Out of all the young Emo-Trap artists that have emerged over the last few years that are obviously inspired by the likes of Lil Peep, Juice Wrld, and Trippie Redd, iann dior has always been one of the most intriguing ones to me. There has always been something about him that stands out from the rest of the pack. For one, iann dior has always been more diverse than a lot of his peers that make similar kinds of music. Whereas most young Emo-Trap artists focus more on the Hip Hop side rather than the Rock and Pop-Punk side, iann dior has always been able to expand beyond exclusively making Hip Hop music. He has excelled on “traditonal” Emo-Trap instrumentals in the past, but he has also shown that he has the kind of vocal style and flow that sounds great on regular Pop-Punk instrumentals as well. iann dior first emerged onto the scene in early 2019 when he released his mixtape Nothings Ever Good Enough. A couple of the songs on this tape went viral, which ended up getting iann Dior signed. He released his debut album Industry Plant towards the end of that year. After releasing an EP called I’m Gone in the summer of 2020, iann Dior had a massive breakthrough when he was featured on 24kGoldn’s song ‘Mood.’ This was one of the biggest songs of that year and solidified both artists are rising stars in the Hip Hop game. iann dior’s second album, On To Better Things, was released in the summer of 2022. This album received a good amount of praise, as it proved furthermore that he can excel at normal Pop-Punk music as well as he excels at Emo-Trap. iann dior has now returned with his new EP called leave me where you found me. After building so much positive momentum over the last couple of years, this EP is a perfect opportunity for him to capitalize and keep showing why he has stood out from the rest of the pack so much. With that being said, here is my review of iann dior’s leave me where you found me. Please let me know in the comments how you feel about this project, and also comment want your favorite songs from it are.
iann dior gets leave me where you found me started with the Cloud Trap banger ‘my turn.’ The best way that I can describe this song is that it feels like iann dior’s best impression of XXXTENTACION. The song is driven by a creepy and dark piano riff that sounds like it came out of a horror movie. The melody is accompanied by synths that make the melody more full. This melody is put over a basic and sort of punchy Trap beat. As I previously said, iann dior sounds so much like an off-brand XXXTENTACION on ‘my turn.’ I swear that if someone were to tell me this track was an AI-generated version of XXXTENTACION, I would believe them. On ‘my turn,’ iann is telling his ex that he is going to keep getting bigger and that they will have to watch him become more successful from afar. ‘do it all’ has a completely different sound than the first track on the record. This track has an Indie Pop-Rock sound that brings it back to the early 2010s. This track reminds me a lot of bands like Phoenix or Two Door Cinema Club. The song has a melody provided by a distorted guitar riff and synths that are put on a buzzing 808 drum that give the song such an energetic feeling. The beat for this song is very fast-paced which makes the track sound so light and fun. I enjoy iann dior’s vocal performance on this track so much. His quick flow is perfect for the beat on this track, the way his tone fluctuates gives the song a layer of emotion that it needs. On ‘do it all,’ iann is singing about a girl that was bringing him down and was not positively contributing to his life at all. ‘make it right’ is the third song in a row with a completely different sound than what precedes it. The instrumental in this song does not engage me much. It just sounds like a pretty generic modern Pop-Trap instrumental from a couple of years ago. I swear if you literally typed in “2020 Pop-Trap banger instrumental” on Youtube, you would find something that sounds similar to this. The song is driven by colorful synths and a hard Trap beat, with nothing about it that sounds unique in any way. I do enjoy iann dior’s vocals on this track, though. On ‘make it right,’ iann dior sings with a level of emotion that is palpable. Through his tone and his range, it is easy to hear the disdain in his voice. ‘make it right’ is about how iann dior gets high to forget about the pain that his ex caused him. ‘10×3’ is the fourth song in a row that sounds nothing like what comes before it on the album. This song is the most modern-sounding song on the album to this point. The song has an instrumental that sounds like something rappers like Lil Baby or Future would make in 2023. The song is driven by synths that sound like a flute that is put over a tough and bass-heavy Trap beat. The melody is not intricate, and its lack of texture gives it an almost hypnotic feeling. This is not necessarily a bad thing, though; even though it is pretty typical sounding, the instrumental is catchy and does sound nice. iann dior’s vocal performance on this track is fine to me. His flow is nice and his tone matches the song, but nothing about his delivery screams “iann dior.” If someone played this track for me without telling me who it was by, I probably would not be able to guess the artist. This does not make the song bad, though; i still do think it is somewhat enjoyable. On ‘10×3,’ iann dior is singing how girls who did not want him in the past are now all over him because of how much success he has had.
‘do or die’ is the second song in a row on the record that has a modern Trap feeling to it. This song has a much more sophisticated and intricate instrumental than the previous one. This song is driven by a melody provided by an off-kilter piano riff that is added to by various synths and sound effects. The melody has a weird, anxious sound that reminds me of something that would play during the dramatic scene of an action-packed anime. The beat of this song is quick and hard-hitting, matching the strange energy of the melody. iann dior’s vocal range and flow in ‘do or die’ go well with the instrumental; his vocals build on the weird, emotional sound that the instrumental has. On ‘do or die,’ iann dior is bragging about the wealth he has accumulated since he became famous. ‘myself’ is another song that feels heavily inspired by a couple of other big artists. When I hear this song, it immediately makes me think of Young Thug or Gunna. The instrumental, which sounds like it is provided by string instruments, has a light and breezy tone that reminds me of Young Thug’s Beautiful Thugger Girls. The beat is pretty quick, giving the song an energetic edge. Vocally, it honestly does sound like iann dior is doing his best Gunna impression. I do not necessarily dislike this vocal performance, but it also just sounds too much like Gunna to engage me. I’d rather listen to Gunna than listen to iann dior sounding like him. On ‘myself,’ iann dior is rapping about how he stopped talking to his ex because he needs to focus on himself. Similar to so many songs before it, ‘crack another seal’ sounds like it is heavily inspired by a huge Trap rapper of the 2010s and 2020s. This time, it sounds like he was trying to sound like Lil Uzi Vert. This song has a bright Pop-Trap instrumental that is driven by a vibrant Synth-driven melody and a speedy Trap beat. The melody is pleasant sounding and the beat is fun and makes me want to dance when I hear it. iann dior’s vocal performance on the song is good, but as I said, it reminds me so much of Lil Uzi Vert. He does not have as much range as Lil Uzi Vert has in his singing and iann dior’s voice is a little lower and even-keeled, but the influence is still easy to notice. On ‘cracked the seal,’ iann dior is singing about getting intoxicated to forget the haters. ‘start again’ is a track that provides a much-needed switch-up from what we have been getting from the last few tracks. This is a retro-sounding Pop-Rock track with an Emo-Rock tint to it. This song has a dancey and upbeat drum pattern with a melancholy guitar riff over it. I enjoy the juxtaposition that the melody and the beat create. The vocal performance of this song is great as well. I enjoy the range that iann dior shows on this track, and I like how well he flows on this kind of rock instrumental. On ‘start again,’ iann dior is telling his girl that if she leaves him again, it is over and he will not take her back. ‘start again’ is another major highlight for me from this record.
After the refreshing break we got with the last song, iann dior settles back into his comfort zone with the hazy Pop-Trap track ‘catching up.’ This song has a huge “summer hit” feeling to it. I could see it being a sneaky track that ends up going viral at some point in the next few months. It has the kind of melody and beat that makes me think of a hot summer day partying at the beach. When I hear this track, I think of warmth and sunlight. iann dior’s vocals on this track fit the song well. He does not do anything super special on the track, but he does add to the ambiance to the song. ‘catching up’ is another song about how iann dior gets fucked up to forget about his ex. ‘memory lane’ is the third venture into Rock from iann dior on this record. Similar to ‘do it all,’ iann dior dives into a style of Rock that I would have never expected to hear from him on this one. ‘do it all’ has a distinctly late 90s Alternative Rock feeling to it. When I heard this track, it makes me think of bands like Sixpence None The Richer or The Cranberries. Like the song before it, this song makes me think of the summer. Instead of partying, though, this one makes me think of a sunset on a hot summer day. The melody is so atmospheric and the beat is so soothing; it is the kind of song that can calm anyone down. The light and breathy tone that iann dior sings with in this song fits the instrumental nicely. It shows another side to him as a singer that I have not seen before. On ‘memory lane,’ is feeling tempted to go back to his ex because he remembers some of the good times. Out of all the Rock songs on the album to this point, ‘liar’ feels the closest to the type of Rock music iann dior has made in the past. This is a track that is heavily inspired by the new wave of Emo Pop-Rock music that has become popular over the last few years. ‘liar’ instantly made me think of artists like Machine Gun Kelly, YUNGBLUD, and MODSUN. Everything about this song, from the guitar riff to the drums to the vocals, sounds so much like those artists to me. iann dior does seem to excel at singing on these kinds of tracks, which does make the song enjoyable. He has proven in the past that he has a great voice for this kind of music, and he shows that once again in the song ‘liar.’ On ‘liar,’ iann dior is literally calling out his ex for lying to him so much. iann dior closes out this record with the song ‘sweetest demon.’ This song has the kind of Hip Hop and Pop-Punk fusion that I expected to hear more from iann dior on this record because he excels at it. This song feels influenced by artists like Lil Peep and Juice Wrld. Because of iann dior’s vocals and the way the instrumental is mixed, though, it does feel distinct from those artists. The melody has a bit of a Folk-Punk tone that is very interesting. It is put on a light Pop-Trap beat that gives the song a Hip Hop feel without pulling to far from the unique Folk-Punk quality the melody has. iann dior’s husky, low vocals on this song give it so much emotion. I love how well his rich tone pairs with this instrumental. On ‘sweetest demon,’ iann dior is singing about how much he misses his ex while admitting he knows how wrong she is for him. I am glad that iann dior ended the album with this track, as it shows how great me can be when he truly steps outside the box.
I went into leave me where you found me with pretty high expectations considering what I have heard from iann dior in the past. iann dior has shown how diverse he can be as an artist in his previous work; he has made it clear that there are no limitations for him as a musician and that he can create a lot of different-sounding music that still has quality. On leave me where you found me, does somewhat demonstrate this, but I do have a few caveats. One of my biggest gripes with the record is how short most of the songs are. Out of 12 tracks, only 3 of them are more than 2:10. Because most of these songs are so short, it is tough to become super engaged by a lot of them. In my opinion, most of these songs are too short to draw me in as a listener; the short tracks do not pack enough of a punch to grab my attention. I have to say I do like the range that iann dior shows on this record(especially in the second half of the record), but sometimes he wears his influences on his sleeve a bit too much. As I stated throughout the review, there are multiple times on the record where it seems like iann dior is trying way too hard to sound like another artist that he looks up to. Overall, though, there are a lot of good tracks on this album, and iann dior does show that he is an interesting artist to continue to watch. On leave me where you found me, iann dior shows that he still has a lot of growing to do as an artist, but proves how much he sticks out among his peers and does have massive potential.
EAST SIDE VIBES 