Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 2020


America (Sufjan Stevens song)

Buy America (Sufjan Stevens song) now from Amazon

First, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.

Wikipedia article




"'America'" is a song by American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sufjan Stevens. It was released as the lead single from the album 'The Ascension' through Asthmatic Kitty on July 3, 2020.

Background and composition



Stevens announced his upcoming eighth studio album, titled 'The Ascension', as well as its lead single, "America", on June 30, 2020. In his announcement, Stevens declared "America" as a "protest song against the sickness of American culture in particular". The song was first written in 2014 during the time that Stevens was working on his seventh studio album, 'Carrie & Lowell'. It has also been described as a "twelve-minute rumination on disillusionment, suffering, and loss of faith in [Stevens's] nation".

Critical reception



Awarding "America" four stars out of five, 'NME's El Hunt deemed it "weighty and substantial". Sam Sodomsky of 'Pitchfork' gave it the publication's Best New Track designation and took note of the song's "characteristically sprawling arsenalits symphonic slow-build, its sea of recorders, its climactic, singalong chorus". 'British GQ's Jonathan Dean praised the song's "intense and building lament that packs in claustrophobia and beauty" and its "end stretch twinkling ambiance". In her review of 'The Ascension' for NPR, Lindsay Zoladz called "America" "the best and most barbed song [Stevens has] released in the past five years".

Release history



References




Buy America (Sufjan Stevens song) now from Amazon

<-- Return to songs from 2020



This work is released under CC-BY-SA. Some or all of this content attributed to http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1057427431.