Best of Month: AotY #20: chloe moriondo's "SUCKERPUNCH" via Fueled by Ramen / Elektra

For the second year in a row I have insisted that chloe was getting an AsterTracks episode all her own and I have failed to deliver. For that, I'm sorry. This time was tricky; I had everything lined up to really focus on SUCKERPUNCH and when I first heard the record all the way through I felt a bit disappointed. To me the record in no way lived up to singles "Hell Hounds" and "Fruity." That and moriondo herself didn't have the same kind of output that they did last year. She didn’t churn out a feature every other week but she did put out an EP, a record and did extensive touring. So in a way, she did what this record paints her as doing; focus on herself more.

That leads me to my exact turn around for the album itself. After a couple of listens I started absorbing the message in a big way. The songs stopped blending in to me and I saw what the appeal of this new era was. Chloe is more confident here, she's painting herself as an interesting pop star and she's right. Something in that spoke to me. I realized that skirt plus band shirt plus leggings was a look. I carried myself as the woman I was for the first time ever. When I listen to the album I feel myself being engrossed in that same confidence. How can any record with self worth with that type of infectious energy be bad? So, while it isn't the emotionally shaking Blood Bunny; it is something worthy of praise at year's end in its own right.

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