Man, what a journey it has been, haha. You've grown so much since 2020 when you started posting on Newgrounds. Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end, seeing as there are only so many states in America. It's good to see you finished it with a bang. I'm glad you decided to go with the medley idea (or a variation of it), I was secretly hoping you would. Also, I'm very sorry about not existing for a whole month, I wanted to wait until I had enough time to properly comment on this. I'm so good at being on time.
It's kind of odd that Fl starts to explode after 7 minutes. Your Tennessee one was 13.5 minutes long. Maybe it was all the plugins/soundfonts you added in or maybe you just have a lot more going on in this one.
00:00 to 01:28, of course, it wouldn't be a 50steaks piece if it didn't have a long intro, haha. Despite the intro being a minute and a half long, you spaced and introduced new elements and sounds in a way that kept my attention and made it not feel like a minute and a half. Also love how used your iconic kick on every beat thing. It's a lovely throwback to a bunch of your other songs and their intros.
The sustained high notes along with the electro swells makes for a very interesting and mysterious start. at 00:35, I like how you held that idea a little longer than what would have been expected. I think it was a really nice and effective way to transition and create the desire for the next section. I'm not sure what the actual term is for it. The same way as a diminished chord resolves to the tonic of a key. That along with the slight increase in distortion made for a really clean musical transition. It's very subtle and simple, but for me, it made the intro that much more enjoyable.
With your transition done, you seamlessly introduce the drums to maintain the listener's attention. Again you use the same transition technique that I like, but you added up the intensity of the distortion. I feel like using the same technique twice in a row may have had an impact on its effectiveness, but not enough to worry about.
01:27 - 01:56. I think the melody is the weakest aspect of what you've made so far. Not to say that it is bad or anything, I just think it is a little repetitive and you wouldn't be able to listen to it for a long period of time. You also tend to do these small 3 or 4-note chromatic runs, which give off a sort of spooky vibe, which I'm not sure if you're going for or not. Perhaps it may give off that impression because of the synth the melody is played on, not sure.
01:56 - 02:25. In my opinion, I think this section gets a little messy. A good rule of thumb that I often use is not having the harmony leave the chord progression too often. Especially if you have a melody with discordant elements. I do have to say though, despite the messiness, it is charming hearing everything still shift with the chords. A sort of order in the chaos. Very cool, if that was intentional, haha.
02:25 - 02:54. I like how you changed to a more monoharmonic style in this section. Complete stylistic contrast to what you had before. Going from a little messy and all over the show, to the complete opposite. Everything playing together in unison. I really like the brassy textures you have here, I think it goes very well and it introduces a new musical idea without it sound unrelated to what you had before.
02:55 - 03:07. Nothing much to say about this section, other than its cool and sounds awesome. I really like this section.
03: 06 - 03:21. I feel like with the way you set yourself up with the previous part, you didn't leave much room to add much more. The new additions you made to this part sound a little out of place and that it's clashing with the perfecting that you had just had. Creates a sort of unbalance. Perhaps shifting the notes by a few semi-tones, just so that it works and doesn't fight with what you had going. Shouldn't be too big of a fix, just shifting around the pitches to see what works.
03:22 - 03:51. The start of this section went so hard. The melody was simple yet catchy, and then went in a different direction and sounded diminished, in a way. Everything else in this section is fine except the bassoon (or the synth that sounds like a bassoon). I feel like there's too much going on with the bassoon and it might be beneficial to tone it back a little. It's taking away from what the melody is bringing. Also, it clashes with the melody every now and then.
03:51 - 04:20 (blaze). For me, I think this section may be the strongest yet. The melody is the best so far and the harmony elevates the melody. I really like the bends you have on the synth/instrument that's playing the melody. It reminds me a lot of something and makes me feel nostalgic. I just have no idea what it reminds me of. Overall, pretty strong section.
04:22 - 4:50. This section has the same issue as some of your previous sections. there's a lot of clashing and things happening. I think that if you want to have multiple ideas playing at the same time, you have to pay close attention to what notes are being played and what chord is currently active. I do like how you came back to the melody though, I think that's a nice touch. Helps the whole piece feel more connected and helps with overall development.
04:50 - 05:20. A nice climactic section. I really like what you did with 04:53. I think its really cute and was a nice change to how the melody usually goes like. Bringing more emphasis to the repetitive notes, making them a lot more enjoyable to listen to. This section fixes a lot of the melodic issues I found in the earlier section with the melody. I also like the white noise riser at the end of this section.
05:20 - 07:11. Haha, this is very cool. I like the complete shift in tone and atmosphere. I think this is a very cute way to end the piece and I appreciate it. I can see how you wanted to go further with the way you express your musical ideas because this section sort of seems like it wants to start up something like a second movement. But unfortunately fl mobile has to explode and prohibit you from doing more with this project.
Overall:
I really like this piece. I can tell you put a lot of effort into it, and it shows. I think it's a very fitting end to your 3-year-long journey. Just as you turn 18, a new chapter of your life begins, just like how a new chapter of your music will begin as well. It was a lot of fun being able to listen to your music and watch you grow as a musician. I hope I was able to help advance you with your music the same way you helped me and my music.
All good things come to an end. But with an end to your 50states journey, I'm sure even better things will come. One final congratulations, friend!
50Steaks 
