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Mark Ronson's "Late Night Feelings" Is Soulless Pop

Despite its technical perfection, Ronson's album feels soulless in parts.

Mark Ronson called his new album a collection of "sad bangers," and as promised, Late Night Feelings is full of upbeat tracks about heartbreak.

It features an impressive array of musicians, but even the undeniable talent of each singer and Ronson's proven skill—he's fresh from the success of "Uptown Funk" and "Shallow"—can't save the album from its own soullessness.

Late Night Feelings is plagued by issues that taint many producers' similar albums: It feels like each singer popped into the studio, learned the song, recorded it, and left. In this way, it sacrifices each artist's originality in its effort to package them into Ronson's vision. There isn't the cathartic blood-letting that comes from a cohesive album by a single artist or group. Ronson's album is technically perfect, but often, it's not alive.

One of the greatest missed opportunities comes on the three-song set by YEBBA, the extraordinary Arkansas gospel singer who rose to fame after her mind-blowing Sofar Sounds performance. Like Sia on the unfortunate L.S.D. album from a few months ago, YEBBA's raw vocal talent and singular emotiveness can't shine through her producer's zealousness; instead, she's held back by a straitjacket of beats and unnatural vocal lines. Overall, though a great deal of today's best music involves unexpected convergences of very different genres, Ronson's funk infusions don't always mesh with the styles of his featured artists. It's hard to know where some of these songs are supposed to be played—outside of department store aisles.

In particular, these issues plague "Late Night Feelings" by Lykki Li and "Find U Again" by Camila Cabello. "Nothing Breaks Like a Heart" by Miley Cyrus and "True Blue" by Angel Olsen are stronger, though they still feel overly processed and a bit insubstantial. None of the tracks on the album are without redeeming qualities: The mesh of orchestral elements and glossy, noirish synths are often elegant and refined. Perhaps it's simply the knowledge that Ronson could have done so much better that makes some of these songs feel stale.

The album finds its footing as it goes on. "Why Hide" featuring Diana Gordon takes a piano motif that's oddly evocative of "Somebody To Lean On" and actually gives Gordon's ethereal vocals their due. Gordon's voice is better suited to the track than some of the other singers', or maybe the track is better suited to her style. Either way, the sultry and cohesive tune allows her emotion to shine through and leaves enough space for its lyrics to simmer and resonate.

"2 AM" by Lykki Li is the best track on the album. Melodic, dreamy, and radiant, listening to the song feels like floating under the surface of a swimming pool for a moment, completely escaping the reality of the world above. Its sultry beat, wrenching lyrics, and comfortingly familiar chord progression make it feel like a classic, perfect for late night smokes or long drives spent watching the sky turn from orange to purple to black.

Mark Ronson - 2 AM (Audio) ft. Lykke Liwww.youtube.com

The final track, "Spinning," processes Ilsey's vocals a la Imogen Heap in "Hide and Seek" and places them over a windy synthesizer and a magnetic rhythm. It's beautiful enough to stop the world for a moment. If only all the songs had room to breathe emotion into Late Night Feelings and what it could have been.

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Fresh Music Friday: A Week of Pop Gems in Psychedelic Colors

New singles from Kim Petras, Sleater-Kinney, Mark Ronson, and Camila Cabello. Plus new videos from Charli XCX & Diplo and Rosalia.

We didn't deserve all the new music we got this week.

The last seven days were full of gems from this generation's pop royalty: Kim Petras put out her sixth single in a matter of weeks; Rosalía continued to one-up her music video game; Mark Ronson teamed up with Camila Cabello on a song written by Tame Impala; and Charli XCX met up with Diplo to ride psychedelic dolphins into the cosmos on their reimagined version of a Spice Girls track.

As if that wasn't enough, Sleater-Kinney joined forces with St. Vincent to release their first new music in four years. Plus, Palehound shared the new title track from their upcoming album, Black Friday. Nots and Deb Never put out surreal new visuals for their respective songs, "Persona" and "Ugly." And finally, emerging artists like Miss June and EVRWNDR released promising new tracks. Are you out of breath yet?

Fresh Music Friday is here to give you a breakdown of new singles, EPs, and albums to check out as you make your way into the weekend. Get ready to jam out with some of our favorite up-and-coming artists, plus celebrate new releases from those you already know and love.

Singles

1. Mark Ronson — "Find U Again" (feat. Camila Cabello)

Mark Ronson teamed up with Camila Cabello on a new crying-in-the-club-meets-a-vocoder-type single called "Find U Again," built around a melody written by Tame Impala's Kevin Parker.

2. Sleater-Kinney — "Hurry on Home"

Sleater-Kinney just released their first single in four years, and it's a sonic embodiment of "chaotic good." For some background, S-K recently joined forces with St. Vincent's Annie Clark, who is going to produce the band's forthcoming record (out sometime next year). "Hurry on Home" is the first glimpse of the new album, and it's about as big, brash, urgent, and wholly awesome as what you'd expect from a St. Vincent and Sleater-Kinney crossover. Oh, and the lyric video for "Hurry on Home" is directed by Miranda July, because: of course.

3. Kim Petras — "Do Me"

Kim Petras cannot and will not stop. The reigning pop queen maintains her sparkly status with her SIXTH single in a matter of weeks. "Do Me" is a racy, energetic track that maintains all the poppy glitter and gloss showcased in the bevy of singles she's put out recently: "All I Do Is Cry," "Sweet Spot," "Blow It All," "Got My Number," and "Broken." I'm sweating.

4. Palehound — "Black Friday"

Palehound writes songs that will wreck you, very softly. This week, Ellen Kempner's Boston-based band shared the title track from their upcoming record, Black Friday (due out next week on Polyvinyl). Following the release of the western-tinged single "Killer," Kempner explored a touching story of partnership on "Aaron" and confronted struggles around body image on "Worthy." This fourth single, "Black Friday," is mellow and sincere, but tempered by the tension felt from an unbalanced friendship.

5. Miss June — "Best Girl"

Auckland's punk four-piece, Miss June, have just signed to NYC imprint FrenchKiss records, and they're bringing much of their signature unbridled energy on their raucous new single "Best Girl." On "Best Girl," Miss June channels their post punk/noise-punk roots by pairing a weighty baseline with fast, jagged guitar riffs that erupt into a catchy-as-hell chorus.

6. Kid Bloom —"EVRWNDR"

LA's Kid Bloom makes us long for the glory days of chill wave on his latest psych-tinged single. On "EVRWNDR," Lennon Koser's rich vocals swirl into mellow synths while layers of psych-y instrumentation ripple outwards. Towards the end of the song there's a spacey guitar breakdown. "EVRWNDR" finds Kid Bloom tapping into their lushest, dreamiest potential, to create a track that practically brims over the surface with prismatic color and sound.

EVRWNDR

Videos

7. Rosalía — "Aute Cuture"

In a stunning display of intricate nail art, hand claps, and Tarantino-approved imagery, Rosalia intoxicates us again in her latest video for new song "Aute Cuture." Rosalia continues to reshape the pop landscape and the standards for music videos with each and every staggering visual she drops, somehow one-upping herself every time. In typical Rosalia fashion, the video for the brassy, headrush of a song features the 25-year-old sensation sporting a series of jaw-dropping outfits that should all be featured in the Met one day.

8. Herve Pagez, Diplo, Charli XCX — "Spicy"

Watch out Kacey Musgraves, there's a new hallucinogenic animated dolphin in the cosmos. Diplo, Charli XCX, and French producer Herve Pagez teamed up to reimagine the Spice Girls' hit "Wannabe" into a psychedelic trip in the video for their new song "Spicy." Literally no one asked for this, but upon watching, it's clear that we all needed to see Charli XCX and Diplo ride dolphins into the space-time continuum.

9. Nots - "Persona"

Memphis powerhouse Nots unveils how easily the fabric of our social perception is frayed through the visuals of their spacey, punky song "Person." Much like the song itself, the video for "Person" (a collaboration with Memphis-based arts collective WWW) has a hallucinatory effect–layering faraway vocals over nervy bass-lines and distorted, post-punk textures.

10. Deb Never - "Ugly"

Deb Never's "Ugly" may be a melancholic look into the end of a relationship, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from the look of her goofy music video. In "Ugly," the L.A.-based artist sports a fuzzy dog onesie as she wistfully sings "You don't want me, I don't want you / You don't want me, but I need you." Along the way, she encounters a whole motley crew of skaters and weird neighbors clad in splashy yellow bathrobes. The video features her group of friends dressed in the same furry attire, including her pal Matt Champion of Brockhampton.

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