On Sept. 30, 2022, popular artist Kid Cudi released his eighth studio album by the name of “Entergalactic.” Within the first week, the album has gathered roughly a million plays on Spotify per song. What makes it unique is that it is accompanied by an animated series on Netflix with Cudi behind most of the storyboard. Imagining the songs in potential situations that would reflect where the character is physically or mentally helps appreciate the songs more.

“New Mode” is the second song off the album. Its beat has a very electric feeling to it with a very calming mood and vocals that match the tone of the song. He sings about the change he sees in himself since an unnamed person left him. The song ends on a brighter note of reassuring himself that he’ll be fine whatever happens.

“Do What I Want” has a bit more angst in the vocals and beat. As the title implies, Cudi is doing what he wants because he’s sick of people telling him otherwise. He’s fallen back into drugs and is okay with it, and he’s holding it down while getting money for his people. The song has no groundbreaking story or message but it sounds pretty nice regardless and that’s all that really matters.

“Ignite The Love” has a nice opening guitar with some ambient vocals with echo-y filters on them. This is a pretty run-of-the-mill love song but the beat is more bouncy than usual which I think sets it apart pretty nicely. A lot of the music on the album doesn’t have much backstory to it which could allow it to be used a lot more broadly in the context of it being part of an animated series. 

“Willing To Trust” has the first feature of the album with Ty Dolla $ign. The beat accompanied by the lyrics has a very strange feeling to it, not exactly a song you’d play on a drive to work but something you’d just have as background music while working on something in your house. It has Cudi in the first half basically saying that old statement of “we’ll last forever” for the intro to the song. Ty Dolla $ign hops into the next part reminiscing about the time he had to convince a girl to forget her ex and the problems they brought and give him a chance. The last part of the song has Cudi repeating “I got you, don’t worry love”.

“Livin My Truth” has a nice vocal sample with some drums for the beat. Cudi believes he’s just rolling with the punches that life sends him and he’s alright with it. He’s keeping the memories he’s made close but also understands that he’s got to move past all of it in order to make newer ones. The song’s message fits what his character will be in his series.

“Maybe So” seems to directly contradict the last song. Cudi speaks about how he is missing an unnamed person and it’s keeping him up at night. Being unsure if he’ll heal again is a large message that he is trying to convey, and this accompanied with a melancholic guitar with a nice ambience in the background makes this song sound incredible. It almost sounds like he’s okay with either result with the nonchalance of the “maybe so, maybe not” lyric he kept repeating

Overall, the songs were pretty moderate. The beats were pretty nice and the vocals were too but personally none of these songs would make it into a playlist. These feel like songs that would belong on an animated series, but that’s where the problem arises. I can only really enjoy the song if they are accompanied by the visuals, but nowhere past that. With that said, the songs themselves are enjoyable to have as background noise or in the show itself, so I’d give this album a ⅘