there’s a somewhere / That we grow old together / In a van or a mansion / Raining but we’re dancing / There’s a billion people out there, I can’t believe the chances.”
Max and Keshi do a great job in this song. Their vocals don’t clash but go together nicely to make this song really pop. This slower-paced song is favorable and suits Max’s vocals well.
The third song on the album is “Say Less” featuring Duckworth, and it has more of a poppy club feel to it. The song starts off upbeat and fun for the most part, but the lyrics aren’t special.
“Say less (say less) / Cause you already got me, baby / Say less (say less) / Talking’s only slowin’ us down / Do you believe in love at first sight / Or should I walk on by again? (Yeah) / ‘Cause I don’t know if I could survive / You took all my oxygen (yeah).”
This song lacks substance and doesn’t highlight anything other than sexual desires held by one person towards another. While this song isn’t the best written, it is far from the worst on the album.
The fifth song on the “Gucci Bag” is arguably the worst song on the album. The lyrics are bland and plain lacking any real depth. The chorus is poorly written and constructed and the overall vibe to the album feels less after listening to it.
“I’m in my Gucci bag (yeah) / Lookin’ so damn fly / Come and kiss me, babe (mwah) / Take me satellite high / Supernova with me (ooh) / We can burn, baby, burn / Tonight, tonight (yeah)”
The lyrics were forgettable and the overall track was lacking compared to the previous ones. The only bright side to this song is that it was one of the shorter songs on this album.
Sadly, the album doesn’t get any better until the second to last song on “Butterflies,” which Max sings with Ali Gatie. The chorus is great and once again showcases not only Max’s vocals, but also his songwriting capabilities.
“I won’t stop getting butterflies, I / Get ‘em every time / I look into your eyes / You won’t stop running through my mind / For the rest of both our lives / You give me butterflies / I keep on getting Butterflies.”
The way Max is able to evoke emotions from his listeners in some of his songs is something he should be praised for, especially with the hand he has in the music indusrty.
Max showcases time and time again, during collaborations or other projects where he helps in production that he is very capable when it comes to the songwriting aspect of things. The problem is that out of all the tracks in the album, there are only three songs that are actually good from start to finish and two out of those three were released more than a year ago.
The album runs 33 minutes with 12 tracks. This album is relatively short, but the majority of Max’s albums run around the same length.
Overall, while I am quite fond of a few songs in the album, the album as a whole was extremely underwhelming to listen to from beginning to end. Some of the best songs on the album were released almost a year prior and have already run their course.
I think if you aren’t familiar with MAX’s music you should definitely give it a try, but if you are, “Stupid in Love” is really the only newer song I can recommend on this album. It pains me to say, but this album is a solid 6/10.