What used to be a fun project, ‘SMILE! :D’ eventually delves into a much more sincere place. Despite its sticky compositions, Porter Robinson’s attempt to pull off this joyous albeit messy project doesn’t stick the landing, as the production and writing flaws only result in a frustratingly lukewarm output.
Sometimes, when you start to create a project leaning on fun, there is a chance that it’ll shift into something different, as you’ll eventually put all your internal vulnerabilities that will give that a different tone towards that fun. For Porter Robinson, this seems to be the case, especially when after he returned to putting out music through ‘Nurture’ back in 2021 - a project that does put him back to his creative drive as well as showcasing his growth as an overall musician - his general creative process of the album that started off as a pure fun album before his sincere sensibilities took over creates a different color towards what he’ll be putting this year. So after a few singles that pull together hints of a new musical flair, Porter Robinson released his newest record, ‘SMILE! :D’.
Within the general sonic touchups sprinkled across the record, Porter Robinson offers to give his carved style of indietronica and electropop a different layer, as there is a more prominent embrace of pop rock where the guitars skip across the programmed percussions and buzzy synth lines, all leading to Porter Robinson’s vocals leaving behind the synthetic whirrs that he embraced on ‘Nurture’ and shows his comfort as a vocalist on this record. It does help that his compositions, especially the chorus lines are immediate than ever before, allowing the songs to flare up with a colorful aura when it does stick the landing. The buzzy opener ‘Knock Yourself Out XD’ gleams and sputters with its hazy synth tune, leading towards enough catchy one-liners alongside a sticky chorus and bridge. ‘Perfect Pinterest Garden’ uses its brief runtime to allow buildups for the burbling groove, the whimsical chime, and the strumming guitar to spark up over time. ‘Easier to Love You’ creates a lilting ballad where the pedal steel, soft acoustics, and synthetic vocal layers add to the track’s soothing atmosphere. ‘Is There Really No Happiness?’ with its rattling drum line and hazy vocal chops collide into the bombastic explosion from the hook. And ‘Everything To Me’ is a closing remark to the entire project, taking things back to a 2000s-era sounding folk cut with shuffling and glinting textures from the guitars, drums, and chiming keys to allow Porter Robinson’s singing to render a calming emotion.
This is also where Porter Robinson’s writing takes a turn, his emotions eventually dipping deeper into a vulnerable space as he based a lot of it on his continuous growth as a musician and his conflicting feelings toward it. As much as he has gained more fame and money over the years, he started to have a messy perspective towards all of it, especially towards a fanbase whose parasocial relationship with the artist has become strenuous for a lot of musicians as they think they more about the artist themselves - Porter Robinson included. It’s to the point that he wants to embrace all the mess and the cringe despite whatever happens, as a means to alienate the worst parts of said fanbase and to gain less pressure on himself as a musician. However, that messiness does change when he eventually ruminates about how the privilege that he now has can compromise relationships in his life and how he still has difficulty processing having that privilege in his lifestyle. Where, eventually, he has to accept the fanbase he has and the status where he is now, perhaps as a way to exhale that pressure that he has towards those fickle relationships and let go of the anxieties he has made for himself.
While the overall ideas towards the sound and the writing have a solid core to them, the execution within these ideas just fails to become flattering and emotionally gripping as the production and the writing have glaring flaws that pull the project down a notch. For the production, it’s not a great sign when a lot of the instruments have flat, thin, and blaring textures that never allow the mix to have that much pulp into them and the grooves to unravel well, especially the drums, the guitars, and the synthesizers respectively. ‘Cheerleader’ and ‘Mona Lisa’ are perhaps the frustrating cases of this with the squealing electronics all over them, ‘Year of the Cup’ with how sluggish the pace gets due to how it slathers the interview sample on the song, as well as ‘Russian Roulette’ with its 6-minute flavorful progressions that get undercut with just how timid and under-composed most of the low-end groove tends to be.
And for the writing, as much as Porter’s overall introspection towards fame, fanbase, and money does have its spots where his feelings does get to some genuine emotive reflections, there is something about embracing a messier side of himself as well as the general feeling of acceptance of where he is now that just comes off a bit hollow and frustrating. For the former, ‘Year Of The Cup’ implements the interview where it shows Lil Wayne’s overall discussion of gaining more fame but still struggling as a rapper within the music industry just does not fit well for Porter Robinson and his wishes to get messy, especially when there is the status of privilege that can mostly pull the ‘messy’ people out of messy situations really easy. And for the latter, the writing doesn’t exactly expand upon those compromised friendships that have been mentioned time and time before, especially as the back half tends to get more somber surrounding more on the fanbase rather than take more space to expound on those smaller, yet personal anxieties and insecurities that Porter showcased. Just makes that final song less impactful as a result.
As a whole, while Porter Robinson’s attempt to make ‘SMILE! :D’ a sincere but also fun album has its moments - mostly because of the compositions and hooks that are pretty well done - there are just way too many cracks that never comes to a stronger project. For every strong chorus, there’s the production that ends up with flimsy textures, and the writing that tries to become somber or messy in its reflections doesn’t exactly land either direction. There might be a vulnerable emotion lying underneath the smile, yet there’s not much done in delving deeper into that emotive resonance.
Favorite Tracks: ‘Knock Yourself Out XD’, ‘Perfect Pinterest Garden’, ‘Easier To Love You, ‘Is There Really No Happiness?’, ‘Everything To Me’
Least Favorite Track: ‘Year of the Cup’