"children's hospital" is such a good and powerful descriptor of the way this album sounds to me; clinical, empty, eerie but also colorful, imaginative, awkward, playful, dreamy, escapist. i love this mixtape.
32:56 Absolutly agree. That's what makes the lyrics on this album so special. He constantly talks about something but without expressing the main concept in words, leaving it completely to inference. When you really give a meaning to the whole song you empathize more with the track, even without understanding it 100 percent. To me, it's something magical. (I'm sorry if I have grammatical errors, Spanish is my main language)
Bladee's music is only getting better after time, it's a phenomenon proven by the American scientists. I've been listening to him almost daily for 2 years now and it only gets better, never bored of it.
”The inspiration for me was trying to paint and express an inner image or feeling that I have through sound. The album for me is a kind of practice of focus and play in the incorporeal.” This is what bladee said about the mixtape and it kinda put the simplicity and repetitive nature of the lyrics in a different perspective for me, some of them almost feel like mantras. It kinda sounds like an abstract watercolor painting in some form of digital realm. It doesn't really matter if you can’t completely grasp the subject matter, what’s important is the images and feelings it invokes in you. Btw I think you'd also enjoy their latest album Crest, it's a collab tape between Ecco2k and bladee (2022). To me it's a little bit like a more elaborate, energized continuation of EXETER. Would love to see you react to it as well if you get the time (it's 31 min)
How is crest a more eleborate continuation of Exeter, do not compare Exeter to some mundane dream pop album. Save ur breath review gluee, there’s much more to say about that album
Thank you for reacting to this. This was my bestfriends favorite mixtape, and he passed away recently. When this tape released he made a whole essay on it because he believed it was truly the greatest piece of music (and he was a music fanatic).
@@papasquat08 Thank you, and yeah it sucks so a lot. I'm currently 20 so we're about in the same boat. He was a very spiritual person and EXETER complemented that nature of him a lot. We were both recovering addicts but he eventually caved in and it ended tragically. This album helps me out a lot with remembering him.
Exeter is the first full Bladee project i ever listened to, and it instantly made me into a fan just with the sheer strength of its vision and magic. Imaginary is still one of my favorite Bladee songs ever. I just love how his voice sounds like shattered glass/mirror in that song--- it's almost hypnotizing to me. Just a very ethereal and magical project overall. Thank you for reacting to it. If you want a Bladee project with a more refined sound and concrete lyrics, I recommend The Fool a lot !
I really respect your openness and candor when you do these. Your curiosity seems genuine and that's what makes this album so fun. There's so much meaning and interpretation you can derive from all these different layers of sound and beeps and funks and man those lyrics. Engineered to airdrop you into Wonderland and leave you there with no compass or bearings. I love this album so much. Every bladee project holds a place in my heart but this one left me a message that to this day I still haven't fully deciphered and maybe that's the point. Sorry for rambling but I'm high and I look forward to seeing you dive into these, ur like the cool uncle at the family gathering lolll button up shirt and totally in the moment
Yes! I love Exeter! You said you loved the Ecco2k lyrics on Wonderland, he’s a brilliant artist. A reaction to his art would be amazing as well. Logical start is his album “E”.
really good review, enjoyed it a lot, hope you’ll do more bladee albums! it’s interesting you said these songs were mostly about relationships, for me it also sort of invokes feelings related to the idea and discovery of god, the mystery and beauty of life and death. how everything feels new and fresh and surreal when you sort of perceive the presence of "god" or have a spiritual awakening or revelation (every_moment_special). in some way. idk how to explain really. and it sounds so playful and childlike but also strange and robotic and electronic. it's really cool
I think you'd really like his song Noblest Strive, it contains (imo) his best writing and an amazing beat. I'd recommend the whole album of 333 but I'm not sure if you prefer doing full album reactions or single song reactions haha
i loved this album reaction so much, this is one of bladees more abstract, meditative/new age pshychedelic album , a good follow up to this album would be the 333 album, the lyrics go a little bit more indepth.
He also discusses depression and dissociation in his music, more so up until the release of this album - which explores ideas that are kind of juxtaposed with what we had come to expect from Bladee. I think his lyrics aim to provide comfort or guidance for the listener often times (as well as containing other meanings, which gives the listener opportunity to develop their own meaning of the lyric, given the context of their situation). A large portion of fans look up to Bladee as some sort of cult leader, which has become an almost self aware joke, spawning memes about his music curing depression etc. I think lyrics where he refers to himself as 'not special' can be seen as directly addressing this cult leader identity he has garnered. His album 'The Fool' (as well as the recent 'Crest') really highlight and encapsulate Bladee's spiritualism and what a lot of fans take away from his music.
Him saying he's not special is also meant to be encouraging I think; it's almost like he's saying: "look at where I am now, look at where I've come from and what I've been through, there's nothing special about me, I'm the same as you - you can do it too". This message definitely resonates more within the context of his entire discography, as Bladee has gone through periods of time where his music was extremely dark & cold.
the bumps at the end are not sound waves but a graf that shows how many people replayed it in the current moment just want you to know + i loved the reaction its interesting to see someone older avtually liking music like this
Whenever you have time to get to another drain gang project, I highly recommend listening to the entirety of Crest by Bladee and Ecco2k, and produced by Whitearmor. IMO it is peak drain gang with some of Bladee's best performances and godly instrumentals by Whitearmor. Interesting fact, the song '5 star crest' is a tribute to late drain gang member, Vattenrum. If you really enjoyed this project and want to listen to more of this style, next you should listen to more Ecco2k's debut project, 'e', and Bladee's 'The Fool'. I hold these projects very dear to me, so it would be a pleasure to see your first reaction to them (especially Crest and e).
you should try The Fool - captures Bladee's esoteric turn but also more accessible in terms of hooks/music and more "concrete" lyrics. also really high quality production, especially Bladee's vocals.
I love this about them, you often have no clue what they are talking about and if they are at all. Just imagine how they are sitting there joking about how their fans will try to find meaning in it and they just do stuff.
I won't lie the insinuation that the track length was intended to make it easy to share "like on tik tok" is bordering on insulting to bladee's artistic vision, to think he would shape his projects around how easily they can be shared when his music is so clearly made w/ a disregard for mass appeal and money. that being said, I enjoy your videos and enthusiasm for bladee's work. I think if you keep digging you'll find a lot you like. Albums like Icedancer, The Fool, and Crest would all make amazing album reactions with lyrics breakdowns, they are really stimulating pieces in their lyrics/themes/production elements/vocal performances.
Ah, sorry, I don't mean it to be insulting. The length of songs is really interesting to me and the reasons behind so many songs getting shorter and shorter is something that I wonder about. You have a good point about his music not being for mass consumption, though. I'll keep thinking about it, but I would love to hear these artists explain why they choose to make their songs so short.
Cool video! For this one its definitely easier to understand having a listen to earlier bladee songs. For example some lines in RAINBOW STAR are allusion to his older song which goes "Your *blood* tastes so sweet like *sugar*, baby". Also in his earlier and more depressive album Eversince he talks a lot about loneliness and never being able to hold a girl, but in this one he moves towards positive lyricism and expresses his will to hold her closer. Give love a chance!
thank you for this content papa squat, i don't know who you are but im a big fan of drain gang and i love to see how other people feels the drain gang's music, i hope to see a reaction of the albums: "the fool" by bladee, "e" by ecco2k and "crest" by ecco2k and bladee. I'm sure a lot of people will love that reactions. thank you again
btw the bumps on the timeline in between the song indicates where people(viewers) have clicked on the timeline to jump back to that specific timestamp haha, its a new feature on youtube i didnt understand it at first either
please listen to e by ecco2k simply because it is my favourite album from the collective, or if you want more of something like this crest by bladee and ecco2k is super amazing as well
33:17 I think bladee gives by this album the possibility of interpretation for each of us separately, as we feel at the moment and we can identify with it listening to it in the exact moment.
You would love Girls Just Wanna Have FUn by bladee and ecco, it's an amazing first time listen. it's forsure one of my favorite ethereal sounds by them. they released it back in 2020 but put it on their newer album crest. You should react to the album. also i enjoyed the reaction
If you want to hear more rap/hiphop stuff then listen to IceDancer, it will be very cool to hear your reaction to that since you have only listened to bladees pop/slow music
The "graph" you see at the bottom of the video while scrubbing is actually viewership %, aka how many % of the total views have played that portion of the video.
U should do crest as well, alot of the same vibes and just a very pretty album. Also idk if you have done yung lean yet but I think you should listen to poison ivy because it is about the same length of this album and also has a very mysterious except dark vibe instead and beautiful ethereal production. Also if you notice the same guy that produces this also produced "12 stout street" which is really interesting bc the vibes are so different
the kind of sequel to this album is "Crest", it just came out this year, every track is a split between Ecco2k and Bladee, and it's also short (~29 minutes). Would be a cool follow-up!
Listen to working on dying album or, the fool album or go deep into the old stuff. Doorman is a great song or it suxx. Plastic surgery ft ecco2k. Literally every bladee song is a masterpiece lmao
U need to checkout the Bladee & Ecco2K (live) on NTS channel, one of the best live perfomances I've seen and my favourite thing they did. Ecco's set is transcendental
I’d love for you to listen to E by Ecco2k, there’s so many interesting audio choices and is similar to this project in a way I know you’d find it interesting
Lyrics are not the main focal point in bladees albums at least i this one, its more about the vibe often vocals are almost used as instruments if you get what i mean
papa what is your occupation?! lol u seem like a middle/highschool teacher or something in the corporate world...no hate! just interesting to see different walks of life react to DG
I'm a writer, editor, and game designer. I've written for Dungeons & Dragons, Mutants & Masterminds, and other games. I moved to Seattle to work for WizKids and was the HeroClix game designer for years. Now I'm a writer/editor for Xbox Support, but it's a contract position, so I don't actually work for Microsoft.
