"Paying critics has just reached a whole new level."

I feel that paying critics is one thing we overlook in the music industry, one thing that isn't always easy to notice or just something we pass off as promotion. But in reality it's a cry, a plea, a beg for people to listen to your album, and this time none other than Self Esteem has showcased how not to pay off critics without others knowing. In fact, I would bet good money she paid off the critics to rate her new album high.

This whole story started when I was flicking through the new albums on AOTY, and one hated album (user score: 38/100) spotted my eye, that being 'A Complicated Woman' by Self Esteem, where SEVEN critics gave this a one hundred and equalled its critic song to 81. I've never seen such a big user and critic clash in my life. This album had more one hundreds than some of the most prized albums of 2024, and in case you're wondering, "How bad can it be?" Listen to the song "69" from the album; that was the second single released, and no, I'm not nitpicking the worst song because this was literally a single. For anyone who can't be bothered to hear the song, just take my word, the user's word and, basically, nearly everyone who wasn't paid off's word for it. Oh no, but this wasn't over, no, no, no. Let's look at the user score for Self Esteem's last album, shall we? Critic score (91/100) – user score (65/100) – and NINE critics gave it a 100; this album has the same amount of hundreds as the critics' number one album of 2024. Self Esteem is a pretty damn ironic artist name, don't you think? At least have some respect for yourself, or maybe just admit that you knew your music was going to get dumped on by everyone. But one I want to show you just really proves how absolutely fake these reviews are:

Laura Dean - God Is In The TV - Score: 100

"With A Complicated Woman, Self Esteem proves once again that nobody else is doing what she’s doing right now – and perhaps nobody ever has."

Yeah… Dude, to rate this album high was already a huge leap, BUT TO SAY NOBODY HAS EVER DONE THIS?! WHAT?! Laura has either just had too many drinks at the pub or is getting paid mountains of cash; nobody is taking a critic seriously after saying that. Once again, hearing "69", don't dare tell me nobody has even attempted anything like that. Damn, Laura, if you're reading this, then it's a reminder to get sober before you write your reviews. 😂

Now, I'm a strong believer in letting people choose their music taste and all, but it could not be any clearer what is happening here. Laura is either becoming more mentally insane than Kanye or self-esteem is paying for her college tuition to ruin her name in one review.

You thought this was all over, didn't you? Nope. Because I've now got to reveal how this contradicts Self Esteem's whole character, she claims to all be about self-worth and pushing this whole feminist movement of mental health of how powerful and self-accepting people could be. Dude, you look at your lyrics of self-love and think you need to pay a few critics to get this noticed; that's not self-acceptance and makes her look more desperate.

Now, I'm not some huge Self Esteem hater; don't get me wrong. But this is INSANE.

Edited May 2May 2 by Mellope

Is it really her or her label/management?

This is all… a lot of emotion and based almost entirely on personal feeling but, yeah, what’s said above is accurate if what you are claiming to happen is actually happening.

I highly doubt Self Esteem is sat there herself counting the pennies for this, it’ll be a label thing. In a similar way to labels paying for high playlisting / awards etc.

Whilst you say you're not a hater of the artist, you basically come across as exactly that because you're straying from using an album to demonstrate what (you are assuming) is happening to just having petty digs at her.

Her last studio album was actually my favourite album of the year it was released, it was brilliant and was correctly reviewed favourably almost everywhere. And actually I'd say it really did make her stand out as a voice that was very different to everything else I was hearing at the time. Her new one is less brilliant in my opinion as I think it lacks the subtlety of her previous one, it's probably a 6/10 for me. But I can see why some critics would rate it, and reviewers have always been a little hyperbolic at times so I don't see that quote you mention as being really much different to something that many other journalists would roll out.

This thesis is based on AOTY and the discrepancy between this singular album's critic score and user score. AOTY is a largely user-based generative site. It's very useful, I like it. However there's a couple of things I would challenge you on. AOTY has a problem where it can occasionally be subject to hate campaigns or brigading, if some notable community members (maybe with a Youtube music review channel), make their opinion on an album known, their acolytes will follow suit and then the user score is out of tune with what it might otherwise be. It's also somewhat selective with which critics to use I think, it just depends on which sites make reviews of an album that it then scrapes the web for.

I have not listened to this album, I don't care to, as I'm not really worried about this unless it's a more widespread problem than one artist. I do not know if it was subject to brigading. I think those critics are potentially being overrepresented on the critic score, their '100' ratings might not be so special depending on critic.

I don't particularly like this album either, but why do you always have to use such hyper-vitriolic language that makes it sound like you have a vendetta?

It makes you come across as deranged.

3 hours ago, Jessie Where said:

I don't particularly like this album either, but why do you always have to use such hyper-vitriolic language that makes it sound like you have a vendetta?

It makes you come across as deranged.

1. My post was to also give a humour edge alongside to the topic

2. You've responded to me atleast three times on this site and it's always insulting me for my opinion, I've dodged you and made it extremely clear that I don't want to have this conversation with you. Its my opinion and I'm aloud to have that, is that alright?

Edited May 2May 2 by Mellope

Tough luck. If you say certain things publically on a forum, then others have the right to comment on it. You can't speak in a derogatory and insulting way and then claim victimhood when you're called out on it.

P.S. I'm clearly not the only one to think this or say so, so think about that perhaps.

7 minutes ago, Jessie Where said:

Tough luck. If you say certain things publically on a forum, then others have the right to comment on it. You can't speak in a derogatory and insulting way and then claim victimhood when you're called out on it.

P.S. I'm clearly not the only one to think this or say so, so think about that perhaps.

I only critique the music (which is what the website is supposed to be about- discussing music.) You go on a whole new level and critique me as a person just for having a music opinion.

My final comment on this thread, seeing as you insist on trying to gaslight and lie - you know full well that what you've just said isn't true, you have been very vitriolic, nasty and personal needlessly many times. You know that and so do others who read it.

8 minutes ago, Jessie Where said:

My final comment on this thread, seeing as you insist on trying to gaslight and lie - you know full well that what you've just said isn't true, you have been very vitriolic, nasty and personal needlessly many times. You know that and so do others who read it.

Have a nice day, Jessie.

Oh, and I'll keep spreading my honest musical opinion whether it matches what you fancy or not. Thank you very much.

As long as you can see the user score it isn’t really an issue. I always pay attention to the user score I don’t trust critics

Interestingly, a lot of the user reviews reference this supposed conspiracy and deliberately rank her low (I’m looking at prioritise pleasure) - so I’m not sure the user score is any more genuine than they are suggesting the critic one is.

this album has got pretty bad reviews

especially from the serious press, Pitchfork gave it a 4.8

a 4.8 on Pitchfork means worst album of the year territory,

even the crappiest albums get a 5 or 6

Also other serious press like The Guardian or The Telegraph or Mojo or the Independent

the only high scores are from outlets I've never ever herd in my life and that sound very low key

the previous album from 2021 I think was genius

but here there is a serious serious drop in quality imho

1 hour ago, dandy* said:

Interestingly, a lot of the user reviews reference this supposed conspiracy and deliberately rank her low (I’m looking at prioritise pleasure) - so I’m not sure the user score is any more genuine than they are suggesting the critic one is.

The users on AOTY range from amateur critics who give pretty serious thought-out reviews to teenagers discovering music for the first time and review-bombing an album with jokes and memes and every type of user in between. Sometimes it's not worth trusting the user score, especially if there's a lot of reviews in comparison to the album's popularity and the reviews are short.

like this one for example:

I'm sure those users are definitely rating the album in proportion to how much they like it as a piece of music. At least the critics are engaging with what's there musically.

And yeah, the user reviews on Prioritise Pleasure are even worse, they're not 0 review-bombing like these but it's reviewing a piece of work that has nothing to do with the hearsay you're referencing.

What a weird take... Taylor's latest has 71 (critics) and 48 (users) on AOTY - I didn't see a similar discourse around that. It's pretty common that the general public sees the issues with albums in more, let's say unhinged way than critics but that doesn't mean labels are paying to the critics.

exactly who cares about AOTY? No one at all, deranged fans a go-go

check Metacritic instead

Metacritic doesn't have the user score any more though, so it's pretty much critic score engine like AOTYs critics score. I find AOTY more entertaining as a site.

9 minutes ago, Bjork said:

exactly who cares about AOTY? No one at all, deranged fans a go-go

check Metacritic instead

That's not what I was aiming to convey. It's a great site, its interface is excellent for music discovery and discussion, there are lots of people who really care about music on there and you can usually find an album's user scores do correspond to how well it's liked in music fan circles, including some interesting discrepancy with critics at times.

It's just open to brigades occasionally.

But why the thread title is about bribing reviewers lol

If it werre so easy, Ed Sheeran wouldnt get a 2 on Pitchfork for every album

Or even worse, his last album wasn’t even reviewed. If there was a chance of bribing at least he’d get the album reviewed