“No bright screens, no place to go.” It sounds like acceptance, a rare plea for emotional connection that doesn’t arrive tucked between brags. This is the G-Eazy who could be a genuinely intriguing artist: contemplative and remorseful, but not morose. Unfortunately, maybe inevitably, the album swings back into claustrophobic pettiness. After nine tracks without any rapping, the final song begins with a classic G-Eazy grunt, followed by the announcement, “Talking about my crazy-ass ex.” It descends into a twitchy, bitter rant about a “selfish” ex-girlfriend, but the character is so common in G-Eazy’s music that the specifics are almost irrelevant. Even in this new, softer soundscape, he paints women as spiteful and conniving. “You turned me into a monster,” he moans on “Back to What You Knew.” “You keep acting like you’re perfect, but the smile that you wear is too fake,” he complains on “In the Middle.” Words like these pierce the album’s gloss, breaking the illusion that, at age 31, G-Eazy has shifted and grown.

Everything’s Strange Here winds up sounding like another caricature of the women he can’t stop condemning: shiny and novel at first, but ultimately corrosive.Ĭatch up every Saturday with 10 of our best-reviewed albums of the week. Search, discover and share your favorite Hotline Miami GIFs.

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