WITHERED

Okay, so I went into this genuinely wanting to like it. I’ve had d4vd on my radar for a minute now — the dude’s clearly talented, and I’ve heard flashes of potential in past stuff. Plus, there's been a lot of buzz around his new release, so I figured, why not give it a proper listen?

And the first couple tracks? Not terrible. They sit nicely in that polished, clean-cut Indie Pop lane — think Spotify-core meets Tumblr 2014 revival — and while nothing jumped out at me, I wasn’t mad at it either. It’s the kind of stuff that plays in the background of a coming-of-age show and you kinda nod along without noticing it too much. But by the time I got to track 6, I had this moment of like… wait, have I been listening to the same song on loop?

This project plays it way too safe. It finds a comfy little pocket and just refuses to budge from it. Everything blends together into this one long stretch of soft vocals, reverb-heavy guitar, and production that feels overly sterilized. It’s all so neat and smooth that it starts to feel lifeless. Like, where’s the risk? The tension? Anything that shakes you up?

I heard “Feel It” before the full project dropped, and I didn’t love it back then — mostly because the mix is straight-up muddy and weird — but coming back to it in context? It’s kind of a blessing. It’s easily the most distinct moment here, if only because it doesn’t sound like everything else. That alone makes it feel like a breath of fresh air. Still not great, but at least it tries to be something different.

The problem is, once you realize that “Feel It” is standing out mostly because everything else is so homogenous, it makes the rest of the album feel even more underwhelming. The production doesn’t help either — it’s not bad, but it’s way too clean and samey. There’s this constant mid-tempo haze that just lulls you into zoning out, which isn’t ideal when you’re trying to stay engaged.

Now, to be fair, d4vd can sing. That much is obvious. His voice actually carries a few songs, and with a sound like his, over the top production could almost be uneccessary and actually hurtful. He knows how to float over these instrumentals and keep the emotion intact, but the performances never push past “solid.” No moments of real catharsis, no left-field choices, just vibes that stay in neutral.

So yeah, I really tried to see the vision here, but it just didn’t land. It’s an album that’s so afraid to make a wrong turn that it never dares to make a right one either. Hopefully d4vd branches out a bit more next time, because there’s something here — it’s just buried under too much beige.

D4VD - WITHERED

RATING - 7/10

FAVORITE TRACK - Feel It

GENRE - Indie, Pop