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#13: Is It Wrong to Prefer EPs?

#13: Is It Wrong to Prefer EPs?

Adam Dash
April 28, 2025

Good morning! Welcome back to another edition of the SoundCentric newsletter!

I took a week off from the newsletter after going on a family vacation. Did you miss me? No? Well, I’m back, so get used to it.

Since the last newsletter I have been really loving Westside Gunn’s new EP, Heels Have Eyes. I have noticed over the last few years that a lot of my favorite projects are under ten songs. Is this the best way to drop music? Is my attention span cooked? Let’s discuss!

You could be reading anything in the world right now, and you're here with me. So, I appreciate it.

Let’s get to it!

Deep Dive

What came first, my enjoyment of shorter, more cohesive projects or my attention span being that of a squirrel?

It’s a question as old as time. I’ve always been a big album-over-playlist guy. And to the people out there who shuffle albums—you sicken me. Yep, I’m that pretentious guy who prefers listening to the album the way the artist intended. Shuffling an album is like watching Oppenheimer on the tiny airplane screen while on a flight. Christopher Nolan hates you.

Even though I have this foundation of loving albums, I’ve found recently that a lot of my favorite projects are EPs. The term “EP” gets thrown around pretty loosely, but Spotify categorizes it as 4–6 tracks and under thirty minutes.

EPs have been around for decades, but I think my love for them really started in 2018, when he who shall not be named dropped five of them—between himself, a collaboration with Kid Cudi, Pusha T, Teyana Taylor, and Nas. (Nasir didn’t quite deliver, but we still got a few classics from that time period.)

The businessman in my head then pushes this question onto rising artists looking for their breakthrough: Is it worth it to drop full albums? Should you make it as easily digestible as possible for new people discovering you? Does that mindset ruin the art? Should you just make what you want and trust that if people like it, they’ll like it? The answers will be different for every artist, depending on their goals.

And then I look in the mirror and ask myself, “Why can’t I sit through albums the way I used to anymore? Why don’t they stay in my rotation as long?”

Maybe it’s the reality that music curation requires me to listen to so much that I don’t get as attached anymore. Maybe it’s that natural thing where, for most people, the music they loved in high school and college is what they listen to for the rest of their lives. But personally, I hope to never become that guy. I like the discovery aspect way too much.

An album like Playboi Carti’s I Am Music falls on one side of the spectrum for me—it’s just way too long. I’m not even a huge Carti fan to begin with, but twenty-plus tracks is pushing it. Honestly, I don’t even know if I’d want a 30-song J. Cole album, and that’s my GOAT.

On the other hand, sometimes you’re left wanting more from an EP. Maybe that’s the point? A lot of tracks on Westside Gunn’s new tape Heels Have Eyes make me wish the songs were longer. EPs can be a great way to satisfy fans with an appetizer before they get the full entrée (the album).

I do think EPs are especially useful for rising artists. Again, I’m not here to limit artistic expression—I still listen to new albums from new artists daily. But if an artist’s goal is to reach a new fanbase, making your releases more easily digestible can go a long way. Fifteen songs can look intimidating to a new fan, especially if there aren’t any features. Those first few tracks really have to win me over.

Plus, EPs can allow artists to do a lot of cool things rollout-wise because of their shorter duration. Fewer songs (usually) means a bigger budget to create visuals for each track. It also lets the artist really lock in on pushing those songs individually. Artists can also do the waterfall method like SAILORR where you keep dropping singles, and each new single is added to an ongoing EP that grows with each release added to it.

My attention span might be cooked. I’m about to go to law school this fall, so that’s going to change—whether I like it or not. I still love finding a new album; Q blew me away with his tape 10 Songs and it’s my easy favorite of the year so far. And honestly, I don’t think it’s wrong to love an EP—or even to prefer them. Who doesn’t love a good appetizer?