As a music writer, one of the most frustrating and disheartening things to see is a musician — especially one in the big pop-star realm — discrediting the value of music journalism by pitting us against one another. But alas, it's Tuesday: FINNEAS has slammed Pitchfork for how reviewer Hannah Jocelyn scored his sister Billie Eilish's new album (which he produced and co-wrote), HIT ME HARD AND SOFT.
Replying to a fan comment on TikTok, FINNEAS panned the publication's review of the record for its numerical score of 6.8. "Nothing cool about writing a positive review of an album everyone likes — they've gotta have an angle," the producer wrote [via Music-News.com]. "They gave [Lana Del Rey's] Born to Die a 5.5 — it's their whole hater-ass bag."
While Exclaim!'s reviewer gave Eilish's third studio album an 8 out of 10, this writer personally thought Jocelyn made some great points in the Pitchfork review and gave a rating that reflected that.
This is an important reminder that music criticism is far more than a score, which doesn't do much for us beyond getting the review listed on Metacritic (where Eilish's record is currently sitting at 89 percent) and forcing the reviewer and/or editor to agonize over choosing the most accurate number; both musicians and uncritical stans could benefit from reading and engaging with the ideas the critic brings forth in the actual text of the review.