This month was filled with many new album releases and hits. Hozier and Juice Wrld are two talented artists that came out with unique albums. Coming into the new year, 2019 was predicted to be filled with lots of new releases and these artists are starting the game off right.

Best known for breakthrough single “Take me to Church,” artist and songwriter Andrew Hozier-Bryne (most famously known as Hozier) is bringing his gorgeous and passionate voice with a full length album titled, “Wasteland, Baby!” Released on March 1, Hozier’s goal of the album was to highlight so many stars that make music the way it is today. For example, Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, John Lennon, James Brown, Joni Mitchell, Mavis Staples, Patti Smith, Marvin Gaye and more are mentioned in the first song in the album, titled “Nina Cried Power.” His message is clear: the impact and importance of all of those people cannot be understated. The song is full of power and strength, setting the stage for the entire album.

Other songs including “Almost (Sweet Music)” and “Shrike” climb the top charts list and remind us of the “Take me to Church” singer we’ve missed for five years.  On a different note, for long car rides and Sunday mornings, readers can find “Wasteland, baby!” to be soothing and pleasant to the ear.

Juice Wrld, a Chicago born Interscope Records rapper, singer and songwriter, released his new record “Death Race for Love”on March 5. Last year, his release of “Lucid Dreams,” which would later become a huge hit, allowed him to find himself on the cutting edge of emo rap music. Emo rap is a genre that fuses characteristics of hip hop music, such as beats and rapping, with the lyrical themes and melodramatic vocals commonly found in emo music.

Some of the songs found on his new album sound very similar to his songs on his previous album that became popular. It’s fair to say that he is attempting to give listeners exactly what they’re asking for, based on the popularity of his previous singles. The second song on the new album, “Maze,” sounds as though he imitated Lucid Dreams, switching up the beat and melody to make it sound a little different while maintaining the same formula.

A lot of Juice Wrld’s verses and singing in these new tracks follow a cross between extremely depressing and hilariously corny. When he is able to find the happy median between the two, more often than not, the tracks are found to be extremely catchy. Although they are catchy, the album contains many lines that highlight his insecurities, heartbreak, depression and negative feelings.

This isn’t necessarily a make or break for the album, but it hits hard, especially with 22 tracks adding up to 72 minutes of the same sad lyrics. Not only are most of the tracks redundant, but Juice Wrld runs out of song ideas.  Many will likely have experienced feelings of sadness that he mentions, but ultimately, the suicide references of songs such as “Empty” and casual misogyny in the tauntingly violent “Syphilis” leave an uncomfortable feeling. “Robbery” and “Fast” find themselves to be the most musically appealing and listeners may find themselves catching on to the chorus and beat.