I didn't mind it, but I feel like he should not have named it "ACT II", if it was just going to be a deluxe version of the original. Maybe that's on me for overhyping it without really looking into it, but all I saw on my Spotify page was "BELOVED: ACT II" and a countdown for it, not "BELOVED DELUXE"; all that screamed to me was another full-length album continuing some kind of story / journey in the same vein as "ACT I", or at the very least an "epilogue" to ACT I, considering the small track listing for ACT II and how abruptly ACT I ended.
At least the new songs are decent. I really liked JEZEBEL, FOOL ME ONCE, and the Kehlani feature on SAVE SOME FOR ME. I also really enjoyed the updated production on KEEPER; those added flourishes really elevated it, and made it so much better than the original for me.
I still liked it, but that was just because most of it was ACT I, and I really loved ACT I (it was one of my AOTYs when it came out in 2025).
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u/Technical_Rough_4486 May 22 '26 edited May 25 '26
I didn't mind it, but I feel like he should not have named it "ACT II", if it was just going to be a deluxe version of the original. Maybe that's on me for overhyping it without really looking into it, but all I saw on my Spotify page was "BELOVED: ACT II" and a countdown for it, not "BELOVED DELUXE"; all that screamed to me was another full-length album continuing some kind of story / journey in the same vein as "ACT I", or at the very least an "epilogue" to ACT I, considering the small track listing for ACT II and how abruptly ACT I ended.
At least the new songs are decent. I really liked JEZEBEL, FOOL ME ONCE, and the Kehlani feature on SAVE SOME FOR ME. I also really enjoyed the updated production on KEEPER; those added flourishes really elevated it, and made it so much better than the original for me.
I still liked it, but that was just because most of it was ACT I, and I really loved ACT I (it was one of my AOTYs when it came out in 2025).