Welcome to my music review series, Consummate Professionalism. This is Volume #5; in it, I’ll be reviewing “Intention” by Watsky. The end of an era for an amazing musical artist, this album is one that I had a lot of fun reviewing. I hope you’ll have a good time reading it!

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Genre: Rap
Subgenre(s): Pop Rap, Rock Rap, Spoken Word
Record Type: Album

Summary

Whew. I have a lot to say about this album. Full disclosure, I have indeed heard of and listened to Watsky long before listening to this, and am quite familiar with some of his other works. Know, though, that I will be just as honest and impartial in my criticism as I would be with any other artist. Part of that means that I’ve reviewed this album as if I’d never heard of him before, and this is the first of his works that I’ve ever listened to. Keep this in mind, for it comes into play later.

“Intention” is one wild ride of an album. It’s the musical equivalent of going on a cross-country road trip with a group of your best friends since childhood. It takes you on a journey of sorts; the raw passion and emotion displayed throughout truly makes you feel like it’s become your friend in a way. Some of the songs just go hard, and you can actually feel Watsky’s passion through the speakers. It’s something that’s hard for me to express to you in words, but rather would be best understood through experiencing it yourself.

This album also contains an array of features and collaborations with other great artists. Most notably, T-pain and Rachel Zegler make bold appearances on two different tracks, an ensemble that’d be outstanding for just about any artist able to make it happen. But what makes it special is that Watsky is able to hold his own with such big names in music on the record. The cynical layperson would be led to believe that Watsky hired on more popular artists for the clout, letting them do all the heavy lifting, but the exact opposite is true. This is Watsky’s album, and he is the one that makes it as great as it is.

Another defining feature is the audio. Watsky and his producers appear to have gone through great lengths to make the songs as high-quality as possible, and it goes above and beyond in some of the ways it does this. I’ve seen chart-topping hits with instrumentals that weren’t nearly as well-polished as these songs have. From the audio panning effects to the eclectic mix of guitar, drums, and saxophone; all of its elements come together in a most remarkable way.

This record is not without its faults though, to put it lightly. The first one, surely to be the most noticeable for most listeners, is Watsky’s vocal skills, or lack thereof. I don’t want to say he’s a bad singer, but his narrow vocal range leaves a lot to be desired at times; he’s a rapper, first and foremost, and that definitely shows. If he was a little bit more careful on how he sings some of those melodies, or perhaps let someone else hop on the track in certain places, then this album would be a lot more appealing.

The second is that the album starts off strong, but then wanes quite a bit in the second half. There’s a reason for this, I think. Remember how I said that I’ve made a note to review this album as it stands, without the context of being a fan of his? That’s especially important here, because he relies way too heavily on fan service to carry the album through its faults. The first nine tracks were released as a standalone album, the second half originally only discovered through a series of puzzles on his website. That shows, because there is a stark contrast between the two. The first half is a great standalone work, worthy of a world of praise, while the second half is mostly fan service and filler. Those songs aren’t bad, per se, but most are quite forgettable, only memorable through callbacks and references that only decade-long fans of his would understand. If I were to only review the first nine songs—which I very nearly did, mind you—it would get top marks. But it’s my artistic duty to review the entire album, so as a whole, this could’ve been much better.

All in all, for all its faults, this is a solid piece of music, definitely worth a good listening to. Though it sort of dips in quality toward the end, the quality of the stronger tracks is enough to make up for it. This isn’t the type of album that you should just throw on in the background. If you can, put on some good headphones, relax, and let the music move you. That’s Watsky’s intention, after all.

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