Chance the Rapper has been hailed as one of the brightest young talents in the hip hop game for quite some time now. His three mixtapes 10 day, Acid Rap, and Coloring Book drew widespread praise from the hip hop community, and combined with the fact that we have yet to see a debut, full-length project from Chance has left many eager to hear from the Chicago native.

Chance fans got their wish when he dropped his first full-length album The Big Day on July 26, 2019. After years of waiting, this project has left many Chance fans wishing they would’ve waited longer. To put it plainly, this is not the album we wanted from a musical talent with as much potential as Chance.

Any sort of soul or life in Chance’s previous work is sold out here for a bland, generic and downright soulless effort that is enough to make anyone bored to death. First, let’s discuss the length of the project. This project is a bloated 23 tracks. Unfortunately, it doesn’t take long to realize that he doesn’t have enough to say to make that length appropriate.

I’m sure many are aware of the “Chance loves his wife” memes poking fun at how much he talks about his wife on this project. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think there is anything wrong with an artist acknowledging their family or personal life on a project. However, the way Chance does it is flavorless and soulless to the point where it just becomes redundant.

On this record, Chance is clearly trying to take a soulful and encouraging approach to many parts of this album. This would be intriguing if Chance didn’t use boring and uninspiring instrumentals paired with subpar lyrics and vocals like on the track “Eternal.”

Somehow this isn’t the worst of it. The lowest of low points is the track “Hot Shower.” Chance is downright annoying the listener here. When someone as mediocre as Madeintokyo has outperformed you on your own album, you have done something wrong. The only positive aspect of this track is Dababy’s verse, who continues to prove that he is one of the hottest feature artists of this year.

Another stomach churning song is the track “We Go High.” Chance uses gospel influence on this track, which is not anything new for Chance, considering that we have seen him use the same influence in the past of his previous records most prominently on “Coloring Book”, with songs like “Blessings,” “No Problem,” and “All We Got,” featuring Kanye West. The difference between this track and other actually good gospel-influenced tracks is that those tracks actually had soul and feeling to them. This track is as lifeless as it gets with Chance delivering one of his worst vocal performances to date.

To be fair, there are a few bright spots on this album. I found myself enjoying the track “Do you Remember” featuring Ben Gibbard. This is one of the few tracks where I did not find myself overly disappointed with Chance’s performance. I also find myself loving the hook on this track. I also enjoyed the record “5 Year Plan,” in which Chance actually shows genuine passion. It almost reminded me of the Chance we see on Acid Rap.

Unfortunately, these few bright spots are not enough to make up for the other songs that range from just “meh” to  embarrassing. Overall, “The Big Day” is a disappointing mess of an album. Even though Chance’s message of family and faith is admirable, Chance’s delivery of these themes are hard to get through and overbearing. Overall I’m feeling a 1.5/5 on this project.