Video people are talking about 5.3x its usual comments

Anthony Fantano's marroW review draws a defense of brakence's vocals

Listeners question his musical comparisons as the review draws more than five times theneedledrop's usual first-day comments.

Channel:

theneedledrop Story of November 7, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The video drew 736 comments in its first day, 5.3 times a normal first day on this channel (139).

brakence - marroW ALBUM REVIEW

Things we can learn from the video

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0:19Fantano recalls finding brakence's earlier vocals grating and his lyrics self-obsessed.
2:37He questions the alternative R&B approach and compares the vocal styling with Sleep Token.
4:45He criticizes the heavy rock passages on "deathroll" and "caffeine" as obnoxious and tantrum-like.
6:55Clarence Clarity provides his favorable counterexample of experimental pop.
7:46His final rating is a two out of ten.

Distressed singing gets criticized, but so does a clean falsetto: listeners in Anthony Fantano's comment section are asking what kind of vocal performance would work for him on brakence's marroW.

In "brakence - marroW ALBUM REVIEW", Fantano returns to reservations he had about punk2 and hypochondriac, particularly the vocals and lyrics. The more abrasive direction hasn't changed his mind. He objects to the heavy rock passages on "deathroll" and "caffeine", compares the emo-and-R&B approach with Sleep Token, and ultimately awards the album a two out of ten.

The discussion underneath gets specific about those comparisons. Several viewers challenge his Justin Timberlake reference for "crystallized". Others argue that the album's production and creative risks deserve more credit, or question why both strained vocals and smoother singing draw criticism. Those are disagreements about what the music is doing, not just about the score at the end.

The review's first-day views were ordinary for theneedledrop, but its comment section was more than five times as busy as usual. The distinction matters here: this isn't an unusually large viewing audience, but an unusually talkative one.

There's even a dissent tucked into the upload description. Alongside the editing and publishing credits, austen, who posts the videos, explicitly notes disagreement with the review. A few commenters have noticed and are giving austen their backing.

Published on Trari

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What viewers say

Taste is entirely subjective but giving this a 2/10 is just....confusing. He is clearly trying something new, that's pushing the boundary, produced with care and a hefty dose of creative risk-taking. Much like other albums that weren't necessarily your cup of tea but you rated much higher.
@paghi2672See it on YouTube
Gets called whiny for singing with distressed vocals and gets called JT for using a clean falsetto tone. Can't win lol
@propheciahSee it on YouTube
sometimes i wonder if we even listened to the same music
@0dyssey970See it on YouTube

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