An Album A Day... Uninspired?

We made it another day!

What’s up everybody! Welcome back to another entry of the series. I can’t believe we’ve made it yet another day! I’m not gonna lie, after I hit that “generate” button this morning, I just about quit the whole series (you’ll see why shortly). Nonetheless, we persevere! So what’s next on the agenda?

January 2, 2026 // Lewis Capaldi - Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent

Do you see why I am almost quit the series now? My experience with Lewis Capaldi has been quite limited… intentionally. After hearing “Someone You Loved” for the thousandth time in a week over the summer of 2019, I vowed to never voluntarily listen to any of his stuff. Now I don’t mind the song, but hearing it every time you turned on the radio or went shopping was irritating. The simple solution was to just avoid it, which is why I never gave Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent a chance… but the random album generator says I must!

As any semi-professional reviewer would do… I absolutely went into this record with all of my negative assumptions. If I found his hit single irritating, surely I’d find the rest of the album to be the same, right? Well, I was pleasantly surprised. Although I’m still not the biggest fan of his voice personally, many of the songs here are exceptional. Despite “Someone You Loved” being overplayed, it’s understandable why it is with its emotional vocal performance and beautiful piano progression.The other massive hits “Hold Me While You Wait” and “Bruises” follow that same pattern of simplicity mixed with emotional desperation in the vocals which is clearly Capaldi’s songwriting strengths. Yet this is also where the album falters. Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent thrives on this exact formula, leaving it solemn and dreadful to listen to at times. The songs themselves aren’t the problem, but rather the fact that all of the songs are together in proximity, making the tracklist feel like a chore to get through since everything treads the same path. Though songs like “Grace” and “Maybe” add a little extra oomph to the formula, they aren’t able to fully pull the record out of the depths of monotony — except for one song.

The upbeat and infectious energy of “Hollywood” was a breath of fresh air from the rest of the record, and I’m not really sure how this wasn’t one of his signature radioplay jams. To put it into comparison, this song has 90 million plays while “Someone You Loved” has a staggering 4.2 billion plays! A drastic difference in popularity, and somehow it is quite the opposite in terms of quality. The chorus of “Hollywood” is insanely catchy, and I truly believe that the heightened intensity suits his voice way more, allowing him to hit those grittier high notes without clashing against the softer ballads that define his typical style. With every listen through the album, I looked forward to this song and always went back to it, which isn’t something I expected to find on a Capaldi album at any point.

Even though I do love that song, it doesn’t necessarily boost the entirety of the record. Yes, I enjoyed Divinely Uninspired To A Hellish Extent far more than I ever expected to, but that doesn’t automatically make it a great album. With just over 40 minutes of roughly the same songwriting formula, it slowly becomes a rather tedious listen with everything blending together aside from a vocal run here or a nice instrumental addition over there. But I’ll give credit to the album, it somehow transformed me from being an avid avoider of everything Lewis Capaldi to someone who wouldn’t mind if he came on the radio.

5.5/10

Favorite Track: Hollywood

Least Favorite Track: One

Final Thoughts: It took everything within me to not say “the title says it all” during the review.