 Some critics argued that the album was their most consistent and strongest album to date . Christian Hoard of Rolling Stone felt that the album was " experimental and expansive " . Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine felt that the album lacked " freshness or spontaneity " that was found in the band 's debut album , calling only two songs on the album " very visionary " . Jim Farber of the Daily News criticized Williams , saying " Even aided by studio correction , the guy can 't sing " , calling it " bad singing at its engaging best " . Cohen of Pitchfork Media bashed the lyrics , saying that the writing was " far down the list of what N.E.R.D. is actually good at " . Hoard of Rolling Stone felt he learned nothing from the lyrics except that Williams was sexually aroused . Henriques of PopMatters noted that Williams is not a " technically gifted rapper " , he " does not have a beautiful voice " and his lyrics are " typically inconsequential in a ' saying shit just to sound cool ' sort of way " , but found strengths in his choruses , which he pointed out " typically use a catchy phrase or recognizable melody as an anchor for his nonsensical verses " . Dan Charnas of The Washington Post commended N.E.R.D for their songwriting , writing that Seeing Sounds " combines the adolescent and clever " . The Times writer Priya Elan gave the album 4 out of 5 stars and wrote that band is " pushing the boundaries of the popular song " . In his Consumer Guide , Robert Christgau gave the album a three @-@ star honorable mention ( ) and stated , " Beats of course , songs usually , singing barely--especially sincere @-@ type singing " ; he also picked out two songs from the album : " Anti @-@ Matter " and " Everyone Nose ( All the Girls Standing in the Line for the Bathroom ) " . 
