Review 6: Kid Cudi – Entergalactic (2022)

Rating: 7.8

Kid Cudi doesn't really do happy albums. With the exception of his recent output, his albums are known for expressing feelings of isolation, depression, and emotional and mental turmoil. These themes were perhaps at their most despairing in his 2014 alt-rock experiment, Speedin' Bullet 2 Heaven, but are best known in his famous Man on the Moon trilogy (2009, 2010, 2020), which takes the listener on journey inside Cudi's mind, and his battle for peace against his alter-ego which represents his self-destructive instinct, Mr Rager. It therefore marks a notable contrast when his first project after the final chapter of the above trilogy is much more cheerful. 

 

Particularly given that it's Valentine's day tomorrow, I thought it was a good time to review Entergalactic, a companion album to the animated film of the same name, released in 2022 on Netflix. It's kind of a musical film, where these songs are integrated into it, and I recommend the film. It's about a young creative (voiced by Cudi) who meets and falls in love with his new photographer neighbour. Notably, Cudi said this about this album:

'I think this [album] is my perspective on love, and people haven't really heard that. I'm not somebody who makes R&B music, and I'm not somebody who makes lovey-dovey songs like that. I've just never really had much luck in relationships, so I've never had anything to write from. And if I did write about my relationships, it would've been all disasters, so I needed something to inspire me to get me there, to wanna write about relationships, and this show did it for me.'

 

He states that the album isn't really about him, but more from the perspective of his character. But one can't help but feel like his own feelings slip through at times. The album, like several of Cudi's prior projects, begins with an instrumental, and it provides a calm setting for the album to follow. My claim that Cudi's own feelings surface throughout the project is most notably illustrated on the second song, 'New Mode', perhaps even functioning as a transition from the the final song of Man on the Moon III 'Lord I Know', which ends with Cudi's daughter saying 'To be continued'. Knowing that Entergalactic was recorded before Man on the Moon III lends additional credence to this possibility. Here's a section from 'New Mode':

[Verse 1]
Finally got my head right, it's a new me
It's like I got heaven in my sights now, beauty I see
When it seems it's all too much
And your soul, it can't be rushed, no, no (Yeah, yo)
When the going's gettin' tough
And you know you can't give up, no way (Yeah, ooh-woah)

[Chorus]
And I'm in a new mode (Been searchin' for so long now lately)
Another level (I found some peace within)
And I'm in a new mode (I pray for so, so long now lately)
Another level (Oh, let's begin)

There's no real reason for this to be about his character: his character within the animated movie is a relatively happy person at the beginning of the movie, and largely stays so throughout. There's never the idea that he's recovering from trauma or intense suffering in his past, and so these lyrics only really make sense when applied to Cudi's own life, as described in his previous albums. 

 

The third song, 'Do What I Want' is a upbeat rap song about clubbing, but it makes way for several love songs, where he sings and hums, beginning with 'Angel'. As the name implies, it's a song about a love at first sight moment. It's nice to hear Cudi's iconic humming in a happy, positive context, even if it's for a fictional character. The same humming occurs on the fifth song, 'Ignite The Love'. They're relaxing, mellow songs, which is fitting, given the theme, and his singing has good synergy with the trap-R&B beats.

 

One thing with Cudi that has always impressed me is how he isn't intimidated by his production. He isn't afraid to have long production intros, outros, and entire songs without his vocals, as well as allowing space in between his lines. Genre bending artists like him and The Weeknd have mastered the art of allowing space where appropriate in their songs, giving room for stellar production to shine. It also means you look forward to when you next hear their voice, and it has more impact when it arrives. Both also produce many of their songs, which may allow for a more interwoven and varied approach to their singing and rapping. Of course, this requires excellent production! The peak of this approach was seen in both of their 2020 albums, Man on the Moon III; The Chosen and After Hours. 

 

Broadly speaking, this approach shines on this album. Kid Cudi produced all but one of the songs on this album (the third, 'Do What I Want'), mostly alongside long-time collaborator Dot da Genius, and he isn't afraid to give the production room to breathe and shine, and in turn, this elevates his singing and rapping. This rings true most of all on the sixth song, 'In Love', where Cudi, unsurprisingly, sings about how he's in love. The kick drum that dominates throughout adds extra impact to his words, and makes them much more memorable. The next song, 'Willing To Trust' is where, the R&B inclination of this album come through the strongest, particularly with Ty Dolla $ign's feature, and again, it's a enjoyable song, with mellow production. The album's production leans into Cudi's trap inclinations in the early 2020s, like on Man on the Moon III: The Chosen (2020), and Insano (2024), but smoothed over even more with pop and R&B sounds. Indeed, this the closest Cudi has ever come to an R&B album, and he prove he would have made a strong R&B singer.

 

The Chopped and Slowed version of this album is an great experience. I listened to DJ Hightz version, and it achieves the best of the technique: it creates a different, but just as impressive, experience from the same material. Whilst the original feels like the singing and rapping is from someone discovering the joys of a new relationship, the Chopped and Slowed version feels like a more mournful experience. It feels like someone older looking back on how they felt when they were younger and had just fallen in love, again discovering happiness, but perhaps didn't continue or end successfully. Of course, the verbs are still in the present tense, and this effect is my interpretation, but I think it has some credence. When some of the words are chopped, I hear it as like a tape recorder stuttering when playing one's past memories with an ex-partner and their lost relationship.

 

Returning to the original album, a few songs don't come together super well: I feel like the songs where Cudi is singing are significantly better than those when he's rapping on this particular album. As such, the more upbeat 'Can't Believe It' struggles somewhat, similarly to the prior mentioned 'Do What I Want', with beats that don't quite land and are a bit too... gritty. 2 Chainz' feature on 'Can't Believe It' is unremarkable, and Cudi's rapping made me feel slightly dizzy (not in a good way!). The album also doesn't quite capture that feeling of euphoria with a love at first sight that perhaps he was aiming for; the sound is a bit too mellow for that. Quite a few of the songs are really enjoyable, but not particularly memorable, like the penultimate song 'Somewhere to Fly'. A certain spice is missing, and perhaps that spice is what could have been provided if it was a personal album about himself.

 

But in an inconsistent discography, this album marks a refreshing change in Cudi's approach, and led to remarkable consistency. Even the hip-hop songs with beats that are questionable that I mentioned earlier don't hurt the vibe. But on most of the later songs, Cudi sticks to the strength of this album, in his hopeful singing, like on the songs 'She's Lookin' For Me' and 'My Drug'. Last year, Kid Cudi actually got married, and I wonder if he ponders how some of these songs may retroactively apply to his wife. This album shift in tone and space is a milestone for all the people, perhaps black men in particular, who have followed Kid Cudi's mental health journey from his first 2008 mixtape A Kid Named Cudi to his 2025 marriage. Whilst Entergalactic doesn't reach the heights of some of his previous albums, it's certainly one of his most consistent projects, and I'm happy to see an artist who struggled immensely with his inner demons throughout the 2010s craft a well-made, hopeful, and enjoyable album about romantic love.