F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 novel, “The Beautiful & Damned,” explores the corrupt high-class society of 1920s New York, displaying people as shallow, pleasure-seeking, and intoxicated with greed. G-Eazy’s new album, “The Beautiful & Damned,” portrays just that.
In this new album, Gerald Earl Gillum, more commonly known by his stage name, G-Eazy, confesses the downsides that come with fame. He struggles to find the true meaning in luxury.
This album has a darker tone and meaning than his previous album, “When It’s Dark Out,” where he found humor in trying to find a purpose in stardom. This album portrays the darkness that fills him despite his success.
The cover shows G-Eazy as bloodied, bruised, and overall disheveled—a huge contrast from his normal image, which is usually neat and put together.
In this album, rap’s favorite “bad boy” is now being portrayed as the “sad boy.”
The music gives an inside look into G-Eazy’s dark thoughts about being in the midst of all the fame, making the album stand out among most mainstream music with its deeper meaning.
The lead song, “The Beautiful & Damned,” especially digs deep into what fame is truly like. In his words: “Swear I try so hard to be perfect / But sometimes, s**t feels like a burden / ‘Cause I still ain’t s**t but a person.”
This, by far, is the most meaningful song in the album. Listeners can feel and hear his pain and struggle, overall compelling others to empathize with him.
Other songs, such as “Pray for Me” and “Leviathan,” portray the exact same evil flaws in the music industry. In “Pray for Me,” the chorus explains itself: “Talk to the man upstairs, hoping he answers my prayers / Hollywood feel like the jungle, lions and tigers and bears.” However, at this point in the album, his message has already been established multiple times, making the music start to feel repetitive.
Listening through the entire album, it is hard to continue listening to most of the songs due to its recurring message. Each song becomes increasingly monotone and lifeless as he raps about the same struggles in Hollywood.
So, G-Eazy: if you hate the spotlight so much, why are you still involving yourself in it with this new album?
Soon after listening to all the songs, G-Eazy starts to appear selfish and thirsty for sympathy from others as he makes excuses for his drug abuse and countless intimate encounters with women.
If the album was much shorter, the message would be delivered perfectly. Many of the songs could have easily been cut. However, with the format that he chose, the same message is presented in each song, making it become irritating and not taken as seriously as he may have wanted.
I do appreciate his vulnerability in this album and do believe that it gives a great portrayal of the darkness in fame.
However, “The Beautiful & Damned” seemed stretched, and the repetitiveness leaves a lot to be desired in his music. In this album, his talent seems wasted.
[star rating= “4”]
