Clairo - Charm

From a production angle, Clairo's third studio album is the most diverse and lively arranged project in her catalogue.
From a songwriting perspective, maybe she could've gone a bit further making each track topically focused and filled with personality.

I'm not saying that the lack of engagement from the lyrics is what detracts the album from being a great piece of soft-rock and bedroom pop. I believe for casual fans of her work, a lot of the more simplistic melodies and song structures will go over well commercially compared the detail-oriented and progressiveness of much heavier moments in her catalogue, most notably on 2021's Sling. Charm stylistically is a blend of two sides of Clairo that is meant to continue the growth and maturity of the artists, while also being a breath of fresh air for her long time fans. And from my initial listens of the album, I am mostly in agreement of the two stylistic pairings working with each other, even if one side struggles to maintain more prominence over the other.

The main thing holding me back from loving Charm is that while the result feels like the best outcomes of combining these two styles together, I can't deny that there seems to be a lack of personality coming from the lyrics, to the point where by the end of the project, I could argue that some of the melodies feel recycled in a way that doesn't match up with the ornate production. The first two tracks on this album, however, don't prove that to me at all. In fact, Nomad feels like a continuation of the Sling era but with a more fluid structure that eases us into the rest of the album. It's something that sounds familiar to recent fans of her discography and continues to expand the sound palette that Clairo and her main producer Leon Michaels maintain for the majority of Charm's runtime. Sexy to Someone, on the other hand, might be the most radio friendly track on the project, but sees the airy-ness of Clairo's voice returning over a newer, fresher, and more nostalgic coat of soft-rock that manages to take the familiarity of youthful energy and turn it into something more complex and sophisticated. It's an easily digestible track for anyone wanting to get into her work, but these two tracks more or less feel like a blueprint for how the rest of the album progresses.

Call me part of the minority for this argument, the production carried this thing to the end. It's consistently ornate, engaging, complexly arranged without too much going on at the same time. It's almost like all the instruments were recorded in the same room at once, and if it wasn't recorded that way then consider my mind blown. There are some really nice surprises with the diverse array of instrumentation throughout this thing. The woodwinds popping in and out of tracks on random, the overuse of upright bass, the lush piano embellishments on jazzier cuts like Terrapin or Juna. There are so many things to be on the lookout for because the depth and cautiousness to how each thing is arranged and blends into this freshly nostalgic backdrop is impressive. But at a certain point, I can't help but feel that the ornate production is putting in more work than the core songs. The arrangements are so beautiful that I'm almost taken away from the lyrics, like I don't know which side to focus on.

I believe Clairo's performances throughout this album are constantly pleasant on the ears, but there are some things behind her songwriting talents that I feel she's reserving due to how much the production shines. As a result, I didn't gain that personality growth from Clairo that people are raving about from this new release. Sure the themes of wanting outside acceptance, self gratification, and surviving loneliness are here in spades, but unlike the risks her lyrics took on Sling, there isn't much progression and weightiness that complements everything else that's going on behind. It runs the risk of becoming background music, and while Charm is certainly not in that ballpark, I was starting to get that impression by the time the album comes to a close. If there was more diversity in her performances and lyrics, and a way she could better balance this on top of the best production on any of her albums, I would consider putting this project in my top albums of the year. Regardless of my quips, this is another pleasing and pleasurable release from Clairo and even though it's not as consistent as I wanted it to be, I believe she is coming closer to hitting the sweet spot.

FAVORITES: Nomad, Sexy To Someone, Juna, Terrapin, Add Up My Love

LEAST FAVORITE: Echo

7/10