diff --git a/poller.pl b/poller.pl
index cadcf34..a6e30cd 100644
--- a/poller.pl
+++ b/poller.pl
@@ -17,11 +17,6 @@ use URI::Escape;
 # --- Environment Variables ---
 use constant LIDARR_BASE => $ENV{LIDARR_BASE} || 'http://localhost:8686';
 
-# ANSI escape sequences
-sub ERASE_EOL   { return "\033[K";     }
-sub CURSOR_BACK { return "\033[${_[0]}D"; }
-sub STATUS      { return $_[0] . ERASE_EOL . CURSOR_BACK(length($_[0])) }
-
 getopts('bfhv');
 
 my $fresh_result  = defined $::opt_f ? $::opt_f : 0; # vs STALE
@@ -96,7 +91,7 @@ foreach my $id (@ids_to_process) {
         LIDARR_BASE . "/add/search?term=" . uri_escape("lidarr:$id") . "\n";
 }
 
-## subroutines (ping_api and validate remain the same as your original script)
+## subroutines
 
 sub ping_api {
   my ($type, $id) = @_;
@@ -110,24 +105,34 @@ sub ping_api {
   
   while (1) {
     $loops++;
-    print STDERR STATUS("- attempt $loops");
+    print STDERR "- attempt $loops...\n";
     my $res = $ua->get($api);
     my $status = $res->code;
+    
     if ($res->is_success) {
       eval {
 	$json = decode_json($res->content);
       };
       if ($@) {
 	chomp $@;
-	warn "Retrying: $@\n";
+	warn "Retrying: JSON decode failed: $@\n";
       } elsif ($fresh_result and $res->header('cf-cache-status') eq 'STALE') {
 	$status .= ' STALE';
+    warn "Retrying: Response is STALE ($status)\n";
       } else {
-	print STDERR ERASE_EOL;
-	last;
+        # *** VALIDATION CHECK ***
+        my @validation_warnings = validate($type, $json);
+        if (@validation_warnings) {
+            warn "Retrying: Validation failed: " . join(', ', @validation_warnings) . "\n";
+        } else {
+            # Success: HTTP 2xx, JSON parsed, and content passed validation
+            last;
+        }
       }
+    } else {
+        # Log failure if not success and retry
+        warn "Retrying: HTTP failed with status $status\n";
     }
-    print STDERR STATUS("- attempt $loops: $status");
     sleep 5;
   }
 
@@ -148,6 +153,9 @@ sub validate {
   my @warnings;
   if ($type eq 'artist') {
     # make sure there are albums
-    unless (exists $json->{Albums} and scalar @{$json->{Albums}}) {
+    unless (exists $json->{albums} and scalar @{$json->{albums}}) {
       push(@warnings, 'no albums');
-    }
\ No newline at end of file
+    }
+  }
+  return @warnings;
+}
\ No newline at end of file