I've been listening to Kendrick Lamar's album DAMN over the past few days so I can write about it for a blog post I"m writing and I still cannot quite elucidate why it is the Kendrick album I like the least.
Something about it just feels /off/ to me. Tonally.
what even are the themes of DAMN? that is the question I have right now.
@packetcat some hints:
• the album can be played forwards or backwards (in terms of track order) to visit two different directions that kendrick’s life could have gone
• the tracks alternate, with odd tracks (standard ordering) representing vices and even tracks representing virtues. this is a continuation of the themes of battling temptation (Luci) found in TPAB; kendrick is grappling with both sides of his nature as he attempts to chart a course for his life
• after TPAB, which was about looking outward, metamorphosizing, and returning home, DAMN. is looking inward, questioning how much control he really had over that process, and wondering how much change really occurred
@Lady oh this is very helpful thank you!
@packetcat if you haven't yet listened to the collector's edition (which is exactly the same but with the reverse ordering) you should
@packetcat i'm not sure it entirely works; i think kendrick maybe went a little too experimental with DAMN and it doesn't entirely line up, but the opening track definitely hits different when you hear it as the closer
@Lady yeah I actually haven't listened to the collectors edition yet, gonna sit down with it this weekend when I have some time