By Allegra Papera
Staff Writer
Lil Yachty’s debut album “Teenage Emotions” fails to live up to the hype built around his eccentric persona over the course of the past year.
“Teenage Emotions,” despite its title, fails to display any genuine display of passion through its harshly auto-tuned vocals, bland lyrics and irritatingly choppy beats. However, the album impressively challenges the status quo of the rap community when Yachty endorses his lifestyle abstaining from alcohol and drug use.
Lil Yachty is a 19-year-old rapper from Atlanta who started his career by using social media as an advertising platform. He spent time building up a following on Instagram before he started using his account to promote the releases of his early tracks on SoundCloud.
PHOTOS: Click here to see photos of Lil Yachty throughout his career.
Yachty, since late 2015, has turned himself into a recognizable figure in pop culture with his hit song “Broccoli” and his commercial work such as his collaboration with Carly Rae Jepsen for a Target advertisement as well as his remix of “Minnesota” for Sprite.
Read Spin‘s review of “Teenage Emotions” here.
The first apparent aspect of “Teenage Emotions” is its overpowering use of autotune on Lil Yachty’s vocals. While autotune may be his signature sound, it is not a good one. With such heavily altered vocals, the noise becomes harsh on the ears and washes out the potential for a passionate sound that might reflect the album’s title.
Check out Pitchfork Magazine‘s review of “Teenage Emotions” here.
The vapid lyrics featured on the album fail to impress as they lack both creativity and the innovation that Yachty is credited with. Lyrics like “I done rode around in a brand new Porsche” offer nothing to listeners but an overdone and unnecessary display of arrogance, making the album difficult to enjoy.
Yachty’s beats fail to line up with his vocals, making a choppy sound that has no flow. Combined with his overuse of autotune, such inconsistent beats create a mess of noise that makes “Teenage Emotions” incredibly painful to listen to.
Despite its shortcomings, “Teenage Emotions” uniquely serves as a platform for Yachty to discuss his straight edge lifestyle. The lyrics “I still never took a sip of beer” showcase his willingness to diverge from the status quo, impressing listeners by deviating from rap music’s typical endorsement of drugs and alcohol.
Another positive aspect of the album was its inclusion of popular artists ranging from Migos to Diplo. Yachty’s inclusion of big-name artists from such a wide variety of genres, all the way from rap to electronic dance music, attracts music fans far and wide.
While Yachty shamelessly expresses his clean lifestyle in an impressive manner, the typically dry lyrics, grating sound of autotune, and jumbled beats that make up “Teenage Emotions” are impossible to ignore, making the album a failure.
“Teenage Emotions” was released on May 26 and is available to purchase on iTunes.
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