PUPPIES FOREVER: ALBUM REVIEW
Fusing Y2K aesthetic and the spirit of early 2000s pop culture nostalgia, the BLACKSTARKIDS continue their 3 album streak of consistent boppery and iconic popular references with Puppies Forever, an album dedicated to chasing love, chasing your dreams, and redefining what it means to be young in America.
Refusing to be defined by a genre, the Kansas City trio consisting of members Tyfaizon, Deiondre, and TheBabeGabe continue their conquest, incorporating their favorite aspects of hip hop, shoegaze rock, and glitter pop.
Despite the dumpster fire that was 2020, last year saw the band’s height of their success so far with a glass-shattering mixtape, their first debut with Dirty Hit Records, and a critically and commercially successful deluxe debut.
BSK continues doing what they do well: making feel-good songs that make you want to jump around your room like no one is watching, and melodramatic sad anthems that make you remember you forgot to feed your Neopet.
With songs that sound like the intro to a Disney original film from 2005, Puppies Forever embraces their nostalgic influences while representing a new generation. Youth plays a powerful role in the albums, coding thematically with songs such as PALS being used as a reminder that youth is constantly fleeting and to always take the time to spend time with your loved ones.
BLACKSTARKIDS are their influences. The album continues showcasing the bands’ love for the early 2000s with some song titles named after popular movies such as Juno and Fight Club and some being more layered in lyrics. There are a lot of homages to CLUELESS AMERICA, including bars thanking N.E.R.D for creating Black skater music and even Ke$ha with an interpolation of the chorus of her song “Tik Tok”.
BSK has never shied away from touching on political statements — two songs from the album conceptualize the rising discontent of social inequality amongst the youth in ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS & REVOLT SYNDROME.
There is a growing social awareness amongst the youth, which can lead to a subversive and saturated watered-down type of activism, with many turning the slogan A.C.A.B into a buzz phrase instead of understanding a long-established context behind it. Seeing the phrase shrunk to Hello Kitty Instagram info cards, the group leans away from this sentiment with more passion towards an end goal. “Let’s build a planet, a world with no police...times are changing, losing patience, so go, keep hope.”
One major issue with the album, however, would be the mixing of some songs. SOMEDAZE is such a cool ending to an album with the potential to be a standout in the group’s discography, but the mixing affects the listening experience. The drums tend to bleed into the fuzzy background sound effects so it creates a more muffled sound. (TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN should’ve been the closer).
Puppies Forever can be interpreted multiple ways; the album sprinkles some clues throughout, giving each listener their own idea of what the name represents.
The album opener, SO SWEET!, includes a sample of a man saying “puppies...pup pup pup puppies” quite literally creating the mental image of a puppy chasing. Following this are lines about wanting the attention of a girl, “close my eyes and dream of us,” and painting a theme of dreaming about success in grade school and now “living with friends” and being closer than ever to those dreams.
The album sprinkles in little lines of context that influence how the listener interprets what the group is chasing. Is it the attention of a lover as hinted in I HATE BEING IN LOVE, or is it this idea of chasing frantically for success?
No matter the interpretation that each listener gets from this album, BLACKSTARKIDS provides the same content that they’ve established their brand on: music that defies labels and sparks passion in being yourself.