So Far So Good album review (This is one of the best albums I’ve ever heard)

 

Hello everyone what’s up, Today I bring you guys I special post. This is my first full length album review I’m bringing you guys. I’ve never done an album review here on my blog before, and so I thought why not do one for an album I love so much, so alas I bring y’all my first full length album review of The Chainsmokers new album titled So Far So Good. 

I’ve been a big fan of The Chainsmokers for a while now. I first discovered them back in 2015 when Roses was played on the radio. I didn’t actually know that that particular song was by them though until maybe around 2018, which was when I considered myself to become a really hardcore fan of theirs. Over the years I’ve heard so many great songs from them, and I’ve even seen some of them performed live, such as Paris on SNL back in 2017 and Young and Honest on Good Morning America later that year, but after hearing a lot of the singles off their sophomore album Sick Boy, I was even more impressed than I was with their 2017 debut album, and so I decided to check out the whole album once it dropped in late 2018/early2019, and I was absolutely blown away by it(except for the song titled somebody) it became one of my favorite albums of 2019 and I was constantly streaming it. I remember going to school my junior year in high-school and singing some of the really good songs off it, such as Beach House, Hope and You Owe Me. When I got inspiration from Adrians blog to start reviewing music instead of coming right here to this sight, an interesting thing is that I started using the music feature on my Instagram story, and I started writing out really short reviews of the Hitbound list each month, and I’d put little 15 second snippets of audio in and post it and share my thoughts, so that some of my friends and people I knew from school could watch them and read them, and so they can discover new music. I actually still do it today, even though I have this blog, so if you wanna follow me and check it out it’s treys_music_reviews on Instagram. Anyways so when the end of 2019 came around I created my year end list for the year based off of how much I liked each song. All 3 of the previously mentioned songs from The Chainsmokers made the list that year, but my personal favorite was Hope, which was my #4 song of that year, only being beat by I don’t  belong in this club by Why don’t we/Macklemore, 365 by Zedd/Katy Perry, and my #1 song of 2019 Senorita by Shawn Mendes/Camilla Cabello. Takeaway also made the list that year, and Kills you slowly was very close to making it, but all the other songs I had on the list were just slightly better. It was very close though. 

In early 2020 right after The Chainsmokers announced their way too long hiatus from music via posts on Twitter and Instagram, I actually found out that they were coming here to where I live in Jacksonville Florida in March 2020, they were going to be playing at a really popular golf tournament called The Players Championship. The concert was held at a practice round of the tournament, and was on a Tuesday night during spring break of my senior year of high school, so naturally I got really excited and my whole family got tickets to see the concert(and of course the golfers) for military appreciation day because the concert was held in honor of all members of the military. Long story short I had a great day that day, and I got really hyped, but something happened right before the guys started playing. I won’t go into detail, but let’s just call it a family emergency, so I unfortunately had to leave and be their to support my family. After that whole unlucky experience is when the pandemic shut everything down, and so I moved on with life. I reviewed The Chainsmokers album World War Joy over on my Instagram page to show everyone that I still loved these guys music, and that I really wouldn’t forget them no matter what happens in life. After that life went on(not normally of course though because of the pandemic) and my taste in music stayed the same, I started listening to American Top 40 while I was locked up(because I didn’t have SiriusXM back then) and as The Chainsmokers faded away into a long lost break from music, and as my mind couldn’t stop thinking about the dread I experienced that day, I really started to get more into Regards music, as Ride It was becoming popular at that time, and so were a lot of other house songs. 

Fast forward to October 2021. I created the blog, started my collage classes and life is pretty normal, and I hear about people speculating The Chainsmokers coming back and releasing new music, and over the next 3 months I never lost hope, it was until January 6th 2022 that I learned that they were coming back, and I got very very excited. 3 weeks later the first single off their 4th album was released, and I loved it from the moment I heard it. Fast forward 3 and a half months later that single now has 7 weeks at #1 on my personal chart, a peak of #7 on the Hits 1 weekend countdown, a peak of #14 on the American Top 40 chart, and last but most certainly not least a peak of #57 on The Hot 100. This past Friday they released the full album So Far So Good, and it was off the basis of that one single that this came from. Now since I’ve heard this, and love it, I thought why not celebrate with an album review of this amazing album, so uh without further ado let’s get started I guess. 

One last thing, one really cool thing that The Chainsmokers do for every song is create single cover art for every song they release, even if it’s not a radio single, and I think the cover art for these songs are really sick, so I’ll put the cover art here for y’all to see. 

Track list review 

Track #1 Riptide 

The first 3 songs off the album I’ve already reviewed here before as they were the pre-release singles, but I’ll still go over them and share my thoughts on them after hearing the rest of the album. First off we have Riptide, and this is pretty good. I’ve been charting this now for a few weeks over on my personal chart, and I’ve been enjoying it, but honestly there’s better songs off this album than this. This does sound like a very trendy and summer type song though which is cool. I really like the Hawaiian production here(note yes they did produce part of this in Hawaii) it sounds very tropical and Summer-ish, which I think is what people need at this time of the year. Drew Taggert fits in very nicely here, and he has some pretty good vocals on this song. I especially love it when he Hits those high notes in the intro and outro of this song when he sings.” Where will you go when it’s over, How will you know when it’s over?” He sounds so good there in my opinion. The hook and chorus are pretty catchy, and the drop, while a bit weird sounding actually isn’t that bad. Emily Warren also sings in the background on this song, and while she’s super quiet, she sounds super good. She’s got a great voice to be Taggert’s backup, and I think her voice blends with his voice pretty well, unlike in previous songs such as aside Affects from Sick Boy. The writing here is kinda catchy and has a great hook. It’s about meeting that one special person in life, that you want to be with you forever and the joy in finding them, so overall not bad. It’s most certainly not my favorite song off the album, but it holds up pretty well for a single compared to some of the later songs off the album. 

My rating: 8/10

Track #2: High 

Y’all have already seen this song on my chart, and In all my posts, so this ones gonna be very brief. This one is the lead single off this album that was somewhat big on radio, although it could’ve done a lot better. After hearing the rest of the album, I definitely think there’s a lot better songs than this one, which is surprising considering I was addicted to this for about a month and a half, but this is still a great song and overall an actual good choice for a radio single. This ones a bit overproduced, but it sounds very well mixed, and well made. Fun fact this song was brought from The Kid Laroi and re-worked by them. One interesting about that is that I kinda think Drew sounds similar to Laroi here, just without the Australian accent, and while a lot of people have complained that,” they stole The Kid Larois style of music.” I actually don’t think so because Drew and Laroi have 2 very distinct voices, and I can definitely tell the difference when listening to their music. I do think it would’ve been slightly better with Laroi however because he’d fit in perfectly here. Anyways I think Drew sounds awesome here. I can definitely tell he had fun while singing this, and I think he put a lot of personality into this songs vocals. One thing I love about his voice here, is that he hits those high notes really well, which clearly shows how vocally talented he is. My favorite part about this though is the beat change at the end, it transitions so well from the trap to the dance beat, and then when they mix it together right before the last lines of the song, it sounds amazing. Lyrically, they have confirmed that this song is actually about somebody, we don’t know who, but I think the writing really speaks to me because it’s all about change. Y’all know that I really loved how Stay talked about change, and so naturally I really like this. Overall, I thought this would be the best song off the album, but that’s yet to come. 

My rating: 9/10(Note this is in context of just this album) 

Track #3: iPad 

Out of the 3 singles that were released beforehand, this is my least favorite of the 3. It’s still very good though. They actually performed this one at the IHeartRadio release party for the album last night, and their computer crashed while they were playing it lol. Anyways this is still a great song, just not one of the ones I come back and revisit often, even though it’s had 2 weeks at #1 on my chart. This is very well executed though for an EDM song. The melodies are super catchy and work very well within it, and the buildup is really great. The drop and breakout parts sound good to, but overall there’s a lot better on this album. Drew sounds very good good here though, and I really like the writing about wanting to get back together with his ex, but now he can’t because well their strangers who will never see each other again, since they’ve both moved on with their lives. Drew actually said he wrote this when he was depressed to, so that really brings some context into it for me. It’s well thought out and well written. My only complaint would be the up-pitched vocal in the bridge is a bit annoying, but it’s not too annoying, it’s more just out of place in my mind. Overall this isn’t even slightly as good as the songs you guys haven’t heard yet, but I still think it’s good. 

My rating: 8/10  

Track #4: Maradona 

Alright finally some stuff that you guys may not have heard yet. This ones called Maradona(Mara donna) and I know what most people are thinking right now. They’re probably thinking what the hell is Maradona and why is it the name of this song? Well I didn’t know what the hell it meant either when I first heard this, but apparently Maradona is referring to an Italian soccer player(who’s first name I do not know) who’s last name was Maradona. Apparently he was pretty famous in Italy, but he unfortunately died while The Chainsmokers created this album, and so they decided to dedicate a whole track to him. Now there’s also rumors that this guy lived in Argentina while Drew was apparently studying music over there while he was in collage, so there’s speculation that there might be a connection there to, and that they had possibly met, for right now though that’s a mystery. There were tons of snippets of this song that they put out before the album was released, and it’s been one of my favorites off the album, and overall they did a really unique job on this one. This one while having the name of Maradona dedicated as the title is actually about fantasizing, and imagining about what your life was like if it was fictional. It really is a fun and creative little song, and very unique to. The hook goes,” If my life was fiction.” And those lyrics really started to get me hooked on first listen. The whole song is catchy though. The production takes the listener on a fun journey to, as there are 2 beat switches, and many different type of beats used overall. The beginning is a drum line, the second chorus is trap, and the end is just really bassy style production. I really like the drum line used in the beginning of the song, it’s instantly great sounding and it hooked me right from the start. The trap mix sounds great to, and the end with the bass is cool, although a bit loud and generic, but it’s fine. One cool thing is that in the drops of this song they enlisted some rapper named Farman scoop to do vocals, before manipulating it slightly with effects to create the drops sound, and it works perfectly for me because well if you already know I like deep sounding down pitched vocals, although these ones aren’t too down pitched, so it’s a bit more normal sounding, which is nice to hear in a dance song for once. I think Drew sounds great. He does sound like he has some autotune or effect on his voice in the bridge when he sings,” No ones home so I play God.” I don’t think it really makes sound too bad though overall. The ending of the song is the best part though because that’s where he sounds the best, and where the lyrics get really interesting and catchy. Overall this is one of my favorites off the album, and definitely better than the 3 singles. 

My rating: 9/10  

Track #5: Solo Mission 

Alright next we have Solo Mission. I didn’t really think this one was that good when I first listened to it, but after taking a few more listens, and actually analyzing everything a bit more, I can now say that this is kinda Vibey, and I really like it. The production in this one is very cool, and it fits the song really well. There’s some really weird mixed vocals in the intro, and they sound very weird, but when Drew starts singing they go away relatively quickly, or they just kinda fade into the mix, and that’s only for maybe 20 or so seconds into the song, so I don’t really have a problem with that. The rest of the production sounds very well mixed though, and I love the use they took with the claps in the beat here. The clapping makes for a very well mixed production and they enhance this a lot. Drew sounds awesome here, especially in the chorus, although he his vocals do kinda fade out and are quiet in the first few lines of it, he sounds fantastic throughout  the rest of it though, the drop sounds fantastic, and I really like think it makes the song flow a bit more smoothly than some of they’re other songs. The writing here is super cool to. From what I get from it, this is about a ex of Drew’s who’s on a mission to find a new lover, however he feels bad, and is still somewhat in love with her, and he hopes that she never forgets about him, and that she comes back to him soon. I really like that, and I really like the approach they took in this one saying,” Yeah she’s on a solo mission.” And writing very similarly as if this ex was on a mission to find someone. It’s all a very unique perspective on the story overall, and also just love in general. The coolest thing about this though is that it’s a bit over 4 minutes long, and with that they really let the instrumental play out at the end after Drew ends his singing early, and man it’s a great outro. One more thing about this is that they also mixed orchestral instruments in with the mix here, and in the end they’re really present, because all it is, is a violin(I think) being played and mixed a bit with some vocals, until this bass really just kicks in and takes over, and mixed altogether, they sound really good. Overall, this wasn’t really one of my favorites at first, but it’s steadily growing on me now. Fantastic song. 

My rating: 9/10 

Track #6: Something Different 

Wanna hear something a bit different than your average Chainsmokers song? If you do, then I really recommend this one, because well as the title suggests it’s something different for them, lol. This is a cool little trap-dance song, and really one of my favorite songs off this album. The opening is pretty much Synths, and then during the rest of the song it’s a trap beat mixed with some really cool synths not used in the beginning, and then in the end it fizzled out back to the intro, right before the next song comes on. The trap sounds amazing in this, and this is way better sounding and less over-produced than in High. Like I said I really like how it dies out at the end to, and just goes back to the instrumental used in the intro. Drew sounds really great with this type of trap, and I think he crushes his performance here in my opinion. The writing is also just so great. This ones about a person who Drew sees has something different in them, that makes him feel great, and the lyrics really tell me that. Lines such as,” Need your voice on repeat all that good energy, all of the aura you bring.” Really enhance this, and personally they make me think about my friends, specifically because they all have something different in their personalities that makes them unique individuals, so this is that one song that I think I’d play for them specifically because they are something different from one another and they’re also different from myself. For those reasons, this just makes me really connect to this song as a whole, and I really think that this one should’ve been serviced to pop radio because I think the vibe is actually on point here with a trap-pop vibe that radio sometimes looks for, but that’s okay because what could be a better radio song than this? 

My rating: 9/10 

Track #7 I Love U 

This one seems to be the most popular song off the album(at least in this community) and I think it’s definitely got radio appeal to it. Will it stick on radio(including Hits 1) for long, we’ll just have to wait and see, but if it’s a particular song I want to smash right now, it’s this. This one has to be the best solo Chainsmokers song I’ve heard in a few years. They’re usually way better when they collab with other artists, but this album has definitely shown me that they can make some pretty good stuff on their own, and this is really amazing right here. First off I gotta bring up the coolest thing in this. In the beginning and in the bridge before Drew starts singing you can hear these few lines of up pitched vocals. Now a lot of people call these non-sense, and even I would, but there’s something special about the ones used in this song. Apparently the vocals in both the beginning and the bridge are sampled from a Japanese anime video game character named Anaye Sakura. I can’t tell what In the fuck it says because of the fact that it’s up pitched and because I don’t actually know any Japanese, but from what I heard in TCS Discord the sample translates to English as,” Good leader.’ And they were put there as a sign of encouragement. I will say that while it’s very weird to have the sample here, it makes the song unique and it’s a bit catchy that I think it enhances it. Now onto the actual song. It’s a really close race, but I think this one is the best off the album, but only slightly because it’s got better production and it’s slightly catchier than my other pick. They did a fantastic job producing this one. The drums sound amazing, and they fit in with the very catchy lyrics here. The drop is amazing. Once again it has orchestral instruments mixed in like in Solo Mission, and they sound even better with the drums used here. That melody in the drop is also so catchy and sounds great. Overall the production just sounds fantastic and fits together perfectly here. Drew fits in great, and he sounds amazing. I gonna give this the honor of best vocal performance I’ve heard from him on any solo song from them. He has a really strong Ana amazing voice here, and I think he makes it personal by sounding a bit emotional in the chorus, cuz that’s where he shines particularly well here. Writing wise this is pretty good to, it’s about the complications a romantic partner has with their current lover because they are in a long distance relationship, and the ex wants to be back with them. Now In an interesting thing that I recently heard, they actually did wrote this song about someone, so right now I’m thinking that the story in this song is true, and I’m trying to imagine who would he be singing and writing this song about? For now I don’t know, but I do know that I love this song. Great choice for the album, and definitely I think this needs to smash on radio. 

My rating: 10/10 

Track #8: If You're Serious 

The first time I heard this song I immediately thought of another song I love right now, Skyline by Khalid. The two songs have completely different singers and go for completely different vibes, but the reason this one reminds me of Skyline is because the production sounds similar(except for this is EDM, so it has a drop) the production here is pretty basic, it’s a repetitive and generic sounding drum beat mixed with Synths. About halfway through though it gets interesting and we get a drop, and a really bassey and good sounding one. The writing here is about falling in love with someone, and whether or not a person is serious about being in a romantic relationship, and they took a really creative approach to it with lyrics such as,” If your serious, then I’ll give you the illusion of feeling love.” The illusion of feeling love, alright I gotta say that’s really creative, cuz I’ve never thought of love as an illusion. Collect writing I’ve seen a while about love, I’ll put it at that. Drew sounds great here again, and he fits in. Overall, I think if it’s another single they need to send to radio it needs to be this one, although that probably won’t happen. Great song. 

My rating: 9/10 

Track #9: Channel 1 

If you wanna blast the shit out of the bass in your car to a brand new song, this is the one to do it to. This one once again goes for that Hawaiian vibe, although this time it’s a bit darker, and way bassisr in the drop. The bass is insane here not gonna lie. The production is well mixed here, and the drop is insane. It adds so much bass to the song overall, and while a bit weird sounding I’ll take it. Drew sounds good here for the most part, although he has some really bad affects on his voice when he shouts the word,” High.” In the chorus. Other than that he sounds pretty good though. The writing here is interesting, it’s kinda the same thing as in I Love U, where someone wants to get back with they’re ex, but this time it’s the ex or friend who wants in, and they want to uh well get intimate with them. That’s pretty much what I get. Drew also sings here about how sometimes he feels low with his romances, but he’s wants to go high with them. I think it’s interesting, it’s most certainly not the best on the album though. 

My rating: 8/10 

Track #10: Testing 

This is a vibe for just about anything, Working out, playing games, relaxing etc. This ones gonna be debuting my chart soon, and for good reasons. It slaps. This is another one that I thought was a bit weird on first listen, but after multiple listens to this, I just can’t help but love it. The drop here is insane, and super long. It has a bunch of vocal chops in it, but they’re not too annoying. The other parts are a trap in the verse, and once the drop hits, and it sounds a bit quiet and more chill than trap should be, but that’s what makes it so good. Trap doesn’t always have to be loud, and I realize that after listening to this.the last minute or so transitions into a really basic, but bright sounding drum beat though, and it sounds great. At the end Drew sings some interesting lines to that they apparently got permission to take from the classic movie Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory. He sings the famous quote,” Come with me and you’ll see a world of pure imagination, you’ll be free from what they see, and all your limitations.” He sounds great when he sings this, and he sounds great throughout the rest to, but because of that quite, I really asked myself why didn’t they put this song as the album opener? Cuz I think it would’ve fit as a great start for the album with those lyrics, and then it would’ve been cool to flow right into Maradona. That’s just my opinion though. The writing here is great to besides the Willy Wonka quote, it’s about how Drew was depressed and used to get too high, and maybe hit addicted to some things he shouldn’t have, and maybe it caused him to do some really bad things that caused him some consequences. I’m not sure why the ending is there, but I think it enhances it a lot. Defiantly one of my favorites from this album, and a great summer vibe. 

My rating: 10/10 

Track #11: In too Deep 

Ok uh, this one caught me off guard a lot. This is pretty different from anything I’ve ever heard from The Chainsmokers. It’s pretty much an acoustic ballad with a small drop at the very end. I gotta say, while this is my least favorite song on the album, it is quite a sweet song though. The guitar strum sounds quite lovely here, and Drew sounds very good with it. Emily also backs him up here, and she sounds amazing on the backing vocals. The writing is good to, it’s about how a person gets caught up in their feelings when someone’s not around, and their in way too deep, and the only way out is said person making them feel better. I gotta say, quite a bold move. The drop at the end, while a bit weird sounding and has tons of vocal chops, sounds great, and adds something to it, otherwise this would be kinda boring to listen to. Like I said not my favorite song, but ok. 

My rating: 7/10 

Track #12: I Hope you Change your Mind 

This ones really grown on me throughout the past week. It’s got a more romantic vibe to it in the production than some of the other songs, it has a slower BPM, and the drums used here sound great, and they fit in with the vibe really well. The buildup to the drop is great, and the drop itself sounds amazing. Drew sounds great here, and I really like these lyrics they wrote about someone who’s afraid to fall in love with another person, so as a result the other person hopes that they change their mind, and that they can fall in love. The lyrics are so catchy, especially in the drop where Drew sings.” It’s in your head, your head, your head.” He does this repeatedly, and it’s such a catchy line. The mixing in the drop sounds amazing to, it’s basically the drum line mixed with some other sounds that I can’t exactly identify, but whatever it is they sound great, and well mixed together. Overall a bit basic and romantic, but very good. 

My rating: 9/10 

And now folks for the grand finale. 

Track #13: Cyanide 

Where to go, where to go with this one. Holy shit, if it wasn’t for I Love U being so catchy, this would’ve ended up as my favorite song on the album, but it gets a very close #2. I know what some people are probably thinking as they’re reading this, this songs gonna suck simply because it has a toxic substance for a name, but it doesn’t. It’s actually written about a toxic person, either an ex or a friend who’s moved away, and wants to see their old friend to get even with them and make them jealous. Quite toxic, and that’s why this song is called Cyanide. The chorus goes.” You kiss me on some cyanide, it kills me you’ll feel different when we’re eye to eye, listen I don’t wanna be your alibi.” And I think it really fits in with the rest of the writing. It just falls into place perfectly with the verses, and it’s a catchy hook. Fun fact If love the drums they used in I Love U, they’re used in this song also(from the second verse until the closing) and they sound so good. The outro is an interesting one to. It’s pretty much around a minute and 20 seconds long, and it consists of some high pitched vocal chops, and then it transitions into kinda a loud and obnoxious sounding bass, before coming to the final seconds of the son(and album) with a little tropical sounding beat, and an up-pitched vocal saying.” still do you feel, do you feel? Fell, Real good, real Bad?.” And then it fades out, and I was honestly so shocked by it. Most people would call it annoying, but I call that a masterpiece of an outro, and it makes for an appropriate little downbeat closing to the album. Vocally Drew sounds amazing here throughout the song, and he closes up this album with a very well done vocal performance. 

My rating:  10/10 

Album ranked 

Awful 

None 

Decent 

None 

Good/Solid 

#13 In Too Deep 

#12 Channel 1 

#11 iPad 

#10 Rptide 

Great 

#9 High 

#8 If your serious 

#7 Solo Mission 

#6 I hope you change your mind 

#5 Something Different 

#4 Maradona 

Amazing 

#3 Testing 

#2 Cyanide 

My pick for best song off the album 

#1 I Love U 

Total Score: 109/130(83%)(B-)

Considering the fact that I don’t listen to a lot of albums In full length, this is actually the highest score I’ve given an album. I really liked their other 3 albums, but nothing really beat this one. Overall, I love listening to this, and I hope you guys maybe take a listen, even if your not a huge fan of The Chainsmokers like I am, and if not, well I hope you enjoyed the review at least.

If you guys have heard some of these songs, or the album in full, let me know what you favorites are down below. 

Alright y’all that is gonna do it for this one. Thank y’all so much for reading and I’ll see y’all in the next one.