It's been 23 years since the album Mellow Gold and the humongous hit Loser. Considering the nature of that album and the massive popularity of that single, Beck could have easily been just a one-hit-wonder, an ephemeral platitudinous rookie such as Afroman and Babylon Zoo. This scenario did not develop, although Loser will remain his biggest hit. With his sophomore record Odelay, Beck embodied the wet dream of the emerging hipster, a representative of postmodern music. He introduced mainstream to the concept of musical crossover and it was the first time many have learned what it means to be an eclectic musician. Meanwhile, these hipsters have grown old, and they found it difficult to keep up with what's current, so they stick to what they have appreciated in their youth. Today, Beck is glorified by the music establishment whose albums are regularly receive nominations on ostefied award ceremonies such as Grammys. For younger generation, Beck represents a middle aged nerd who was used by Kanye West for one of his major attention-whore performances on the Grammy Awards in 2015. At the same ceremony, Beck won Album Of The Year for Morning Phase. As you see, Beck has come a long way from an underground artist with lo-fi DIY punk aesthetic.
Why is all of this important for Beck's new record Colors? Although it was recorded with the same key collaborators as Morning Phase,Colors is drastically different. It is Beck's first party album since 2006 Information. The fact that his album is different from its predecessor is not a novelty for Beck as he has been perpetuating the same formula ever since we know of him: explosive punk/hip-hop/country mosaic debut was followed by folk-rock psychedelic Mutations. Then it came Prince-like funk-pop Midnite Vultureafter which he gave us a melancholic breakup album Sea Change.Even though Beck had made energetic party albums before, Colors is his first album designed for charts. There are no twisted solutions and ironic distance. Shocking, right?
Dreams was dropped as the first single, a song opened by guitar riffs in the style of Nile Rodgers and millennial whoop, a vocal trick that has been utilized since ever, but it became omnipresent in mainstream pop over the past couple of years. Knowing Beck, these decisions are not involuntary. Maybe this is a latent ironic comment, yet it is a song created for the masses. Dreams is explosive, sunny piece of dance pop that has competition in the title track. The second single was Wow, hip hop spiced with trap beat, and it shows Beck's interest in music trends.
The whole album is congruent to this concept. One after another, songs generate a radiophonic stream that gets stuck in your head. The biggest standout comes with Dear Life, a piano lead melancholic old-school pop-rock made during the recording of his previous record. The final Fix Me closes in the downtempo manner, and it also includes whoop momentum.
In Beck's long discography, Colors is the easiest to consume. So do not intellectualize, and simply consume it. I am sure Beck has a moral behind this.
