Abel started as a moody, dark, melancholic r&b artist with deep, cutting lyrics. House of Balloons, Trilogy and Kiss Land were all received well months after their debut and were on different level than anything released since imo. With these new 2 singles it seems that he’s leaning more toward an upbeat pop/indie vibe riddled w 808’s than r&b. Don’t get me wrong Heartless and Blinding Lights are fire and will be instant hits, but is old Abel never to be seen again? 🤔

It’s in front of u soon as u press play

his old s*** jus hit different ig

most of the time people are just missing the first time they were exposed to whatever it is they said they miss. for example, i miss crack cocaine

if it is

yikes at that discog

no cause he just dropped the best 2 songs of his career

I think u miss the stage u never felt pressured to listen to a whole project. When that became a thing is when abel’s true self was revealed. Still rock wit him tho.

MDM is proof that Abel still got it in him.

Y’all really just stuck in the past. Let him evolve.

pls don't call him Abel, it's cringe

people been said the same since bbm singles

I swear it's like 5 years hasn't passed since Abel started making pop. Every release it's as if he just dropped kissland and people are surprised

He’s always made pop. The mixtapes are still pop music, even if they’re adventurous and tinged with elements of soul and r&b. Y’all niggas act like he went from making experimental outsider music to the only marginally different from the mixtapes s*** he’s making now (aside from BBTM type s***)

Yes. It really looks like he’s running and/or ran out of ideas.

I think it's less of a does he have it in him and more of a he doesnt want to artistically recreate the same mixtapes/album over and over again.

His production has nearly significantly gotten weaker across the board but that may not necessarily be in him. I think his melody choices have gotten more stale as time goes on but that isnt to say he cant make a nice melody.

I feel like if he went and made a tape with illangelo and doc they'd easily come back with something just as good as trilogy like with MDMA. Mostly to me it comes down to him trying out a different aesthetic for the albums and the aesthetic only holds up for a handful of the songs and everything else seems tacked on.

What a unique thread, never heard any of these thoughts before

I’m sorry but what f***ing newer songs of his have you been listening to that make you think his melodies have gotten “stale”? His production is also still great. MDM is proof that. Y’all just love to hate because he’s not the same depressed pill popping d*** addict he used to be

Future says that in low life not Abel lmao. Only thing I would agree on is his more hip hop sounding songs have the exact flow. His pure singing songs have great melodies

He uses a significantly less amount of vocal layers and that makes many of the new melodies less unique. He also isnt doing anything new hardly when it comes to vocal melodies as a result that's what I mean by stale. Not necessarily him using the same melody.

I think a lot of it is nostalgia and all that but from a production perspective I do feel the newer stuff is not as unique as it could be..

I'm big on heavy 808 and it just seem like the newer kicks/bass are lacking life and extremely filtered, so much that they barely stand out in the background, and it kinda sucks the late night driving vibe out of it for me, personally.
What really made his vocals and overall sound stand out was the juxtaposition of it against the edgy lead/bass synth, less predictable melodies with frequent variations, and those bits of atmospheric effects that loomed in the lows and highs.

Basically I dig the flow and eccentricity of like, just for example, Supreme Cuts "Divine Ecstasy" and it woulda been pretty legit to see that kinda production on some newer stuff. Cause it leaves room for experimental vocals and the artist can get at it from all different angles, you know?

We don't really see that in the music anymore, but that's just production. Or maybe he doesn't vibe with that sound anymore and that's cool, I mean I respect that, cause obviously you gotta be able to flow to your sound and be into whatever you're putting out, even if other people aren't as thrilled.

People have been saying Abel on KTT since 2012 lol

Need the d**** you’re on