Last Friday, two new albums were released by two completely different artists, marking it a significant day for many musicophiles. private music was released by alternative, shoegaze, and arguably nu metal band Deftones. In contrast, A Matter of Time was released by pop-jazz and bossa nova artist Laufey (pronounced Lay-vay). Both artists have very different styles, yet very similar listeners, almost resembling a music version of the iconic Barbenheimer moment of 2023, when the films Barbie and Oppenheimer were released on the same day.

Deftones’ sound is very recognizable—heavy, eerie, and almost ominous in a way. Their vocals are distorted, heavy instrumentals flooding it out with the occasional scream, trying to get through to the listener. They’re hard, they’re loud, and they’re very influential for the nu metal, alternative rock, and most importantly, shoegaze communities. Unfortunately, as fantastic as private music was, it simply did not stand out to me as much as some of their previous albums. It just felt very typical of a majority of their songs. My top three from the album would be “i think about you all the time,” “cut hands,” and “departing the body.”

Laufey, on the other hand, gave listeners an entirely different sound. Jazzy, magical, and even a little Christmas-y. It feels like the perfect album for the upcoming holiday season. It’s whimsical, it’s festive, and every song tells an incredible story. My top three songs from the album are “Clockwork,” “Silver Lining,” and “Sabotage.” Clockwork and Silver Lining both provide us with fun love songs, while Sabotage is something different—it’s soft, yet harsh. It starts out gentle, slow, and almost sad with the way Laufey sings and the sound of the instruments before being cruelly interrupted by harsh, violent instrumentals. During an interview, Laufey described these interruptions as growing up quiet and polite while harboring such unexplainable anger. You can be soft, polite, feminine, and everything a girl is meant to be, yet still be filled with such madness. It’s the epitome of being a woman.

“Oh my goodness… It’s so hard to pick [between the two albums], but I’d have to say I preferred Deftones,” said one UPHS student. “Personally, I only listened to Laufey’s album because it’s new. I don’t really like her music, but the album itself was really good. I prefer Deftones, though,” said another. After listening thoroughly to both albums, I find that I prefer Laufey’s album over Deftones.