In an interview with Billboard, FM said that they’ve always had an issue with Identity. As Asian Americans, they said that oftentimes the US think that they belong to Asia, and those who’ve made their home in Asia see them as foreigners. In Identity, Far East Movement set out with the idea of unifying the world across different races and cultures through music. And honestly, I think that there is something for everyone here.

“Fighter” was an interesting way to start the album. This softer pop ballad lets the vocals take center stage, backed up with a nice rhythm and a mix of guitar and blended background vocals. Out of all the songs, it probably has the lightest touch of electric. It’s message of being willing to push through troubled times with the people you love is enough to send chills down your back at the first listen. It’s almost as far as you can get from their base pumping Like a G6. It tells fans of the newer direction they’re taking with this album.

Taking a sharp turn, “Freal Luv” is when you get smacked in the face with electric. This was the first song I heard from the album and the electronic and unique vocals of featured singer Tinashe is what led me to Identity in the first place. As the name already implies, the lyrics are a bit muddy. ‘For real love’ becomes ‘Freal Luv’ and ‘my realla’ probably means ‘my real love’. Also, they threw some korean in there to confuse you. It’s a fun song that gives off a strong Clean Bandit vibe.

“FV-R” keeps with the electric pop trend, as well as the trend of grammatically nonsensical titles. It’s not nearly as dynamic as “Freal Luv” and is a bit more repetitive. In true electronica fashion, it’s vocals are more of an instrument than a vehicle for words with actual meaning. So don’t look too far into this three minute aggressive repetition of ‘foreva’. Not my favorite, but it still carries the nice, organic sound of the rest of the album.

Basically, “Church” is everything you might have liked from “Take Me to Church” and none of what you didn’t. This song has a far less aggressive approach than it’s cousin of simila name and nature. It plays smooth and is easy on the ears. Interestingly, upon the first listen, the run on lyrics makes this song feel much slower than it actually is. If you you focus on the beat, the pacing is far faster than you might have initially thought.The juxtaposition between the easy instrumentals and pacing of

the percussions leaves for a dynamic listen that’ll have you bopping and swaying intermittently.

“Don’t Speak” returns to pop, where the vocals and electric background play a game of give and take. The song begins with a focus on the vocals, but don’t be fooled. The electronica builds up slowly until it breaks out fully in the chorus and takes center stage. The entire song keeps building your anticipation without hitting you in the face too hard with the electric like so many others do. The soft and subtle touch that is a trademark of this album makes this another song that toes the line between relaxing and raving.

“SXWME” is the first tue rap song on this album. Even so, from the very beginning, the roboticized voice lets you know that this is still well within the realm of electronica. The title, which means ‘sex with me’, once again tells you exactly what you should expect. If you look up any rap about sex, that’s pretty much what the lyrics are. Not really my cup of tea, but the heavily autotuned chorus does make it for a more interesting listen.

“Umbrella” is one of two korean songs on the album. And I can already hear you freaking out because ‘if it’s in korean, I won’t understand what they’re saying.’ But like many of the other songs on this album, the vocals are used more like an instrument than anything else. If you can get past the foreign words, you’ll find another really lovely, sweet pop ballad with stunning vocals. The background is comprised by some pretty guitar and a slow slapping rhythm. Much more simple and clean than some of the other songs.

If you are a fan who was missing the heavy hip hop from some of FM’s older songs, then “Double Dip” is the song for you. As the lyrics say, it’s “double down, double lit” and really alot to take at once. Honestly, though, it’s very straightforward, basically all percussion. Even the rap is a precise form of percussion in and of itself. No instrumentals, no vocals. If you’re sensitive to strong language, you really shouldn’t listen to this, or FBG$, or any other form of rap now that I think about it. Regardless, this song is a nice bit of homage to the fans who’ve been there for the long haul.

“FBG$” is the third rap song. The chorus, “F**k B**ches, Get Money” pretty much sums up this song. It has a relatively smooth tone to it, from the instrumentals to the rhythm. The rap pretty low as well, though they contrasts strongly with the slow chorus. The rhythm is pretty tame and is another relatively uncomplicated song.

“Forever Survivor” is an electric soul ballad that plays your emotions like a fiddle. If you’ve been looking for lyrics with meaning, then this is the song for you. This is also the most unique song because of it’s vocalist Macy Gray. Her voice is honestly so different from everything else you’ll hear on this album. It adds a world wise tone to the song and makes the lyrics of perseverance so much more personable. Per the usual, the electronica still creeps in during the refrain to tie the whole album together. Honestly, I thought it was the perfect way to wrap up the album. Only, it wasn’t the last song to play.

Honestly, if I thought that “Forever Survivor” was a gentle farewell, then “Fortress” is a profound conclusion to an epic journey. As the second korean song, and also the last song in the album, it goes back to alot of the same sounds we saw in “Fighter”. This perfectly bookends the entire album into a nice little package. The song on it’s own is uplifting, making you think of strength and community and standing together as one, which was the entire point of this album.

Now, I may not know much about music, but I know what I like. And I love this album. For me, Identity’s sound is really organic and earthy, despite being heavily electronic. It’s the sort of music I put on in the background while painting or writing or going out to do errands. Plus, the album cover is pretty darn dank.

Overall, there wasn’t a single weak link I could see in this album. Sure, there were some that I didn’t like as much as the others, but those will probably grow to be the favorite of someone else with a different taste than me. Each song has a stellar background that pairs well with the vocals. The ballads are moving, the club songs make you want to dance, and while I’m not well versed in rap, my friends who are have assured me that it’s properly ‘lit’. One friend said ‘they take you on a trip’. And really, that’s the best way to describe it.

Plus, the album cover is pretty dope.

Fans will miss:

Since FM has produced alot of singles, fans may be more familiar with one particular sound.

The heavy hip hop vibe from Like a G6 or the smooth pop from Live My Life and Rocketeer both may have given fans a certain expectation for Identity.

Fans will love:

The variety and exploration of this album that will leave everyone with a different favorite.

Must Listens:

“Freal Love”, “Fighter”, “Forever Survivor”, “Fortress”

The post FAR EAST MOVEMENT REVIEW appeared first on SCAD Radio.

For those of you (like myself) who didn’t know much about this movie outside of the controversies (and YouTube spamming you with the trailer before every video you want to watch) here’s the synopsis.

Based on Jojo Moyes’ 2012 book of the same name, Me Before You is about a cynical quadriplegic ex-banker named Will Traynor (Sam Claflin) and his quirky, bubbly caretaker Louisa Clark (Emilia Clarke). Through Louisa’s efforts, Will’s rather bleak outlook on life is slowly changed as Louisa determinedly works to give Will a life worth living. And, as I’m sure you can already guess, these two manage to find a little love along the way. Imagine The Fault in Our Stars had a baby with a K-Drama and this movie is pretty much the result.

And that’s all I can really say without some sort of spoiler. So, if you don’t want to peek behind the curtain just yet, go watch the movie and come back here to hear some insight into the movie.

Now, before getting too deep into this story, let’s address the buzzing controversies.

The first major twist in Me Before You is that, after Louisa has begun to break down Will’s icy walls, she finds out that the young millionaire is planning an assisted suicide after six months. And while a necessary part of the story, the filmmakers knew from the very beginning that there would likely be backlash.

The topic of suicide is very serious and should not be romanticized in any way. It’s an epidemic that plagues our world today and likely most of you know at least one person who has taken their own life. Many of the films this past week, from The Sweet Life to Christine and even Drowning have featured the idea of suicide in some form.

At the Q&A following Me Before You, the director said that they were in no way trying to support assisted suicide, but rather, they were supporting that people ought to have a choice, whether or not that choice is the right one to make. The movie did this by showing the pain of Will living in a world that he no longer considers to be his own while recognizing the pain of his loved ones at his choice.

And while this has been criticized in the film, there has been arguably less controversy over this than the character of Will himself.

From the early stages of the film’s development, Me Before You was receiving criticisms for its paralyzed leading man being cold and cynical due to his disease. They also felt that Will was being portrayed in such a way to imply that the disabled were a burden on their family and are better off dead.

Now, I am not a person who struggles with a major disability and cannot speak for anyone who does. In my experience though, some of the happiest people in the world are those who live with such disabilities. Many of these people don’t like to say that they ‘struggle’ with their disabilities and are constantly proving that they can live life to the fullest despite their body’s condition. And that’s exactly what Louisa was trying to get Will to understand. Time and time again, she brought up opportunities, activities, things to show that he could still enjoy life like everyone else, even if he had to do it a little bit differently.

That being said, I don’t think that it’s fair to say that Will was meant to represent all those dealing with disability. To me, Will’s cynical nature had less to do with his injury and more to do with the fact that he was a bit of a spoiled *sshole.

Sam Claflin, the actor who played Will, spent a lot of time doing research and interacting with quadriplegics to better understand the body that his character lived in. If you watch any interview with Claflin, you’ll see that he’s very expressive with his body. He’s almost always moving his hands or his head in order to articulate and punctuate exactly what he means. Since Will was a quadriplegic paralyzed from the neck down, this meant that he could only use the muscles in his face to portray his character. He even made a personal choice to lose weight to match the low mass of someone unable to utilize their muscles.

My point is, they did their research, and I feel as though Will is a character and an individual who has his own struggle. It’s easy to say that this is a story about someone who is disabled but, honestly, if you say that, you might as well say The Fault in Our Stars is about cancer. These people are not what ails them.

So, if you allow me, I’d like to re tell you what this movie is about.

There is a man. A man who once had everything and now, all the joy he ever had in life is gone. He is unable to fit the memory of the life he once had into the life he has now. Though surrounded by people

who love him dearly, he can’t live for them. He can only live for himself and he is discontent to do so.

This is a real story. Maybe it’s someone who lost their job. Maybe it’s someone being bullied or battling through depression. Maybe they lost someone of their own. Sometimes people hit hard times and they bounce back. Sometimes they don’t. Will is an example of one of those times.

Haven’t you ever wondered about this title? Why a romance movie would have such a self-serving name as Me Before You rather than You Before Me? It’s because Will was thinking of himself, allowing himself to be selfish. He knew that people would be hurt by his actions, heartbroken even. But at the end of the day, he considered himself first. ‘Me first’ he was saying ‘It’s me who has to live in this way. Me who feels helpless and doesn’t want this to be my life. It’s my choice. Before your feelings, comes me.”

Note: Suicidal thoughts affect people more often than you might think. If you or someone you know is considering taking their life, know that you don’t have to deal with this pain alone. The suicide hotline is open 24/7 worldwide and are there to help. These people are there for confidential support for those in distress, especially those who are too afraid to talk with anyone else about it.

The post ME BEFORE YOU: FILM FESTIVAL REVIEW appeared first on SCAD Radio.