Memories...Do Not Open
| The Chainsmokers
Memories...Do Not Open
Memories...Do Not Open is the debut studio album by American electronic music duo the Chainsmokers, released on April 7, 2017, by Disruptor Records and Columbia Records. Its release was preceded by the singles "Paris" and "Something Just like This" (in collaboration with Coldplay), both of which reached the top 10 in several national charts. Upon its release, the album received generally mixed reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 with 221,000 album-equivalent units, of which 166,000 were pure album sales. - Wikipedia
Critic Reviews
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Pitchfork
The debut album from the celebrity production duo is a somber departure from their EDM days—a lifeless, anodyne pop record that wallows in basic feelings of regret and narcissism.
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Rolling Stone
Riddled with resentment and lyrics that land with a self-serious thud, Memories is a stunningly drab record.
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Spin
The Chainsmokers have one song, and if you don’t want to hear 12 versions of it, please do not un-click the latch holding this box closed. -
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New York Times
“Memories…Do Not Open” — the first full-length Chainsmokers album — is a savvy success that cannily toys with expectations.
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The Guardian
This is Trump-pop: shallow, always betraying its influences, with a third-grade vocabulary and ambition that runs no further than emptying the nearest wallet.
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Medium
It’s not a good electronic music album and all the songs that think they are electronic are uninspired and disappointing.
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Entertainment Weekly
The first thing you may notice about Memories…Do Not Open is how instantly familiar it already seems. The Chainsmokers’ smoothed-out, mid-tempo, nearly easy-listening formula has over the last three years become as inescapable as advertising.
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USA Today
For an album called Memories, it’s faceless and forgettable; while their peers make music for late-night dancefloors, the Chainsmokers made an album of background music for the Uber ride home.
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Slant Magazine
The Chainsmokers are more interested in following in the steps of Fun. than continuing to carve out their own niche.
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All Music
Over 12 songs that mostly sound the same with little to differentiate one from another, Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall shill a live-fast-die-young attitude that quickly grows tiresome.
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YoungPost
Bar some above average lyrics and occasional synth sparks, The Chainsmokers’ debut brings nothing new to the table. It is predictable and formulaic, soon to be lost in the sea of soft, self-deprecating EDM.
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The Young Folks
Lyrically, it was a mess most of the time and it seems like The Chainsmokers are running out of options for good music.
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The Knight Crier
[Memories...Do Not Open] is one of the best albums I’ve listened to. It has a mix of different genres of pop such as alternative pop, dance, and electropop.
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Financial Times
Memories . . . Do Not Open finds the pair in a different zone, struggling with difficult emotions and difficult women over a mid-tempo pop-rock beat and chunky, catchy melodies with hints of dance music.
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Amnplify
Overall Memories… Do Not Open is a well written album you can tell as each and every song on the album has heart and soul put into it.
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The National
Standing still in EDM is dangerous. Other DJs are creating thrilling stuff, so to hear The Chainsmokers blowing the same old smoke is a real disappointment.
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Sputnik Music
Uninteresting, unimaginative, and pandering to the radio market. It sure is The Chainsmokers.
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Substream Magazine
Memories…Do Not Open is what happens when fame born of vague, yet relatable material about relationships gone south while trying to figure out your own bullshit births an album when a single song would suffice.
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Brent Music Reviews
Memories…Do Not Open is better than anticipated. Maybe that’s not saying much, but personally, The Chainsmokers have assembled a debut that has its moments. Could be worse.
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Black Squirrel Radio
If you’re a die-hard Chainsmokers fan, then you’ll love this! If not, it’s still a very enjoyable album.
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The Needle Drop
This debut Chainsmokers album is like wading through a kiddie pool of emotions.
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Strathclyde Telegraph
Memories…Do Not Open lacks both decent balladry and club-worthy beats, without ever being as memorably dreadful as ‘#Selfie’, and is thus, a failure by any conceivable measure.
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Cryptic Rock
Tweet or no tweet, there is something beautiful in the duo’s much-awaited offering…slidingly smooth, syrupy sweet, sensuously sentimental, with hearts full of beats, heads full of dreams, and skies full of stars.
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Daily Campus
I can confidently say that the Chainsmokers produced an album that shows their hard work and passion and contains a variety of unique tracks.
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The Reel Deal
It made me reflect, took my by surprise, even got a smile out of me, and makes for a fittingly good finish to the highly recommended Memories Do Not Open.
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Spectrum Pulse
This debut record feels stale, corporate, utterly derivative in its composition, and designed to pander to an audience who really does deserve better.
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The Musical Hype
Ultimately, Memories…Do Not Open doesn’t look like it will be remembered for its greatness in the least.
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Spectrum Culture
The production’s not terribly imaginative, which is understandable. For the most part, this is a lite take on the kind of muscular EDM-pop Diplo perfected on his Jack U album with Skrillex.
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Digital Journal
Memories...Do Not Open, is a major disappointment. They had so much hype and potential, but the actual album went nowhere.
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The Orion
Each song has its own feel, rhythm and focus, and the EDM-Pop mix makes for fun, interesting songs to listen to.
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Her Campus at SCU
The Chainsmokers killed it with their release. Thank you, beautiful humans, for creating an album that changes from song to song but also, is a cohesive mix of 12 awesome songs that I can blast in the car all summer long.
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The Breeze
“Memories, Do Not Open” (MDNO) combines climactic build-ups and intense beat drops with vocals that ebb and flow into the music, creating a compelling intermingling of sound that drives the listener to want to get up and dance.
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Hollywood Life
The Chainsmokers stuck to what they know with ‘Memories…Do Not Open.’ There are great featured vocalists and club-ready tracks, but this was the duo’s chance to take their sound to a new level, and we were hoping for just a little bit more.
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Readbuzz
“Memories…Do Not Open” had potential, but fails to live up to its hype. Listening to “Closer” on repeat would give you the same experience (and sound) as listening to the album.
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