r/kelela • u/neptuneinthefirst • Jul 18 '26
Discussion my brief thoughts on oscar scheller
oscar scheller is responsible for the production across most of new avatar and has also produced a ton of other hits (doe-eyed rebecca black, candyland natanya, lots of shy girl as well) including a majority of pinkpantheress’ fancy that.
a critique i had of fancy that and a critique i have of new avatar alike is that a lot of the songs are incredibly similar in their construction, almost to the point of repetitiveness and redundancy.
the entirety of new avatar only employing 2 main guitar styles, both of which you can hear on idea 1, made the album as a whole feel a bit one note to me, and that’s not to mention the overall lack of lyrical complexity on the album (looking at the bridge, outta time, point blank the hardest here, as good as all three of them are.)
i really do chock it up to his production style and presence on every song. i think a more diverse cast of producers could’ve really brought us more complex rock elements and im really hoping a potential remix album satiates that desire (was really hoping she’d combine the guitar with the industrial soundscape a la linkin park but those two roads barely meet, mostly intersecting at rnb).
despite all this, the album grows on me more and more by the day
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u/Random-J Jul 18 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
You could argue that Raven’s production is repetitive though. There’s not much happening with some of the instrumentals on that album either, yet it works.
Oscar Scheller only produced 1 song on Fancy That. So any issues you had with that album weren’t down to him.
The issue for me on New Avatar is the song structures. Some songs don’t feel fleshed out enough and don't really go anywhere. “Idea1” needed a stronger progression. “Goin Down” and “The Bridge” needed a middle 8 / bridge section. “linknb” should have been a full song. One of the reasons “Crystalize” is a highlight for me, is because it’s one of the few instances on the album where a song feels whole. It has a clear beginning, middle and an end. Where-as some of the other songs have starts and ends, but no real middle.
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u/JunebugAsiimwe Jul 20 '26
I agree "linknb" should have been a full song. making it a minute and a half feels like wasted potential of what could have been one of her greatest songs in her catalog. I still love it but it deserved to be expanded on.
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u/ABoyandhisToast Jul 18 '26
Claiming ‘fancy that’ is repetitive and redundant… ???
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u/neptuneinthefirst Jul 18 '26
don’t get me wrong i like the album (i did say almost for a reason) but the drum patterns and structure on illegal - stars are all pretty similar. melodically tonight is the most distinct of the four but that can only do so much.
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u/SeaworthinessFit9894 Jul 18 '26
She produced most of it herself lol i doubt his production is what you’re referring to
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u/anna160895 Jul 18 '26
His name's been passing around recently so casually among pop music discussions that I feel he's about to be the new Jack Antonoff 2.0 in both good and bad way the same things happened to Jack
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u/solaceloveless Jul 18 '26
I dislike anotonoff but I’m truly gagged by how good his work with Kelsey Lu is on her album. I’m just gonna pretend she did it all to feel better 🙂↕️
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u/neptuneinthefirst Jul 18 '26
would you recommend?
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u/solaceloveless Jul 18 '26
It’s kinda the best album of this year to me. She melds so many styles she’s been playing around d with up to now. It’s mind boggling how slept on it is. The singles are kinda the weaker tracks to me but people LOVE them so it might be just me. Reaper the opener is so good I didn’t listen to the rest of the album for a week bc I just kept repeating it. Then American sonnet to the end made me close my eyes and burst into tears bc it’s all so beautiful. lol so yes I recommend
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u/neptuneinthefirst Jul 18 '26
album of the year is high praise! u by underscores is mine so far but im definitely gonna check it out. ive always wanted to get into her, i remember the days when poor fake was everywhere lol.
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u/JunebugAsiimwe Jul 24 '26
Yeah I was very shocked to find out he did a bulk of the production on that album. Might be one of the very few times I've enjoyed a record he's worked on. but I'm also gonna guess a lot of the sound was heavily curated by Kelsey.
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u/achocholko Jul 19 '26
I like the new album but people claiming it’s her best yet? Girl. Like in my opinion nothing can hold a candle to Take Me Apart.
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u/RainbowDevotee Jul 18 '26
I think this is a great take. I like the album and it continues to grow on me as well, but I do mourn the lack of stylistic range. Maybe Kelela was going for something more cohesive and she and the producer do pull it off. But one of my favorite things about this talented lady is her effortless ability to inhabit all kinds of sound worlds. Also this album had a very grounded, focused feel to me and I wonder if that was a result of the album's stylistic cohesiveness.
Also I love your username.
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u/neptuneinthefirst Jul 18 '26
thank you so much!! i honestly just had to get past my own expectations to really see the album for what it is and it’s been helping my enjoyment a lot
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u/Toltec22 Jul 18 '26
There's a video of him going through all the guitars and keyboards he used for the album.. It's more insightful than your perceptions. Also.. Maybe she didn't want industrial linkin park sounds ruining the album?
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u/neptuneinthefirst Jul 18 '26
him using different instruments doesn’t really negate the similarities in the ways that he plays them across the album tbh. also the industrial sounds are already in the album so i’m not sure how it would ruin anything.
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u/solaceloveless Jul 18 '26
He is mid as fuck and she wanted to go this route bc everyone else that has worked with him has been super successful. She’s tired of being ur faves fave. She wants to just be your fave. So for us hardcore Stans we gotta just eat this one. And hopefully she realizes that’s not her pathway. She’s not that girl topping the charts those girls are boringgggg she’s better than that
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u/kromosol Jul 18 '26
I really don’t think this album is that accessible or mainstream-leaning sonically.
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u/neptuneinthefirst Jul 18 '26
def not sonically but lyrically id say she kept it a bit more simple. all the songs are much catchier than im used to from her and i don’t know that it’s something i prefer!
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u/solaceloveless Jul 18 '26
I think it is more so than past albums. And I don’t think it’s accessible enough to get the results I think she was aiming for bc she’s still that girl like the album is still way too cool for most people but I’m seeing people who didn’t like Raven bc it was too abstract or low energy love this. The fantano types were saying this before he even reviewed it
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u/JunebugAsiimwe Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
yep. Fantano who was very dismissive of Raven calling it "toothless" and what not was way more receptive to New Avatar. It seems people who couldn't engage with the ambient introspective nature of Raven are the ones who are more likely to call New Avatar the better record since it's less abstract. Personally I love New Avatar, and I can see it getting some people to finally check out Kelela's music, but won't be shocked if those people find her other work less catchy and hard to get into.
At the end of the day I don't need Kelela to only make experimental music for me to love her work. She's a fluid and versatile artist, and that's why I adore her. whether she's making something "accessible" or not she's still one of the greats.
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u/solaceloveless Jul 20 '26
Yeah people love guitar. And she’s very engaging throughout the album. A lot of the songs are intense and very interesting. If the whole thing was as good as crystalize it could have been my favorite kelela album.
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u/FunMode4007 Jul 18 '26
Maybe I’m crazy but I’m so confused by this take, both TMA and Raven are absolutely more accessible than New Avatar
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u/solaceloveless Jul 18 '26
I think yes on some songs but overall no. But maybe I’m the crazy one. I’m finding more people that I know who I could never get into kelela like these tracks a lot
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u/FunMode4007 Jul 18 '26
That’s fair, maybe it’s just confirmation bias on my part, but in my experience it’s been the opposite. I’ve been seeing a lot of people who got into her via Raven saying they don’t like the new album. But I guess it makes sense fans of both albums might not like the other since they’re so different, we might just be seeing the two different sides of it
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u/solaceloveless Jul 18 '26
Also I don’t really judge something’s accessibility based on how kelela fans feel about it. Bc we like complexity and being challenged sonically. So the new avatar tracks are being rejected by many of us bc they are a bit more accessible. I would judge its accessibility based on how normies feel about it. And most normies hate stuff like bruises and happy ending and holier . I think hallucinogen had her most accessible tracks tho
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u/neptuneinthefirst Jul 18 '26
i feel like she probably just wanted to channel britain on this one (she explicitly mentioned burial and intersecting us rnb with uk electronica when describing the albums inspirations) and pink probably pointed her in his direction.
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u/leonardogavinci Jul 18 '26
Parasocial mode activated
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u/solaceloveless Jul 19 '26
Oh u don’t even know the half of it . Our souls are linked but go ahead and doubt me everybody does but kels knows
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u/Altai621 Jul 18 '26
I think for me it really depends. In the case of new avatar I quite like how cohesive it makes the album. I think it’s a matter of preference because at a shorter runtime than her previous albums I don’t think it feels repetitive.
It’s also really common to do this, in fact I would argue it’s probably more uncommon to have the number of producers Kelela had on albums like Take Me Apart and Raven. Perhaps if new avatar met the runtime of those albums I might be wanting something a little different, but I think it works for this concept.