(Photo courtesy distractify.com)

By Olivia Hudak – Staff Reporter

Pitbull is an all-time famous artist with several hit albums and singles that are listened to years after their release. His best album, however, is “Globalization”, which was released on November 21, 2014. This was his eighth studio album and was released through Polo Grounds Music and RCA Records. Many of these songs fall into the genres of dance and hip hop. This album consisted of five singles: “Wild Wild Love,” “Fireball,” “Time of Our Lives,” “Fun,” and “Drive You Crazy.” “Globalization” debuted at #18 on the U.S. Billboard 200 Chart. 

“Globalization” consists of many themes. Most of Pitbull’s songs are fun, party songs that give off an energy and a vibe that makes people want to enjoy the moment. Songs like “Time of Our Lives,” “Fun,” and “Celebrate” represent what his album revolves around. 

This album has many strong points and reasons to listen. It’s an album that will bring people closer by having more fun together. Each song consists of some type of good or fun beat that will make people want to have fun whether it’s with friends or just by themselves. A lot of Pitbull’s songs are played at clubs, parties, or on a basic summer day. In life, people always need a little music to bring their mood up Pitbull is able to consistently make hit singles that revolve around that. So if people love listening to upbeat, fun singles then Pitbull’s “Globalization” album is perfect for them.

Although Pitbull has many hit songs, some may find him uninteresting. It just depends on what kind of genre of music people like. If people are into more lyrical, heartfelt songs, they probably would be uninterested in listening to this album or basically any Pitbull songs. Also, many people say he is “talentless” and that he needs guest singers on his songs to make them good, but he is talented regardless of who he has in his music.

If people are into fun, party songs the Pitbull album “Globalization” is for them and their friends.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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By William Smith – Staff Reporter

*WARNING: This does include spoilers for “Spider-Man: No Way Home”*

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” is a Marvel movie that was released on December 17, 2021. It stars Tom Holland, Andrew Garfield, and Toby Maguire as Spiderman, Zendaya as MJ, Benedict Cumberbatch as Dr. Strange, Marisa Tomei as Aunt May, and Jacob Batalon as Ned. 

“Spider-Man: No Way Home” takes place right after the events of “Spider-Man: Far From Home” when Mysterion reveals Spider-Man’s identity to the whole world. When this information was released people’s thoughts were divided between that Spider-Man was a menace or that he was a good guy. This caused him and his friends to get denied to MIT, the college the three of them wanted to go to. So Spider-Man goes to Dr. Strange to see if he undo time so he can go back and change it, but Dr. Strange gave him the alternative of changing everybody’s memories so they forget who he is.

When Dr. Strange is casting the spell Spider-Man tries to change many things which results in the spell malfunctioning and causes everybody from alternate universes to come to their universe who knows Spider-Man. Luckily Dr. Strange manages to contain the spell. After that happened, Dr. Strange mentions how they were not able to accept him after he pleaded his case. Then Spider-Man says he could plead his case, and him saying that caused Dr. Strange to be angry because he was about to brainwash the entire world that he wasn’t Spider-Man. Spider-Man then finds one of the school’s admission managers so he could plead his and his friends’ case. Just as he was doing that he was attacked by Doc Oc. When Doc Oc takes off Spider-Man’s mask he is confused and says “you’re not Spider-Man.” Just as he beats Doc Oc Green Goblin shows up and starts bombing the highway they are on. While this happened Doc Oc is confused as to why Green Goblin is alive because he was supposedly dead.

Right after he said that, they were both whisked away by Dr. Strange’s magic to his basement. He tells Spider-Man that a couple people slipped and managed to make it to their universe. So after that he tells Spider-Man he is responsible for finding everybody who came through. He eventually finds SandMan and Electro and brings them both to the basement prison. He then gets a message from Aunt May that she found another person from an alternate universe; it turns out it was Green Goblin. When he was visiting Aunt May she convinced Spider-Man that he needs to help them so Spider-Man brings everybody he captures to Happy’s apartment so that he can fix what’s whats wrong with everybody. He only manages to help Doc Oc before they all go Rogue and escape. After that, the movie cuts to MJ and Ned as they are holding onto a device that can send them all back. As this happens, they want to see Spider-Man, and Ned ends up using his magic to open up a portal to Spider-Man, only it’s not the Spider Man they know (For now, Spider-Man refers to the name of the actors played by him so it’s not confusing.) It’s a Spider-Man from a different universe. Then Ned opens another portal that leads to Toby Maguire. Then they meet up with Tom Holland and decide to work together to cure the rest of the villains who haven’t been cured of their powers. When they’re done making all the cures they all head to the Statue of Liberty to battle it with the villains so the Spider-Men can cure them. During the fight, the malfunctioning spell gets let loose so Dr. Strange tries to contain it. While this happens Tom Holland fights with Green Goblin. After he cures him Spider-Man goes up to Dr. Strange and says to make it so nobody remembers who Peter Parker is, and he does just that. When this happens everybody from an alternate universe is sent back to their universe, and nobody can remember who Spider man is. And during the post credit scene we see Venom at a bar talking about how he wants to see Spider-Man. He then fades away to his universe, but he leaves his symbiote, the thing that lets him become Venom. 

Something that was good about the movie was that it explained the Spider-Man reboots and gave some nostalgia to long time Spider-Man fans. It also gave rise to a lot of new information and will make fans want to see how Spider-Man overcomes not being known to anybody, not even to close people who he’s known for a long time. 

The worst part about the movie is how they are going to make another Spider-Man movie that’s just as good or better than this. Because of what happened in the last movie, it is difficult to imagine another Spider-Man movie that can top it, and it’s hard to imagine what the next movie is going to be like. However, this movie does give the next movie a lot to work with; it might be too much with nobody remembering him and the whole Venom plot line. It will be interesting to see what future Marvel movies might add.

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

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By Zack Sulkis – Staff Reporter

“Whole Lotta Red” is the absolutely incredible second studio album by American rapper Playboi Carti. The album was released on Christmas Day in 2020 after fans waited for nearly two years after the release of Carti’s debut studio album, “Die Lit.”

When the album was initially released, many fans had mixed opinions on the different style compared to Die Lit, however now many consider it an absolute masterpiece of modern rap. The main way to describe the style is that it is rap meant for mosh pits.

Every single song has an absolute hard hitting beat that sticks; it is present on every song in the album. “Whole Lotta Red” consists of 24 tracks with a run time of 62:12, giving listeners an hour of absolutely hard-hitting rap that gives people no time for breathing with non-stop classic after classic. 

Some of the most popular songs on “Whole Lotta Red” are: “Sky,” “Stop Breathing,” “Rockstar Made,” “Punk Monk,” “New Tank,” “Vamp Anthem,” “Die4Guy,” and many more. Every song has a beat that can only be described as violent and full of bass. 

Sky is by far the most popular on the album in terms of how it has the most streams and views on Youtube. It has a different style then most songs on the albums; it is a little bit slower, has a different beat, less demonic sounding, and is more melodic.

The song doesn’t really have a direction; it just talks about how Carti does not want to  feel pain anymore and and about the different relationships in his life. He raps, “I don’t drive R8s, I don’t like those, I drive the Daytona and I tinted the windows (yeah, skrrt)” “I got on Ed Hardy. She got on stilettos.”

The album doesn’t feature nearly as many artists as Carti has done in the past, the only artists featured are: Kanye West, Kid Cudi, and Future. On the song Punk Monk Carti actually talks about how he doesn’t typically like other rappers on his songs, he feels like he doesn’t need them. 

The album was produced by Kanye West and he has a feature on the now iconic song, “Go2DaMoon. “

Carti, really named Jordan Terrell Carter ,is known for an experimental sound and gothic fashion style, and overall mysterious public persona. Carti burst onto the scene in 2017 with his self-titled album, “Playboi Carti” that featured the song “Magnolia,” notorious for creating the resurgence of the “Milly Rocking” trend.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Photo courtesy usatoday.com)

By Maddy Gaillard – Staff Reporter 

The animated “Grinch” movie is a light hearted film that came out in 2018. It is a Christmas comedy that is a remake of the original Dr. Suess’s Grinch 1957 book. The movie stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the Grinch and Cameron Seely as Cindy Lou Who. It was released and distributed by Universal Studios. The film grossed over $511 million worldwide, becoming the highest-grossing Christmas film of all time. It was released in November 2018 and was a huge hit. 

The movie focuses on the Grinch who is an abandoned orphan who has developed a hatred for Christmas and Cindy Lou Who, who lives in the town of Whoville. The Grinch has a heart “two sizes too small” and only visits the town of Whoville to buy necessities or prank the citizens. The Grinch decides to ruin Christmas and does a series of events to ruin Christmas for the town. The film also follows Cindy Lou Who is trying to help out her single mother while also having fun as a kid. She is a kind hearted soul who will later find the Grinch facing his troubles. 

The movie is very well made and still interesting to watch considering there are multiple remakes of the original. The movie is wonderfully animated and is filled with colors and the Christmas spirit. It captures the Grinch in the varying different stages he goes through and shows how his character develops throughout the film. Many characters have a big part in the movie and it is not just focused on one character. Additionally, the soundtrack for the movie is by Tyler the Creator and it provides a new feel and modern take on an old story. It allows the remake to not be boring and it makes it different from the previous Grinch movies. 

Some weak points are that the character development of the Grinch may have not been that significant compared to the previous stories. The Grinch is supposed to be a very mean figure in the beginning and it can be argued that his personality is sugarcoated.  It is possibly too lighthearted and tries too hard to be comedic. But, the movie is a basic family film that may not fit everyone’s preferred genre, but ultimately it will fit a Christmas family setting and it may not be for every situation. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

(Photo courtesy spin.com)

By Zack Sulkis – Staff Reporter 

Notorious American rapper Snoop Dogg released his newest album, “Snoop Dogg Presents: Algorithm” on November 19. It is a compilation album that was released via Doggy Style Records and Def Jam, so the album is full of songs that Snoop Dogg is not even on.

The album features a more modern sound, similar to music by artists such as the weekend rather than the style of snoop’s classic California gangster rap sound. The album has featured contributions from various artists including Ty Dolla $ign, Method Man & Redman, Eric Bellinger, Usher, Blxst, Fabolous, and Dave East.

“Snoop Dogg Presents: Algorithm” has more of an R&B feel rather than a rap feel with most of the songs. The most popular song on the album seems to be “Make Some Money” (ft. Fabolous & Dave East). The song talks about making money and how it makes everyone’s life better. He raps, “You gotta watch out for the suckers/You gotta watch out for the family/Well, most importantly, you gotta watch out for/For the anxiety, right?” The song may talk about how great money is, but the last few lines talk about the reality of stress some people deal with trying to find good ways to make money. 

The album has Snoop in it the way he was on “Christmas” In The Dogghouse. His name is on the front, he has some lines on other artists songs, he has only one or two songs of his own and it’s still a pretty good album. 

This album isn’t just big for Snoop and Doggystyle records, it brought back Def Jam to the center of attention for the first time since the late ’90s when they were putting on artists like DMX, Jay Z, and Ja Rule. They compiled a good selection of music for Snoop with tons of talented artists that made for a different sound compared to Snoop’s typical sound, and modern rap as a whole. 

Def Jam was created by a 20-year-old NYU named Rick Rubin back in 1983 after taking a loan from his parents he started Def Jam Recordings. Back in 2004, Jay-Z was named president of the company while running his own record company, Roc-a-Fella. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

(Photo courtesy supercell.com)

By William Smith – Staff Reporter

“Clash Of Clans,” a mobile game made by SuperCell, came out on August 2, 2012. In the game, players start with a town hall, barracks, cannon, gold mine, and elixir collector.  To progress further through they need to loot other villages to gain more resources, so they can build and upgrade their village. There are a ton of troops, spells, and strategies they can use to loot other villages. 

Some of the troops players can use are Barbarians, Archers, Giants, Goblins, Wall Breakers, Balloons, Wizards, Healers, Dragons, P.E.K.A., Baby Dragons, and Miners. There are even more troops players can use to raid villages. 

One of the biggest features of the game is the clan. Once players restore their clan building, they can join a clan. There are tons of clans they could choose from or they can create their own clan. The functions of a clan are to support one another. Players can request troops or send them to other villages. 

The biggest positive of the game is that players can do whatever they want. They don’t need to raid other villages, they don’t need to upgrade their village. The best part is the game doesn’t force anything on players. When users start, it gives them a quick tutorial on how to play the game, and guides them on what to do from there.

A major weak point in the game is time. It doesn’t take too long to get a decent village but the more people upgrade their village, the longer things take to upgrade. At a certain point it will take players days to upgrade things and it will take a ton of resources. Eventually the pace will start to slow down.

(Photo courtesy nme.com)

By Reilly Hungerford – Staff Reporter

Lana Del Rey’s “Blue Banisters” was released on October 22. This album is her eighth studio album and the second album she has released this year. The genre of the album is folk, pop, and jazz. “Blue Banisters” mentions topics such as failing romances, negative press attention, femininity, and new beginnings. Del Rey announced that this album was going to be released on July 4, but it came out much later. Fans have been anticipating this album for quite a while, and it was definitely worth the wait.

This album is genuinely amazing. It’s almost nostalgic-feeling and very graceful. With this album, Del Rey worked with her old producer instead of Jack Antonoff, the producer who she has worked with for her past two albums. Working with her old producer made “Blue Banisters” sound a bit similar to her older works, like “Honeymoon” and “Ultraviolence.” There are actually tracks on “Blue Banisters” that are rumored to supposed to have been put on her older albums such as “Living Legend” and “Cherry Blossom.” “Cherry Blossom” was actually leaked in 2019, leaving fans to call it “unreleased.” Del Rey wrote it in 2013, but it was finally released on “Blue Banisters”.

One of the best songs on the album is “Dealer”. With vocals from Miles Kane and a slow drum beat, this song is easily the best song on the album. This song is about being locked away from someone you love and giving more love than you receive. The lyrical and the melodic build up until the chorus where Del Rey sings, “I don’t wanna live /I don’t wanna give you nothing” sounds so amazing and really adds to the overall longing mood of the song.

“Arcadia” is of the singles that came out before the album was released, being released on September 8. A soothing piano tune with relatively calming vocals, “Arcadia’s” lyrics are the same. In this song, Del Rey sings about how much she loves the city of L.A. and how she wants to be there. She also recognizes her hometown in this song, Manhattan New York. “I can’t sleep at home tonight, send me a Hilton Hotel” can very well be referencing her New York background because there’s a very nice Hilton hotel in the city.

There really are no flaws to this album, unless you like “Chemtrails Over the Country Club” and its production. “Blue Banisters” has a completely different sound to it than her two previous albums, but in an amazing way. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Photo courtesy nme.com)

By Marisa Laviano – Staff Reporter

Taylor Swift released “Red (Taylor’s Version)” a re-recording of one of her most beloved albums “Red,” from 2012, on November 12. “Red” includes hits such as “22” “I Knew You Were Trouble” and “We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.” When Taylor Swift signed her record deal with Big Machine Records back in 2005, it gave the company the ownership to Taylor’s records which she tried buying back for years. When the company had been bought out by Scooter Braun in 2019 he had ended the opportunity for Taylor to buy her first six albums. This new deal also ended Taylor’s opportunity to earn any money from these albums. Meaning the money from every CD, vinyl, digital download, stream of those albums would go to Scooter, not Taylor. Taylor Swift took the opportunity in her contract allowing her to re-record each of her albums at least five years after their release, starting with her sophomore album “Fearless” back in April and now “Red.” Each song on the album has “(Taylor’s Version)” after the song title since she is now the owner of these songs. These re-recordings also feature not only the original tracks of the album, but nine “from the vault” songs that never made it to the original album. This also gave Taylor a chance to release some unreleased songs and also collaborate with other artists on them like she did with Phoebe Bridgers, Ed Sheeran, and Chris Stapleton on this album.

This album really has a little something for everyone with each song, which was also fitting since the original recording of this album was in between her albums “Speak Now” and “1989,” a super country album and a super pop album. This album’s theme is centered around a really tough break up, specifically the one between herself and Jake Gylenhaal, but still manages to express all these emotions in both fun upbeat songs and slow sad songs. Upon first listen, it’s almost hard to believe that the songs “We are Never Getting Back Together” and “All Too Well ” have the same theme. Even the songs “from the vault” express similar themes yet have a mix of genres: “Better Man” and “I Bet You Think About Me” being country while “Message In A Bottle” and “The Very First Night” being very pop. Some may find the diversity of the musical genres overwhelming, driving them away from the re-recorded album. Compared to the rest of her albums this is considered the least cohesive due to lots of tone changes. However this album is actually very cohesive since the themes of most songs on the album cover the same relationship. Even if some songs on the album may sound different from each other, that does not take away any value from the album. 

Many people think that the new re-recorded versions of these beloved songs will shy away from the original, but it is actually quite the opposite. Although it’s been a decade since the original recording of  “Red” came out, Taylor still manages to keep the songs the same. The most they might sound different is one word might be pronounced slightly different, but not enough for average listeners to freak out about how the song has changed. Although, one song in particular did shy away from the original. “Girl At Home (Taylor’s Version)” is a fun, upbeat, pop song, while the original “Girl At Home” was a cute acoustic song to end the original Deluxe version of “Red.” Most long time listeners of Taylor’s were quite shocked by this change, but there’s actually a reason behind it. The original version of “Girl At Home ” was actually a demo recording, and didn’t get to make it to its full potential. This song was lacking something in its original form, which is why it was ranked #192 on Rolling Stones article, “All 206 of Taylor Swift’s Songs, Ranked.” Now that Taylor’s is a part of Republic Records instead of Big Red Machine, she can do whatever she wants with her songs, and adding a pop production on this song helped give this song what it needed all along. 

This album features amazing lyrics written by Taylor Swift. Her unique lyricism really sets her apart from many other artists. One lyric that really stood out in this album was from the song “Nothing New feat. Phoebe Bridgers.” She sings, “How can a person know everything at eighteen, but nothing at twenty-two?” This song talks about how she was at a great point in her life until this relationship she was in tore down her mental health. At this point in the song you understand the tone of what she’s saying but once you get to this line you really start to understand the story she’s telling in the song, and empathize with it.  One thing that Taylor does a lot in her music is pay homage to her previous work in her lyrics. For example in one of the vault tracks, “Message In A Bottle” Taylor sings, “danced in the kitchen, chased me down through the hallway,” which is a reference to her song “All Too Well” which says “dancin’ round the kitchen in the refrigerator light.” Most of the songs and albums that Taylor has put out have been about her own life so these lyrics add to the narrative she is telling which is her life. 

“Red (Taylor’s Version)” also features a 10-minute version of her song “All Too Well” from the original album: “All Too Well (10-Minute Version)(Taylor’s Version)(From The Vault)” A long title for a long song. However, the song does not seem 10 minutes long. Taylor’s multiple different verses, choruses, bridges, and outro really keep listeners hooked all 10 minutes and 13 seconds of this song. The song focuses on her feelings throughout a relationship and it’s dreadful breakup. This song is so beautifully written, choosing lines from the song to talk about is a difficult task. “Time won’t fly it’s like I’m paralyzed by it, like to be my old self again but I’m still tryin’ find it,” expresses just how much pain she was in through this breakup, that time is standing still and can’t function through the pain. “You keep my old scarf from that very first week, cause it reminds you of innocence and it smells like me,” is another amazing line from this song that really illustrates the whole relationship while putting in such poetic lyrics and the pain in her voice makes it such a masterpiece. A line that may not be as poetic, but even more painful is “Not weepin’ in a party bathroom, some actress asking me what happened, you, that’s what happened, you.” The emphasis Taylor puts on the word “you” in this line outdoes the rest of the pain expressed in this song. It makes the listener feel absolutely heartbroken, even for a relationship that happened a decade ago. This song is an absolute masterpiece and has to be Taylor Swift’s best song. Many songs that are popular nowadays can’t even keep listeners’ attention for two minutes, but Taylor can keep them engaged for five times that because her songs have amazing lyrics, singing, beat, and production. 

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Photo courtesy fairfieldmirror.com)

By Katie Servas – Staff Reporter

Say “Hello” to Adele’s new album, “30.”

After a six-year hiatus, Adele has released her most open and genre bending album yet. “30,” her fourth studio album was released on November 19. This album has included many differences in her preferred genre and is stylistically different from her previous albums. 

The entire album is a storyline of her entire relationship with her ex-husband, Simon Konecki, from how they met until their divorce, and how it felt to Adele. She was very particular about the positioning of each track and where they lined up in the album because she was motivated to present a timeline of the relationship and her attempts to love and make amends with herself.

Adele’s first single off of the album, “Easy On Me,” is a soft-building piece that emotes her needed relief and healing and how she changed herself to suit the needs of her ex-husband and her son. It expresses her inability to enjoy her career and how her efforts to maintain a stable relationship with her son was tried once she divorced. She was expressing why she needed to put herself first while explaining it to her son in the simplest way. This track is taking over the charts, sitting at number one this past week on the Billboard Top 100.

The other tracks on the album release her true emotions she locked away and how she felt through the process of separation. The album opener “Strangers By Nature ” is a lyrical breathtaker. The piece states the effects of the relationship ending and how it seemed to have changed her perspective, and how the dust settled. The verses show the immense weight the divorce took over her while stating how her perspective changed. It also relays the pressure of expectations from her ex-husband and the media. The opener is the leading sequence that hooks one to continue listening just like the effect of a novel. 

As one continues to listen to each track, more sections of the story and Adele’s search for purity and security within herself are revealed. Many of the songs have a message along these lines, but, they are from different perspectives and time periods throughout the past few years, along with new experiences she had. 

Another popular song off of the album is “Oh My God.” This is the fifth track off the album “30” and is also charted at number five on the Billboard Top 100. This track has a more R&B and soul style, while communicating her desire to have fun and wanting to put herself out there. It demonstrates her urge to not be shown down the wrong path again and her willingness to open up to others again. 

There are also many other honorable mentions, “My Little Love,” “Hold On,” and “I Drink Wine,” which are all soulful and lyrical pieces that present struggles Adele undergoes throughout the last few years. They show her scuffle with alcohol, her son’s perspective on the divorce, and explanation to her son about who she is and what she’s experienced. These tracks have some air time following “Easy On Me” and  ”Oh My God.” 

Overall, this is an impeccable album imbued with emotion, experience, and perspective.

Rating: 5 out of 5 hello’s

(Photo courtesy nowmagazine.com)

By Lana Hanania – Staff Reporter 

Matt Ross produced the movie “Captain Fantastic” in 2016. Ross acknowledged that his personal experiences growing up with a hippie mother impacted him in certain ways, but that the film’s major inspiration came from his own desires as a father, rather than from a real person. “Captain Fantastic” is about a family who lives deep in the forest, isolated from society. The mom and dad, Ben and Leslie, dedicate their life training their six kids. They train them to be physically fit, athletic, to think critically, and to guide them in the wild without technology. One day the mom suddenly commits suicide, making Ben and his six kids go outside to the real world for the first time. Although Ben has been in the real world before, he still struggles to adapt, as do his kids. 

Overall “Captain Fantastic” is a well-filmed movie. The plot of the movie is very different and intriguing compared to most movies. Viewers will find it very interesting how the family members are able to adapt to their environment and are able to survive in the condition they are in. They are able to see how intelligent the six kids are and their day by day routine. 

In one scene in “Captain Fantastic,” a different family asks their children what the Bill of Rights was. They were able to come up with very little. Ben then asked his five-year-old daughter what the Bill of Rights was and she was able to say a brief summary in her own words. This made viewers think how intelligent they truly were. One quote from the movie that struck out was when Ben said, “We’ve created a paradise.” Viewers were able to see how fantastic their life was and how much they all learned together even when they are isolated from society. 

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars 

(Photo courtesy variety.com)

By Maddy Gaillard – Staff Reporter 

Silk Sonic is an R&B duo featuring Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak. The band was announced in late February 2021 and released their debut single “Leave The Door Open” on March 5. Bruno Mars is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, musician and dancer. Mars was born in Hawaii and he is 36 years old. His first hit was the single, “Just The Way You Are”, released in July 2010, which put him on the Billboards Singles Chart. Since then, Mars has been releasing music and is a huge star. Anderson Paak is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and drummer. Paak is from California and is 35 years old. His debut album, O.B.E Volume 1, was released in 2011 and was not a huge hit. Paak’s first song to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 was “”Leave The Door Open. The duo’s debut album is called, “An Evening With Silk Sonic “and is a mix of pop, soul, funk and R&B. It has a mix of 9 songs including the intro song. The album in total is 30 minutes long. 

The strong points of this album are the mix of genre and the laid back feel it has. The album begins with an intro where it gives a hint of what the album will sound like. Some songs are more on the slow R&B side like the song “Smokin Out The Window”, while others are more of a pop/funk genre like “777” or “Fly As Me”. It is very difficult to get bored of this album because each song is different. The featured artists on the album are Thundercat and Bootsy Collins which provide more of a different sound and switch up the tone of the album. Overall, the genre of this album is very enjoyable and different from past Bruno Mars albums and the featured artists add a different sound to the album compared to it just being the duo. 

Some possible weak points of the album are that it is only around 30 minutes long and there are only nine songs. This can be improved by making more songs or adding more onto the existing ones, or when the next album comes out, it could feature more artists which will lead to longer/more songs. Overall, there are not many weaknesses to this debut album.

Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars 

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By Gemard Guery – News & Editorial Editor

The movie “Eternals” is a movie by Marvel Studios and directed by Chloe Zhao.  The movie follows a group of immortal aliens who have lived amongst humans for thousands of years.  They all go their separate ways but come back together to fight evil Deviants, who are a threat to humans.  As they begin to fight Deviants, they learn that they have new abilities which lead to the Eternals discovering some dark truths about their true past.  While they protect humans from the Deviants, they do not interfere with human conflicts.  They let humans deal with it.

The movie has many strengths.  The cast was incredibly diverse and reflected many different cultures and backgrounds.  There was even a deaf superhero in the movie.  The movie was also incredibly emotional and had viewers at the edge of their seat throughout it.  The movie also had a unique perspective on the idea of immortality.  Most people would love to be immortal, but the Eternals hated it.  They were tired of seeing everything and everyone they loved just died.  It was unique and very emotional to see.  There was also many different plot twists and the movie wasn’t predictable as superhero movies usually are.  The ending was absolutely shocking and hard to see coming.

There weren’t really many weak points in the movie.  In the beginning, the movie was a bit confusing, but got much easier to understand as the movie went on.  It was truly a great mix of comedy, action, drama, and romance.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Photo courtesy imdb.com)

By Lily Forster – Entertainment Editor

The movie “Red Notice” is a 2021 American action comedy film written and directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber. It stars Dwayne Johnson as an FBI agent who reluctantly teams up with a renowned art thief (Ryan Reynolds) in order to catch an even more notorious criminal (Gal Gadot). 

In this movie, in the world of international crime, an Interpol agent attempts to hunt down and capture the world’s most wanted art thief. It’s an action-packed entertaining movie that is full of suspense from the beginning to the end. It’s a great time-passing action-heist movie.

Some major strengths of this movie is that the plot made it super clear to understand what was going on. There were not too many points where viewers could have been confused. The storyline kept me gripped for the entire film, the protagonists (Johnson and Reynolds) have enough depth to make their characters worth watching. 

Some weak points of this movie is that the plot is fairly predictable. The movie was extremely cliche with plot twists viewers could see coming from a mile away. The actors’ talents were just not worth this film. The ending wasn’t very good either, it ended off showing no character growth and a pointless storyline.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

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By Kaitlyn Goldberg – News Editor

The Netflix drama “Maid” follows a single mother from Washington who leaves her abusive relationship and struggles with poverty and the broken government assistance system.  

The show’s lead is Alex Russell, a 24-year-old young mother to a 3-year-old daughter, Maddy, who leaves her emotionally abusive and alcoholic boyfriend, Sean, and starts a new life without him. Her mother, Paula Langley, is a hippie who suffers from undiagnosed bipolar disorder and lives in a trailer with her boyfriend.  

Alex had found a job being a maid from “Value Maids” which would make her take a ferry to an island and clean houses for the rich. She had also moved into a shelter for women who had been victims of domestic violence. 

Alex’s passion is writing and she receives a full scholarship to Missoula State University in Montana. She had to turn it down because she found out she was pregnant with Maddy. While going through all of her hardships she wrote about her experiences, helping her express her frustration and pain that had come along with what she was going through. 

A memorable moment in the show is, when in the shelter, Alex meets a woman named Danielle. They become friends after Danielle helps Alex stand up to one of the women she cleaned for after she did not pay her. They become close, but then sadly Danielle leaves the shelter, and goes back to her abusive boyfriend, which upsets Alex.

A more upsetting moment that happened in the show is when it turns out that Paula’s now-husband, Basil, is a con artist and was selling out Paula’s childhood home. This causes Paula to break down and try and break into her old home and causes Alex to go back to Sean after seeing how he helped her mom and her. 

An exciting moment that happens in the show is when Alex reapplies for college at Missoula State University in Montana. She gets accepted back and applies for full custody of Maddy.  Sean first wants to fight it, but after a bad time at the park with Maddy, he lets Alex have full custody and move to Montana with Maddy so Alex can live out her dreams of being a writer. 

Overall, this show does a great job of showcasing the struggles of homelessness, poverty, and the flaws of the government assistance system. It is a powerful show with complex, moving characters.  

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

(Photo courtesy supercell.com)

By Truman Martin – Entertainment Editor

“Clash Royale” is a mobile game that was released by Supercell on March 2, 2016. It is a strategy game that puts two people against each other in a battle for crowns. Basically, the player has to defend their two princess towers and their king tower from the other player, while also trying to attack the other player’s towers. It’s a lot like chess, only with a lot more pieces that can do a bunch of different things. 

Ever since “Clash Royale” came out, it has taken schools by storm. There is a clan feature, which lets players create a group with their friends where they can trade and battle each other. 

Trading is cool because if someone needs a specific card to be able to upgrade it, they can bargain with their friends. Battling is also very useful because players can test out different decks and setups without having to worry about their rank falling. 

The game is a great way to settle real life problems as well. If two people are in an argument they can just 1V1 and settle it in the game. It’s so satisfying to three-crown someone, which means the player has destroyed all of the other’s towers. It’s also nerve racking when the game goes into sudden death, which means the next tower destroyed decides the game regardless. 

The only thing downside to the game is that sometimes, when entering a game, the player gets set up against someone who is at such a high level that it isn’t even worth playing that game. 

Overall, “Clash Royale” is a great game and a great way to procrastinate and kill time.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars