Critical reception
Hologram Jams was poorly received by professional journalists, [3] with most of the criticisms pointed at the group's stylistic changes towards what some journalists found to be a cheap electronic sound, [8] [5] [14] an overly-sugary pop flavor, [10] [8] and a "target marketed" attempt to try to appeal to teenagers with its lyrics. [8] [10] [15] The Line of Best Fit went as so far to compare Hologram Jams to 3OH!3, [14] while reviewers from Pitchfork , Spectrum Culture, and The Skinny reported feeling exhausted from the album's overwhelming amount of noise and upbeat energy. [12] [10] [16]
Whitney's vocal performance on Hologram Jams garnered a mixed response. Loud and Quiet criticized it for ranging "between white boy skit and whiny primetime talent show hopeful" instead of sounding like a "banshee call for something belligerent" in his past works. [8] AllMusic suggested the synthesizers exaggerated Whitney's "dazzlingly shrill singing style and flare for dramatics" that turned off some reviewers of prior Jaguar Love releases. [5] On the other hand, Drowned in Sound called the singing a "saving grace" in an album with machine-programmed instrumentals where "songs are stuck on a loop." [7]
Hologram Jams's more decent reviews appreciated it as a fun dance record, [5] [7] [15] NME 's Kelly Murray particularly enjoying it as a satirical one. [9] The change towards a more electronic sound was also positively commented on by a few reviewers, [9] including Erin Lyndal Martin of PopMatters , who claimed it still had "the sheer energy the music puts forth and the exuberant elastics of Johnny Whitney’s vocals" while keeping it "fresh" with the use of synthesizers. [11]
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