Perception was an album by American rapper, singer, songwriter Nathan Feuerstein, or NF, who is most known for his hit song “Let You Down”. This album was released in October of 2017, but many of the songs from the album have been hitting mainstream radars recently. There were many standout tracks on this album, including “Intro 3,” “Outcast,” “Let You Down,” and “My life”.
“Intro 3” is a song about NF conquering his fears of being judged and his ability to perform and write music. There are two personalities portrayed throughout the duration of the song, one of them was his fear that’s been following him since he was a young boy. The personality of fear was tormenting NF during the song, saying he wasn’t good enough and that he should just give up on music. The other personality was himself, NF, and he is trying to kick fear out of his head because he is sick of fear controlling him. The two personalities argue throughout the song and eventually, NF kills his fear and says, “I thought you (his fear), had me imprisoned this whole time but I’m the one holding the keys.” It was a metaphor regarding that fear never has control of you, but instead, you let it control you. The lyricism in this song was outstanding and the delivery of those lyrics was no exception. Overall this song was very real and was very well put together
“Outcast” is second track on the album immediately after “Intro 3”. Outcast is a song about one person and one only, himself. In this song, NF states that he is not like most rappers these days and if you don’t like him get out. He refers to himself as an outcast and he is proud of it and it is clearly said in this line, “ I don’t want to blend in with you other rapping idiots, I’d rather be the outcast.” He clearly says that he hates being like everyone else and that he wants to stand out and he doesn’t care about what others think of him. This song production was amazing and it incorporated many unique and different sounds and was very drum-heavy. The instrumentals, in my opinion, helped NF’s message in this song to be carried out even better than it would have if it had basic sounds that you hear in the 2010s. The song had a choir-like sound in the background and had a frequent snare, symbol, and bass drum sound, and along with the impeccable lyricism of NF, this song was like no other.
“Let You Down” track number six and is probably NF’s biggest hit. It was the song that put NF in the spotlight of mainstream radio stations. It got onto the radio and sounded great, but lyrics in the song were very melancholy and heavy. In this song, NF talks about his broken relationship with his own father. NF’s father was never really there for him while he was growing up and never acknowledged him for anything. His father was also a heavy drinker and whenever Nathan would bother him he would yell at him and say that NF was a disappointment. NF would try to do anything so that his dad would see him as a responsible person, but none of it mattered and he mentioned this in this line “I guess I’m a disappointment, doing everything that I can I don’t want to make you disappointed, it’s annoying” the song is very powerful and almost makes you feel bad for him and get you emotionally attached to him and his art. Let You Down is definitely one of the most sorrowful songs he’s written and is a good listen.
“My life” is the eighth track on the Perception album. As the name suggests, the song is about the awful life of NF. He started off the song with yet another line dedicated to his parents he had talked about his father’s alcoholism and he talks about his mother passing away from a drug overdose. NF has a whole other song called “How Could You Leave Us” on his 2016 album Therapy Session. But on “My Life” NF talks about ever since he was young he’s been a pessimist and how he has very thin patience for people in general. It’s a very deep song when you really listen to it and it is very well written and emotional.
My final rating for NF’s 2017 album Perception is an 8/10. NF really highlighted his outlook on life and what others should get out of his songs. Overall I think NF was looking for his young audience to look upon his album like a guidebook. Examples would be not letting fear control your actions, learning from your mistakes, if you feel dismal you’re not alone, and that it doesn’t matter what others think of you.
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