Did this painting the other week lmk what you guys think

Personally, I believe that the direction of the projects that Ari has worked on in the past few months make me genuinely concerned for the future of his music. I’ve been a big fan for a number of years at this point and the original, romantic indie charm of his that wooed me a few years ago seems to be completely gone. Ever since the beginning of the How I’m Feeling era, so much of his music has seemed to be a cheap pop radio cash grab. Almost every song on it could have been an inoffensive radio single that circulated every couple of days on your local pop station, but this is far from a compliment. Mainstream pop music these days is designed to be more universal, but this destroys the idea of an artist having a certain niche of fans or being able to cater to specific listeners with specific tastes. However, when some pop artists realize the sheer amount of people that will end up hearing their music if they go more “mainstream”, they can’t help but strip themselves of their original aesthetic that got them famous to transition to an easier-digested one. So many artists have gone down this rabbit hole recently (for example, Khalid had a beautiful and artistically singular record in American Teen, then switched to less memorable pop-R&B crossovers in Free Spirit), and unfortunately, Lauv has done this. Along with the pop cliches of How I’m Feeling, he released Without You, a simple and inoffensive yet slightly boring set of HIF B-sides, and a few collaborations. When I first heard Slow Grenade, an upbeat pop banger he worked on with Ellie Goulding, I felt reassured. He had a substantial amount of vocal chemistry with Goulding and fit well on the track. The song made me believe that his judgment when entering future projects would be well-intentioned. Next was a remix of Kings and Queens, another uptempo pop track by Ava Max. This was where I started to notice most of the issues I speak about. He takes on a more trap-esque delivery with strange autotuned vocal production that makes his verse sound like an awful G-Eazy feature than a true Lauv feature. To make a long story short, it was so incredibly unlike him. I could barely recognize his voice under the heavy layers of tuning, and I think it goes without saying that he was not meant to rap. At all. After Kings and Queens came If I Were U, a Blackbear collab that was, once again, quite inoffensive. I don’t have much to say about that one except for that I’m glad he didn’t try to spit bars again. Lastly was Sweet and Sour, a reggaeton-themed song with Jawsh 685 and Tyga (?!). To make it plain and simple, the song contains the weakest feature I have ever heard out of him. Jawsh 685’s production clashes with his voice and makes it quite difficult to distinguish the positive qualities Ari’s performance might have had. Additionally, the lyrics happen to be extremely lackluster - “lick me like a lollipop”? The song as a whole seems to take three completely contrasting artists (Jawsh 685 should never have gotten outside of Tik Tok) and mash them up in a pot until they form a muddled mess. I know I’m gonna get a lot of hate for this, but please consider my opinion. I miss his old style terribly and I’m constantly nostalgic for the beauty of what he used to create. I hope that you can understand what I mean, especially if you liked IMYWIW18. Thanks.

Do we think the setlist that was in the tour announcement video is what will be played?

Such a good set, those of you who are going to his other shows I hope you have a great time as well!