SASAMI Blood On The Silver Screen
SASAMI's Blood On The Silver Screen finds the artist leaning unapologetically into pop, blending shimmering 2010s nostalgia and cinematic production with flashes of rock grit. Across professional reviews, critics note an ambitious genre-shift that yields both immediate, danceable highs and moments of aimless songwriting, suggesting the record is compelling even when it falters.
The critical consensus lands at a 66.82/100 across 11 professional reviews, with reviewers consistently praising standout tracks such as “Slugger”, “In Love With A Memory”, “I’ll Be Gone” and “The Seed”. Critics agree that “Slugger” acts as the album's hook-filled opener - sass-laden, radio-friendly and emotionally resonant - while “In Love With A Memory” (the duet noted by several outlets) and “I’ll Be Gone” showcase Sasami's gift for pop songwriting and dramatic melodrama. Reviewers repeatedly point to themes of love and heartache, performative identity and polished versus raw production, praising moments where club-driven, synthpop textures meet candid self-reflection.
Yet several reviews temper enthusiasm: some critics, including Pitchfork and The Skinny, argue that the record drifts into over-studied theatricality and uneven choruses, leaving certain songs undercooked. Still, most agree that when Sasami commits to maximalist pop - particularly on the album's best songs - the payoff is substantial. For readers searching for a verdict on Blood On The Silver Screen, the consensus suggests a rewarding, if imperfect, pop reinvention that delivers clear highlights and signals a bold new phase in Sasami's sonic evolution.
Critics' Top Tracks
The standout songs that made critics take notice
In Love With A Memory
4 mentions
"rippling psychedelic synths over downtempo beats on “In Love With a Memory”"— PopMatters
I'll Be Gone
4 mentions
"“I’ll Be Gone” features a swirl of synths and polyrhythms"— PopMatters
For The Weekend
4 mentions
"“For the Weekend” is primed to be another hit with catchy hooks"— PopMatters
rippling psychedelic synths over downtempo beats on “In Love With a Memory”
Track Ratings
How critics rated each track, relative to this album (0-100). Only tracks that made critics feel something are rated.
Slugger
Just Be Friends
I'll Be Gone
Love Makes You Do Crazy Things
In Love With A Memory
Possessed
Figure It Out
For The Weekend
Honeycrash
Smoke (Banished From Eden)
Nothing But A Sad Face On
Lose It All
The Seed
What Critics Are Saying
Deep insights from 12 critics who reviewed this album
Critic's Take
SASAMI takes a bold turn on Blood on the Silver Screen, and the best songs - like “Just Be Friends” and “Honeycrash” - prove the gamble pays off with arena-ready hooks and emotional payoff. The reviewer's voice celebrates how “Just Be Friends” builds into a force of nature, while “Honeycrash” lands the album title and its emotional heart. Other highlights such as “Slugger” and “In Love With a Memory” show versatility, from lush synth textures to neo-noir duet moments. Overall, these best tracks make the case for this album as one of SASAMI's most fully realized statements yet.
Key Points
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“Just Be Friends” is the best song because its arena-rock bridge, emotional vocal peaks, and melodic hooks define the album's triumphant pop-rock center.
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The album’s core strengths are its bold sonic evolution, strong songwriting craft, and a cinematic synthpop-meets-rock production that highlights SASAMI’s emotive voice.
Themes
Critic's Take
SASAMI pivots to pop on Blood on the Silver Screen, and the best songs are those that commit to theatricality - namely “Figure It Out” and “Lose It All”. The reviewer delights in how “Figure It Out” builds intensity with repeated pleas and a blazing guitar solo, and praises “Lose It All” for turning a trite line into something unsettlingly whimsical. But much of the album drifts, with halftime metaphors and aimless songwriting leaving even bright moments feeling distant. Overall, the record rewards its outsized production when Sasami leans into it, yet too often she stops short of full-throttle pop catharsis.
Key Points
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“Figure It Out” is best because it commits to theatrical build and a blazing solo that transforms a simple love song.
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The album’s core strength is its flirtation with campy pop production and occasional avant-garde textures, though songwriting often feels aimless.
Themes
Critic's Take
SASAMI leans fully into pop on Blood On The Silver Screen, and the best tracks - especially “Slugger” and “Nothing But A Sad Face On” - show her knack for immediate, danceable songwriting. “Slugger” throbs with indie-pop immediacy and begs to be danced to, while “Nothing But A Sad Face On” is menacing and darkly sexy, a forgotten Lana Del Rey single reborn. Other highlights like “I’ll Be Gone” and “Just Be Friends” deliver hooks and dramatic production, even as several choruses prove annoyingly forgettable. The record is enjoyable and accessible, but it left me missing the singular weirdness of her earlier work.
Key Points
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The best song is "Slugger" because it combines indie-pop immediacy with a danceable hook that the reviewer calls the album’s strongest track.
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The album’s core strengths are skilled pop songwriting, dramatic production, and moments of catharsis, even if many choruses lack lasting stickiness.
Themes
Critic's Take
SASAMI wears pop proudly on Blood On The Silver Screen, and the best songs - notably “Slugger” and “Love Makes You Do Crazy Things” - reveal why. Carlo Thomas finds “Slugger” the perfect introduction, its deceptively catchy chorus dressing up painful loneliness, while “Love Makes You Do Crazy Things” is called an album highlight for its shuddering power pop and painful admissions. Even slower cuts like “For the Weekend” earn attention for wrestling with desire without surrendering craft. Overall the record balances vulnerability and maximalist pop craft in a way that rewards listeners as much as the artist.
Key Points
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The best song, "Love Makes You Do Crazy Things", stands out for its shuddering power pop and candid admission, making it the album highlight.
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The album’s core strengths are its crafted pop songwriting, honest vulnerability, and balance of maximalist choruses with melancholic moments.
Themes
Critic's Take
In Erin Bashford's clear-eyed account, SASAMI's Blood On The Silver Screen finds its best songs in moments of raw clarity - “The Seed”, “Slugger” and “For The Weekend” stand out as the album's emotional anchors. Bashford keeps a measured, slightly sardonic tone, noting how the record is dappled with melancholy yet threaded with hope, and she praises the opener's ebullient synths and the closer's versatile vocals. The review highlights how tracks like “In Love With A Memory” and “I’ll Be Gone” balance nostalgia and acceptance, making clear why listeners ask about the best songs on Blood On The Silver Screen.
Key Points
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The Seed is best for its raw guitar loop and Sasami’s most versatile vocal performance.
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The album's core strengths are lyrical confession, melancholy tempered by hope, and strong vocal-synth arrangements.
Themes
Critic's Take
SASAMI makes a startling pivot on Blood On The Silver Screen, and the best songs - notably “Slugger”, “I’ll Be Gone” and “Possessed” - showcase that buoyant, confidence-boosting pop persona. The opener “Slugger” is sass-laden with an infectiously danceable chorus, while “I’ll Be Gone” supplies shimmering 80s melodrama. “Possessed” brings dark, club-driven energy that nods to contemporary art-pop, and the closing “The Seed” lets a grungey streak resurface into a gloriously thrashy chorus. Overall, these tracks mark the album's strongest moments and explain why listeners ask which are the best tracks on Blood On The Silver Screen.
Key Points
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The best song is the opener “Slugger” because its sass and danceable chorus most clearly signal SASAMI's successful pop reinvention.
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The album's core strengths are buoyant pop production, 80s-tinged melodrama, and a willingness to reintroduce grunge and industrial textures at key moments.
Themes
Th
Critic's Take
SASAMI moves into sprightly, shiny territory on Blood On The Silver Screen, picking over messy modern-day dating with both tenderness and a sly, uneasy humour. The reviewer keeps returning to the album's odd, memorable lines - and names songs like “Slugger” and “The Seed” as the moments that stick, where metallic textures and summery pop collide. While pop hooks sometimes evaporate quickly, tracks such as “Slugger” feel surefooted and radio-friendly, and “The Seed” is marvellous for its intriguingly metallic sonics. The record is uneven, but those best tracks make the risk-taking worthwhile.
Key Points
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“Slugger” is the best song because it pairs summery pop confidence with a shockingly memorable opening line.
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The album’s strengths are its daring lyrical moments and metallic, genre-mixing textures that make certain tracks stand out.
Critic's Take
SASAMI leans fully into pop on Blood On The Silver Screen, and the album's bravado is best captured by “Honeycrash”, which names the record and dramatizes love as cinematic slaughter. The record also nods to country and storytelling on opener “Slugger”, giving the pop pivot surprising narrative texture. Across the record her willingness to be shameless and silly keeps songs like “Honeycrash” and “Slugger” feeling immediate and accessible, which answers the question of the best songs on Blood On The Silver Screen with a clear pop-forward bent.
Key Points
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The best song is “Honeycrash” because it names the album and encapsulates its histrionic, cinematic love and pop ambition.
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The album's core strength is Sasami's fearless genre-melding and playful, shameless pivot into accessible pop songwriting.
Themes
Critic's Take
SASAMI’s Blood On The Silver Screen trades previous brashness for a succint, daytime-pop sheen while still flirting with rock grandeur, making tracks like “Just Be Friends” and “In Love With A Memory” the album’s clearest successes. Perdoni writes with admiring frustration, noting that “Just Be Friends” leans into the quintessential break-up template yet is smashed into something glistening, and that “In Love With A Memory” grants Sasami and Clairo a graceful, hesitant duet. The record centers on difficult, damaged love and dresses itself in ill-fated confidence, which is why those songs land as the best tracks on Blood On The Silver Screen.
Key Points
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“In Love With A Memory” is best for its graceful duet and melancholic, hesitant portrayal of a relationship’s decline.
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The album’s core strengths are its fusion of rock grandeur and pop hooks, and its dramatic, romantic thematic framing.
Themes
Critic's Take
SASAMI's Blood On The Silver Screen is drenched in 2010s pop nostalgia, and the reviewer's ear keeps returning to the album's brighter moments, especially “Lose It All” and “Just Be Friends”. The prose praises SASAMI's conservatory-trained vocals and knack for love songs while noting that tracks like “Love Makes You Do Crazy Things” and “Figure It Out” sometimes feel over-studied rather than raw. The critic singles out “Lose It All” as the record's most impressive, an upbeat breakup bop that best channels the record's strengths. Overall the piece frames the album as ambitious and polished, but constrained by stiffness that undercuts some of its vitality.
Key Points
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The best song, "Lose It All", is singled out as an upbeat breakup bop and the record's most impressive moment.
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The album's core strengths are strong vocals, polished pop production, and effective love-song songwriting tempered by a stiffness that reduces emotional rawness.
Themes
Critic's Take
On Blood on the Silver Screen, SASAMI leans into shimmering pop, and the best songs - notably “In Love With a Memory” and “Slugger” - showcase that shift with melodic clarity. The review frames “In Love With a Memory” as a centerpiece, its Clairo feature fitting snugly into the indie-pop instrumental and the record’s nods to Japanese pop ballads. Elsewhere, singles like “Just Be Friends” and “Honeycrash” continue the thread of bright, less abrasive production, making them easy answers to queries about the best tracks on Blood on the Silver Screen. The tone here is appreciative and descriptive, pointing to a deliberate move away from the rock-tinged Squeeze era toward glossier, vocal-forward songs.
Key Points
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“In Love With a Memory” is the best song for its centerpiece status, Clairo feature, and explicit connection to the album’s Japanese pop ballad influence.
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The album’s core strength is a clear stylistic shift to shimmering, vocal-forward pop that emphasizes melodic clarity over the abrasive rock of the prior record.