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Devotion
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Devotion Image
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 14 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.0

Generally favorable reviews- based on 23 Ratings

  • Summary: The debut full-length release for the British alternative R&B artist was written/produced with Mica Levi.
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 14
  3. Negative: 0 out of 14
  1. The Skinny
    Aug 7, 2018
    100
    Much like Ocean’s Blonde, Devotion unfolds and unravels in different ways upon each listen, giving you everything but never too soon. With it, Tirzah and Levi have created something fiercely unique, relatable and of the moment; one of the most crucial pop records of the year.
  2. Exclaim
    Aug 8, 2018
    90
    For all the internal nuance of the record, Devotion is primarily an album built on the invisible ties between us, shifting between shades of love, rupture and unsteady silence. In the sparseness of its haze, Devotion feels ephemeral.
  3. The 405
    Aug 16, 2018
    90
    On Devotion, she cordons off her own corner of modern Rn’B with a statement destined to become a genre staple.
  4. Q Magazine
    Aug 7, 2018
    80
    It's impulsive and scrappy, lyrically uncomplicated and musically crude, yet each strange, hypnotic composition turns a quiet epiphany into a revelation. [Sep 2018, p.113]
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  5. AllMusic
    Aug 10, 2018
    80
    The album's vérité feel draws listeners into its ever-changing moods so completely, it's almost a shock when it ends. It's this skill at hypnotizing and disarming her audience that makes Devotion such a captivating reintroduction to Tirzah.
  6. The Guardian
    Aug 9, 2018
    80
    The arrangements are simple but elevated by deft touches of texture and mood, siphoning into hypnotic minimalism the essence of muted soul, garage, grime, R&B and the shattered club tracks that made the defunct London club Plastic People tremble in the early 2010s.
  7. PopMatters
    Aug 9, 2018
    50
    Those songs [dance songs between 2013 and 2015] didn't orient themselves around the kinds of narratives that require emotive singing. The feelings they produced were tactile, registering as sensations rather than stories. There, Mastin and Levi's divergent styles created the impression of unity, with each giving the other something she was missing. On Devotion, you can hear them drifting apart.

See all 14 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

Write a Review
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 2
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 2
  3. Negative: 0 out of 2
  1. Mir9903
    Dec 4, 2021
    9
    It’s so intimate and transports you to a place where the usual way we think music should exist is flipped. The Melodies are distorted, cut orIt’s so intimate and transports you to a place where the usual way we think music should exist is flipped. The Melodies are distorted, cut or used in a way that modern pop music wouldn’t. I also got 90’s r&b vibes from this, especially from “Gladly” and “Devotion”. It gave me so much nostalgia and offered me a place to call home.… Expand
  2. All_ButTrU4
    Mar 3, 2021
    8
    Bare, rough and singular come to mind from the second "fine again " drags on. This album has perfected intimacy as an artistic statement.Bare, rough and singular come to mind from the second "fine again " drags on. This album has perfected intimacy as an artistic statement. Tirizah sound weaponizes the imperfections and spaces in it's production. The highlight of this record is the production. Sure her voice is the talent but the productions use of piano chords and dreay drum kits creates a diy aesthetic which adds to the subject matters candour. The magnificent titoe track sees tirzah literally begging for attention if not bare acknowledging. The conversational plain diction make the desperation that much greater. A memorable debut from this mysterious Canadian artist. Favourites:affection, devotion, do you know.… Expand

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93
#93 Most Shared Album of 2018

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