Caroline Rose
Superstar
Release Date: Mar 6, 2020
Genre(s): Pop/Rock
Record label: New West
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Album Review: Superstar by Caroline Rose
Excellent, Based on 6 Critics
Based on rating 9/10
Centred on the underdog story of a character who abandons their whole life in pursuit of fame after receiving a mistaken phone call from the Chateau Marmont - only to end up bitterly disappointed - Rose's follow-up to her hugely acclaimed debut album LONER, Superstar is a part-scripted and part-autobiographical collection full of wit and bops. Opening with the upbeat, dreamy notes of "Nothing Impossible', setting up the albums starry premise of a hope turned bitter before following up this narrative of dreams on the fierce "Got To Go My Own Way", a defiant and ambitious electro-tinged track. The tone shifts when the dramatic "Do You Think We'll Last Forever" takes over sowing the first seeds of self-doubt.
Based on rating 9/10
Caroline Rose's Superstar is a sketch show starring insecurity, unasked questions and the ego we could crash into a storefront and still deny it's ours. "I like to dress up all my fears / Doll 'em up, paint them red … Don't we all like to pretend?" It's a world that 2018's Loner gestured toward, one where desire and anxiety are embodied as characters — who also get to have a little fun. The album's narrative begins when an unnamed hero takes a wrong number as an omen, and sets out, synths strutting, in search of dreams too big for a carry-on.
Based on rating 8/10
In 2020, Caroline Rose is shooting for superstardom. Rose started in the field of earnest Americana but cultivated a swaggering indie pop sound on 2018's LONER. Here, she truly pulls out all the stops for a massive, glitter-filled pop record. The artist who said, "Pop music is so shallow," years ago has fully embraced an ambitious pop turn on Superstar, while holding onto her own distinct aesthetic.
Based on rating 4/5
It now seems like another life: the moonlit alternative Americana of Caroline Rose's promising 2014 debut, I Will Not Be Afraid. Her plunge into pop with 2018's Loner only goes deeper with Superstar, where synthesizer melodies gleam over basslines that wouldn't feel out of place on a Michael Jackson album, and deluxe hooks hit all the right neurons in your brain. Then there are the lyrics ...
Based on rating 3.7/5
Stardom awaits. In the nicest possible way, Superstar is a Tame Impala record with an acute theme surrounding it. That's not to deter Rose from finding her own musical identity, but it's an indisputable observation that hears Tame's influence imprinted all over Caroline Rose's most recent efforts - especially on Superstar. Of course, this notion is one of the very reasons I find her music to be so important in today's musical climate.
Based on rating 6.7/10
In the opening scenes of her video for "Feel the Way I Want," New York singer-songwriter Caroline Rose stands outside a Ripley's Believe It or Not! in Hollywood, California, and receives a phone call. It's her agent. That audition she has? It's in Hollywood, Florida. Off she goes on a cross-country dance trip to Florida, where she nails her audition for the role of a bug-eyed lobster.
'Superstar'
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