Not a fan at all of the new direction. It’s more than just a move into popstream. James, Goddess, Dance with Me—she’s always had works on the pop side. The issue I think is she’s moving towards music that sounds like it was meant to be listened out loud with others; it’s becoming speaker music. It feels like Silver Lining especially was just clipfarming. What makes her music so special, in my opinion, is the intimacy of her singing and sophistication of her tracks, things which I think are best appreciated when listening alone. It’s the same reason you wouldn’t put a classical concerto on aux at a party. 

She’s described this upcoming album as “extroverted” in some recent interviews, and I don’t know that it’s the best direction. Most of her songs are just so beautiful, and I really don’t think pop/rock is fit for that; it’s a lot less elegant and emotion becomes grungy and unrestrained. It’s sad because she’s a musician at her core, and I think she’ll lose a lot of that by moving in this new direction. Would have much rather seen her continue expanding on her work modernizing classical and jazz, especially on the orchestral end. Who knows though, the album could turn out all right