Good Karma is the tenth and final studio album by Roxette, a Swedish pop rock duo consisting of Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle.
The album received mostly positive reviews from music critics, with a number of them praising Gessle's songwriting and Fredriksson's vocal performance, and describing it as a fitting end to Roxette's career.
Roxette songwriter Per Gessle said he sought to integrate an additional musician or collaborator into every album he released, explaining this was done "just to make everyone – myself included – stand on our toes.
He noted in the case of Good Karma that "new blood definitely needed to be injected everywhere", but said the album would be produced by him alongside regular contributors Clarence Öfwerman and Christoffer Lundquist.
[1] "The Look (2015 Remake)" was used by a Swedish fashion company in a prominent advertising campaign during the Autumn of 2015, with Gessle saying Roxette was collaborating with numerous producers and remixers for their upcoming studio album,[2] indicating a new single would be released before the end of the year.
[7] Lead singer Marie Fredriksson's brain tumour diagnosis in 2002 made it difficult for her to memorise the lyrics to new songs, so The Neverending World Tour consisted primarily of Roxette's greatest hits.
[15] Good Karma was released on 3 June 2016,[16] with a limited edition translucent orange-coloured vinyl being issued as Roxette's final studio album.
A writer for Upsala Nya Tidning praised the production, which they said contains "a certain retro feeling [...] but also features the ethereal and dreamy sound of some of Gessle's solo records (with echoes of Cocteau Twins)".
The writer complimented it for containing "smart choruses and nice details from pop history", before concluding that if Good Karma was their final record, Roxette were ending with "their flag flying high".
[39] Writing for Cryptic Rock, Alfie Vera Mella described the album as being a "perfect" release to celebrate the duo's 30th anniversary,[16] while Tyler McLoughlan of The Music praised Gessle's songwriting for an abundance of hooks.
"[38] Similarly, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic complimented the album for an increase in tempo as compared to the rest of their later work, but said on Good Karma the duo "deliberately excise the fizziness that fueled their big hits all in a conscious attempt to play toward their middle age.
In that regard, Good Karma is a success—it's a mature Roxette album that doesn't disavow their past—but it's hard not to miss the bubblegum Euro style of Look Sharp!
Nils Hansson of Dagens Nyheter said Gessle and the producers sought to appeal too much to young Electropop fans, "with digital loops, EDM beats, autotune voice and rave synths".
[44] Gaffa reviewer Jesper Robild argued Roxette initially found success as a result of their songwriting talent and criticized the amount of producers credited, saying: "More people than usual are involved, and Good Karma is obviously coloured by today's pop and dance music.
[41] Although the staff of Göteborgs-Posten also gave the record a mixed review, they too praised Fredriksson's performance, saying the album is best when the tempo "slows down" and she takes "center-stage" on the ballads such as "April Clouds".
They dubbed the song the "finest" track on the album, describing it as what "in perfect balance manages to combine Per and Marie's love for the early American and Swedish 70's sound that made Roxette something out of the ordinary [in the first place].
"[37] Other publications that commented on "April Clouds" included Expressen, with Anders Nunstedt dubbing it one of the album's best tracks,[5] while Markus Larsson of Sweden's biggest newspaper Aftonbladet said the song acts as a "beautiful goodbye" if this is their final record.