Chris

It's... fine. Pretty generic synth pop. Not deserving of being on this list in my opinion.

It was ok

This album has some very impressive, cheerful singles where Christine is able to get across his incredible force of personality. When it settles into more of a groove it becomes pleasant but less exceptional.

Spotify put the English version of the record first for me, I wish it hadn’t because it’s not as good. I can see the ambitious commercial rational of releasing two versions, but I’d rather he selected the version that resonates best with him.

2018 French pop sounds alot like 1980s American pop. But that’s not a bad thing! Still, i can’t give full credit when you’re copying off of a 30 year old paper
3.5

For transparency, I only listened to disc one of this album, as disc two has the same tracklist as disc one, except sung entirely in French.

Rahim Redcar, the artist formerly known as Christine and the Queens, is someone I started hearing singles from this past year. They're a French singer-songwriter who started out playing piano at the age of four before expanding into classical dance and modern jazz, then found their identity in queercoded experimental pop music influenced by the likes of Michael Jackson and Kate Bush.

Make no mistake, this second album of theirs, Chris, is written with the intent of breaking gender norms and expanding one's understanding of sexuality. Whether it's the addressing of masculinity of "Girlfriend", calling out the domestic abusers on "The Walker", the one-sided nature that relationships can fall into on "Doesn't Matter", or the homage to the sex worker on "5 dollars", there's a fair amount of reflection on past trauma as Rahim searches for what truly pleases them in this life without prejudice.

Rahim passionately delivers these lyrics in their breathy lower register, blending French and English. This was done over the liquid production they achieved with co-producer Cole M.G.N., with the supple bass, light keyboard motifs, and drum machine that feel 80s-inspired in the arrangement. I mentioned Michael Jackson earlier as an influence, and it is apparent that Bad and Dangerous are close sonic comparisons. There are a few deviations, such as the spacious "What's-her-face" with the subtle pedal steel in the background, but for the most part, this album is locked into a certain throwback style. It's certainly a good fit for them, yet I can't help but feel there was a desire to take this to the next step, make the sound their own instead of staying indebted to the past. A song like "Feel so good" with the new jack swing rhythm and breaking glass sounding effect blares out what period its influence came from.

I still enjoyed Chris, as it is a good throwback-sounding record from an artist continually exploring and bending gender and societal norms in their music.

My first thought of this album is that it kind of sounds like it would be playing quietly in the background of a semi-upscale hotel lobby check-in and lounge area on a weekday. It's not exactly challenging in any way and it's easy to sort of tune out what the lyrics are saying. And that's a shame because I actually like the lyrics for the most part. I don't really like the sort of 'electronic beats with singing on the top' style of music in general and this one didn't do anything to sway my opinion there.
I feel like the English version and then the French version is too much. I would prefer to just have the French version, it seems more genuine somehow.
This record was kind of just middle of the road - didn't love it, didn't hate it. Probably won't listen again or seek out anything else that he has done. 2.5/5

The Good: Is it an album named after the singer?
The Bad: Who is the singer?
The Ugly: Me still not understanding where we are heading…

If someone would have asked me when this album was published, I would have told them late ‘80s to early ‘90s pop styled RnB. I would have put money down on it.
And, to make matters worse, I would have said that, though it isn’t my cup of tea, it sounds okay.

3 Decades later, this album launches… and to make matters more interesting, it seems that the our entrepid author of the 1001 list deems it more than good enough to be added to his list… why?

What makes this album so important that we need to hear it before we die?
If an artist would come out with a new evergreen style album today, would we need to listen to it?
Sure, if this album would have made some kind of massive change for a generation, it has the right to be on this list… but I had never heard of this damn album…

So, sorry Chris, I guess I won’t be invited to your next birthday party…
1*

Pretty crappy, pre-packaged, cliché-driven, ultra-compressed, dime-a-dozen 2010s pop.

1.0/5.0: Embarrassing

pathetic attempt at making songs people want to hear

It was fun having the album in french as well as english. But ultimately nothing really grabbed me. It was decent music, just nothing I am eager to revisit.

I tortured myself by listening to both the French and English versions of this album, and I honestly couldn't really tell a difference. Every song is exactly the same as the next and all of it is boring as shit.

Really enjoyed the production on this one, reminds me of Chic and Prince in places. The vocals are good, but I found some of the lyrics overly repetitive. For that reason, I preferred the French version, it allows me to focus more on the music. Overall enjoyable, but didn't really stick with me apart from the Girlfriend, Doesn't Matter and Goya Soda.

This wasn't objectionable, but I fail to understand the importance or significance of this album. This was all just basic 80s style New Wave/Pop without anything new or special to me. I'm definitely not listening to both volumes either. The first was kind of a waste of my time. Again, not objectionable or bad, but definitely not significant

Can't rate this 3 stars. It's just not...I dunno...important feeling

If listening to this is gay then I'm the biggest queer on earth 🏳️‍🌈✨️

Is it a good album? Yeah. Right up my alley. Is it an important album? I don't know. I was in my prime when this album came out and I know teegan and Sara were more prominent, as well as quite a few other queer/women/trans acts that seem in my eyes as more popular. At least in America. Not to say that there can be only one non cis male white person on this list, but I'd be surprised if any one of those other bands are on this.. so I think this should be on the list but I hope there's about 4-5 other albums of this era too...

Favourite songs: Feel So Good, Doesn't Matter, Damn (What Must a Woman Do), Goya Soda, Follarse

Least favourite songs: What's-Her-Face

4/5

I didn't have very high expectations when it came to reviewing Chris but i can safely say I'm pleasantly surprised at how solid this album turned out. First things first, this album is really weird and sounds like an 80s new wave album, except it was released 30 years late. However, this album did still manage to sound good and all the synths managed to sound melodic and unique. The album did feel a little long despite what it's 44 minute runtime states but i remained pretty interested for the most part. This is a pretty solid album that just happened to release at the wrong time.
Best Song: The stranger
Worst Song: Feel so good

This is a good modern pop album, just not really my personal taste, but worth a listen

H&M music

Already knew I was going to hate this one based on the 1 song of theirs that I already detest. But this was way too long and repetitive

1 ⭐️

I thought this album wasn't bad - dance alt rock