the production on OR3 is so fantastic. the haunted ballroom-esque ending of honeybee. the stripped down guitar picking on begged. the happy upbeat sound to maggots for brains giving it a hopeless romantic vibe, while the lyrics put the emphasis on hopeless.
because it’s generally a slow album, i don’t know if it will win record of the year, but i do know that dan and olivia showed that they know exactly what kind of production an album of mostly ballads needs: something simple, soft, and understated that lets her vocals and lyricism shine. in the hands of a less experienced collaborative partnership, this album could’ve easily been so slow it bored us, or so upbeat that the truly sad lyrics would’ve been lost to dominating melodies, but they knew what it was and what it needed, and that, to me, is what makes award winning production