- Everyone's a critic.

But for our episode on music criticism, we chose to focus on YouTube music critic, Anthony Fantano's The Needle Drop.

- Bam!

Hey everyone, Anthony Fantano here.

The internet's busiest music nerd.

- One, because his scoring system makes it crystal clear what he considers better or worse music.

And two, because one of our producers is a huge fan and gets really upset when he gives Young Thug low scores.

- I'm feeling a strong four to a light five on this thing.

- So we want to unlock the code of how to get a good rating from Anthony so that we can create our own Needle Drop approved song.

- Lenarae and I are gonna produce a track with the help of Anthony Fantano.

- We're trying to find a track that you can join us on.

- Cool.

(distorted audio buzzing) - What do you feel like the purpose of music critics is?

- I think it's more of a service of curation and allowing the audience to know in this very saturated field of music, this is stuff that I think is worth your time.

- How important do you feel it is for critics to actually be musicians?

- I don't know if it's super essential.

Because I know there are a lot of super successful critics whose opinions that I think over the years have proven to be super valid, who haven't necessarily prided themselves as being musicians.

I think that there are certainly aspects of music and music production that maybe as a critic you should do your due diligence to try to understand, to at least be able to comment on.

And giving that I'm reviewing records, understanding and knowing production, or at least the basics of it, that's kind of essential because that is literally the process of making the album.

- That's how I think.

- Since 2009, he's released over 3,000 videos on The Needle Drop as well as on his other channel, simply called Fantano.

And he's developed a rating scale that goes from zero to ten, with qualifiers such as... - Feeling a light to decent six.

Feeling a decent to a strong eight.

It's not good.

(explosion) - He's only ever given a ten out of ten rating to these five albums.

♪ Get get get get ♪ ♪ Got got got got ♪ ♪ Blood rush to my ♪ ♪ Head lit hot lock ♪ ♪ (Vocalizing) ♪ ♪ I love myself ♪ ♪ The world is a ghetto with big guns and picket signs ♪ ♪ Moving forward ♪ ♪ Keep moving forward ♪ ♪ Breezes into the driveway and kills the engine ♪ ♪ Sits for a spell ♪ - He did give a ten to the album Pink Flag by Wire in a special classic review, but since then the video's been taken down, so we'll just leave it out for now.

- And for a counterpoint, we also looked up the two albums to receive a zero out of ten.

♪ Seems I hate him too ♪ ♪ Seems my collar's blue ♪ ♪ And my lawyer say it's urgent ♪ ♪ I'ma call him in an hour ♪ - So how does a piece of music get a perfect 10 out of 10 rating, and avoid the 0 out of 10?

Fantano is the first to call his own criticism subjective.

- Even though I try to explicitly tell people over, and over, and over, this is just my opinion, its not doctrine.

Just like, please like, you know form your own opinion, disagree with me all you want, I'm not hating on you for disagreeing on me.

- After doing this for a decade, have you given any ratings to an album that you'd like to change in retrospect?

- Nothing like super crazy, I once hated, and I thought it was garbage - Just love it - and now its amazing now.

- All right, okay.

So that's it, video's over right?

Just do your best and hope he likes your music?

Well not exactly, we did find 7 key elements that all of his 10 out of 10 albums shared.

- I'm lovin' this record, freakin' lovin' this record.

And it just happens to be fantastically enjoyable.

- And 7 key elements that his 0 out of 10 albums lacked.

- No and I'm, I'm not interested in that.

- Our first tip is to go big or go home.

One aspect that will get you into Fantano's good graces is to make your music epic.

- And grand and rich.

So dense, lengthy.

Color, the volume, the texture, its all on high.

This whole new record is an undertaking in length.

What's grown into a 30-story monster.

Its two hours long!

- All that said, don't think just making your music longer and louder is an automatic ticket to a higher score.

- I do love loud music, its important to have dynamics though.

- Contrast, okay - You know because Loud is not significant if you don't have soft.

- Our second is probably the most obvious.

If you want a perfect score; don't be sloppy.

- This album is a pile of slop.

They're so weak, they're so badly performed.

Terrible singing, terrible bars, flat production.

- Cultivate the skills in order to be precise, crisp, and meticulous.

- Tons of precision.

So crisp, they sound so fantastic, they sound so clear.

So meticulously placed together.

(upbeat rock music) - Of course we don't want to say that there isn't any artistry or enjoyment in sloppy music.

Not everyone has to be a virtuoso.

But if you're putting out sloppy and poorly executed music, you probably weren't going for that 10 out of 10 perfect score anyway.

- Maybe the most striking point uncovered in the making of this video, was that Kid Cudi received a rare 0 out of 10 rating.

But then 2 albums later, received a 10 out of 10 rating.

Could the low expectations from the first 0 out of 10 record have lead to the perfect score with Kid's See Ghosts?

Fantano does use a lot of language that expresses his appreciation of progress.

- I was left after this album wondering "Where could Kendrick go after this."

He has gone through this artistic metamorphosis.

Since that album was released I think they've done, a great job of improving upon that formula as well.

Also sounds completely unlike anything Kanye has dropped so far this year, really dropped ever.

(eerie vocal reversed) ♪ It feels so good it should cost ♪ - And by contrast his frustration with the lack of progress.

- Its like its gotten worse than ever.

Progress is good, its, its not always necessary.

I would say the Daughter's record is a bit of an example of that.

Because the thing is like, they had almost a 10 year hiatus between those 2 records.

And certainly I agree that the, the newest record is better.

I wasn't really like "Oh man is this one gonna live up to the last one?"

You know the last one was pretty decent.

- The fourth thing you need to know about 10 out of 10 music is that Fantano likes his music to be.

- Just beautifully cohesive.

Seamless, they move so fluidly.

Its always consistent, its present, its on point.

(energetic rock music) If you want your listener to become truly immersed into your entire piece.

You have to try your very best to make sure your music has.

- Some kind of common thread running through them.

- It was seen, another thing that Fantano gives high ratings to is music that is troubled.

- Tortured and demented sounds.

Sickening murder scene.

Insane.

Emotional and mental problems.

Unsettling, disturbing.

♪ Let me off, screeching halt, ♪ ♪ Concussion blinding, not my fault ♪ - Does this taste for dark music give us insight into Fantano's character specifically?

Or might it indicate something about 10 out of 10 music itself?

Billboard recently published a study saying that 73 percent of independent musicians, report symptoms of mental illness.

So either we have to be brave enough to make art with our inner darkness, or, those of us with darkness inside are statistically more likely to create the kind of troubled music critics like Fantano value.

- I was looking back at like some of the records that I put in my top 10.

And some of the records I gave 10's to, I was like "Man, why are these albums (expletive) depressing?"

And then recently somebody made a meme where the golden retriever said "Anthony Fantano," and then the giant scary beast said "music Anthony Fantano likes."

I mean I don't personally buy into the notion, which I think is kind of overplayed in a lot of music writng circles.

That like, (Hands clap) sad art is the best, its all about sad art dude.

(expletive) That, (expletive) that happy art.

And also I'm sorry am I swearing too much for PBS, I don't know?

I think there's some really great records that I love and that I've supported over the years that have, you know some like supremely, bouncy, bright, colorful qualities to them.

- Music critics love listening to music so give them something that they really have to actively listen to.

For Fantano, it seems that 10 out of 10 music demands you to be.

- Tied to your chair and your, eyelids are peeled back.

- It demands attention.

- Songs on here do require quite a bit of attention.

♪ 40 acres and a mule?

A piano, a guitar?

♪ ♪ Anything, see my name is Lucy ♪ - This is essential, if you want them to give you their highest level of attention, you've got to infuse your music with nuance, detail, and variety.

- The record is a fantastic nuanced and very detailed character portrayal.

In short, don't make background music.

I do agree with this, but I would attribute a lot of it to like a reviewers bias.

Because I'm listening to the record in a way that your average casual listener might not be.

- No amount of complexity is going to save you if you're not being genuine.

- Well it doesn't feel like a genuine expression of love.

- Be free with yourself, be free with your music.

- Throwing out this idea of freedom.

- Be open.

- This world is opening up!

- Get face-to-face with your listener.

- Pop, being just so in your face.

- And above all, do it unapologetically.

- This really trashy, unapologetic character that MC ride depicts.

- Its funny, but while making this video we came across an amusing Reddit conspiracy that Fantano only gives positive reviews to artists who go shirtless at some point.

It's a ridiculous conspiracy, but whether or not showing your critics your skin gets you higher marks, opening up and showing your vulnerable side will be rewarded.

- I agree.

- So, no barriers.

Just connect.

- I do love a feeling of a record that is, authentic.

That feels kind of raw emotionally.

That is delivering some kind of intense emotion to you.

- Mm-hmm - It doesn't have to be like anger, it doesn't have to be sadness, it can be an intense sense of happiness as well.

- Sometimes artists get rubbed the wrong way when they get a negative review.

We just want to point out that from what we've seen, Anthony genuinely wants the music that he's listening to, to be good.

He's often rooting for the artist.

- I wish it didn't hurt feelings.

I wish it didn't create negativity.

I wish it didn't, but I don't know what to do, I don't know what to do.

If you put yourself out there in any way, you're a vlogger, you're a reviewer, you're a musician, you're this, you're that, you're going to catch criticism.

People are going to say negative things about you.

I've had horrible things said about me over the years that I have been doing this.

In my view, especially since I do my best not to make anything in my reviews on a level of a personal attack.

I feel like in the grander scheme of things, you could get worse stuff than a review.

- Do you know many or some of the artists that you've reviewed personally?

- I've met some and have had some acquaintanceships with them, but I try not to, get to close for professional reasons.

- Or does it help that you don't know them to be free to criticize as harshly as you want?

- I try to prevent myself from going to that point where I know them in such a way where it would be difficult to critique there music in an open and an honest way.

Because openly at the end of the day what my channel is for my fans.

- So even if you do get a bad review, its likely that some critics just don't like your kind of music.

So the best thing to do, is to get out there and find an audience that does.

So I have a question, what if you provided us with maybe one of your ideal grooves - On a baseline?

- That you play?

Yeah, and then we can, we can go from there.

- That could potentially work, I can work with a drum beat as well.

- I can send you the drums I did.

- Yeah why don't - Yeah!

- Instead of it going from LA, me, Anthony, we can go LA, Anthony, me.

- Boom.

- Yeah exactly, because then you've laid down the rhythm section essentially and then you can just do whatever you want on top of that.

- We think its just so interesting if we could see, you contributing to a track that, maybe the audience can then review that amongst themselves.

But just to, flip the script a little bit.

- We're trying to make a 10 out of 10 right?

(gentle jazz music) (upbeat jazz music) - What did you think of our song?

Did you love it?

Did you hate it?

What would you rate it?

And if you like our show, please subscribe to see more episodes where LA and I travel across the country.

(gentle audio reverse)