Sadeyes, who has been on fire this year with his recent singles ‘Fast Life w/ guccihighwaters’ and ‘I’m not okay w/ Lil Xtra and nothing,nowhere,’ has followed up with his debut album, “monarch” with features from guccihighwaters, nothing,nowhere, Lil Xtra, Days to Waste, and Powfu. I’m going to be honest, I am a recent sadeyes fan as I started listening after I met him at the Burnout show in Los Angeles last August. After that and his release with Days to Waste, ‘PPL ALWAYS MAKE SHT FKN WORSE,’ I’ve had my eyes on sadeyes and his music as I saw him transition from lofi kid to anti-pop/hyperpop artist. Monarch is the epitome of that transition as it features heavyweights from all the genres sadeyes touches and feels like an artistic awakening for the Oregon based artist.
The first two tracks showcase his new stylistic influences, with production from siem spark and perish for ‘scumbag’ and dercept and ghoul for ‘im not okay,’ four producers that dominate the hyperpop/anti-pop genre. After a stunning introduction with heavyweight features, the album slows with the boom-bap inspired track, ‘unexpected’ which follows perfectly from ‘fast life’ and ‘chemicals’ and showcases sadeyes lyricism as the he carries the next few songs on his shoulders. Meandering through hyperpop, emo rap, and lofi we reach the absolute banger of a song, ‘PPL ALWAYS MAKE SHT FKN WORSE’ with Days To Waste which was the first single released for this album, but set the precedent for sadeyes new musical direction.
The last 3rd of the album returns sadeyes to his roots, with calm lofi beats and introspective lyrics(even saying, “same old sadeyes, same old mic” on the track, ‘i got yr message’). The album ends with a stunningly beautiful acoustic ballade produced by splashgvng and featuring the lofi legend himself, Powfu on the fittingly titled song, ‘goodbye’. A track that takes the thematics of the album; a breakup, the love of his leaving, the fear that he[sadeyes] is not enough, and his overall struggle with depression and anxiety, and brings it to the forefront for the whole world to see.
Monarch is out now on all platforms and available everywhere.