Music Review: Violet Grohl; Be Sweet to Me

I sat down to listen to Violet Grohl's "Be Sweet to Me" with very low expectations. I try to walk into listening to all new albums with optimism. But not a lot of music being put out by 20-year-olds that I relate to. Famous musicians' children making music is such a mixed bag. But Dave Grohl is one of my all-time favorite musicians. Foo Fighters is a top 5 favorite band. So, I had to give Violet Grohl a chance. I am so glad I did it.

I do not remember the last time I sat so blown away by a new album and a 20-year-olds debut album. Not on my bingo card folks.

First off let's get the obvious out of the way. This sounds nothing like a Foo Fighters album. This sounds nothing like Dave Grohl. This is a unique thing all by itself. 

Violet's voice has this cold distance to it. Its soft and sweet but also sad and broken. it's not polished perfection that has been cultivated in some choir rooms. This voice has a "I skipped school" tone to it. 

The album as a whole has very distinct grunge aspects to it but not exactly the biggest most well names of the era. Yes, there is a lot of obvious Hole influence but at its softest I hear so much of the dreaminess of Mazzy Star and the energy of Veruca Salt and then added a dash of Yeah Yeah Yeahs. 

THUM kicks off the album, it feels very modern indie rock radio. Still has very noticeable grunge influences but is very modern and very layered.

The second track "595" is one of the two lead singles off the album.  Album starts out on fire. "595" is very grunge influenced mixed with a vintage rock radio.

"Bug in the Cake" kicks off with some high energy. I am surprised this wasn't the lead single. I thought it was so catchy. 

Applefish is where I started to hear this soft gentle broken voice. It reminded me so much of Mazzy Star but a harder edge and more rocking feel. 

The ninth track is when I started to realize how much I was loving this album. Cool Buzz is just brooding; it has a very grunge punk vibe to it.  Like this is a small smokey warehouse. This is the point in reviewing this album. I had to look for upcoming tour dates and buy myself some tickets.  

I could easily go through this album track by track and share the exciting nuggets I was finding but I don't want to ruin the whole experience of this album.

Growing up this is the type of album the magazines would go crazy about. This is one of those albums that critics love. I don't know that this album is going to have some sort of modern rock hit.  But at the end of the year if you sit down and listen to the top 10 debut albums of the year this should be the first artist out of your mouth. Not only is this the best debut album I have heard this year, but this might also be the best album I have heard in a few years. 

Violet Grohl is not just Dave Grohl's daughter she absolutely deserves to be recognized as her own individual artist. Be Sweet to Me front to back is amazing. Looking at her Spotify I was shocked to realize she still has songs with less than 100k listens. This is really your chance to be a day 1 listener of the next big act.

I recommend heading over to https://www.violetgrohl.com/ and grab some tickets. She is still playing some smaller venues and I don't think you will ever see her in venues this small again.