Fall Music Reviews – Lady GaGa, Drake, Paul McCartney, Arcade Fire and the rest : Album Reviews

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Here’s What! With my move to New York City and all that surrounds making a new life for myself, I have allowed too many albums to go Un-Reviewed on this blog. I didn’t want to just let my opinions go to waste, because there are thoughts I have on a number of albums that I wanted to share. The solution I came up with is to do quick reviews on all of the Fall Albums that I’ve gotten a chance to check out. Starting with one of the most anticipated, Lady GaGa’s “ARTPOP” which comes out officially TODAY November 11th.

I’m not ranking the albums, I’m just posting my reviews in order from most recent release to the earliest, which is a lot of ground to cover but let’s do it!

Lady GaGa “ARTPOP”

Grade: B+

Favorites: Manicure, Gypsy, Do What U Want

“Applause”, the first single from GaGa’s 3rd full album, is a song that I don’t hate, but don’t love. A song that’s enjoyable, but not ground breaking to me. So it was the perfect set up for “ARTPOP” which has it’s highs and lows, but overall is just a decent Pop album. It’s definitely a lot more fun than her previous outing “Born This Way”, and maybe I liked the darkness and diversity of that too much and wanted more of it on “ARTPOP” which is mostly uptempo’s that actually remind you of some stuff from her debut phenomenon “The Fame”. On the plus side “ARTPOP” does seem like a grower, the production is complex and the lyrical content is laced with double entendres and deeper meanings that one might not catch the first or even fifth time listening to it. “ARTPOP” is fine, not great, but definitely enjoyable.

Arcade Fire “Reflektor”

Grade: C

Favorites: Flashbulb Eyes, Here Comes the Night Time, Normal Person

I’m not the biggest Arcade Fire fan, I knew of them but never listened to their music until their Grammy winning “The Suburbs” which has some amazing songs (the same for “Neon Bible”, the album before that). Their latest album “Reflektor” does have some truly stand out cuts as well, but the album overall strikes me in a weird way. At times it feels like they are uncomfortably out of their comfort zone experimenting with drum machines and more up-tempos. And at times it’s just a tad boring and overlong. When it’s good it’s great though, and maybe I just need a little more time to get into it.

Katy Perry “Prism”

Grade: B+

Favorites: Legendary Lovers, Love Me, Roar

Coming off her successful, and really good, album “Teenage Dream”, Perry got married and divorced and hinted early on that the follow up would be much darker. She stated later on that “Prism” ended up being a lighter album, and I’m wishing she stepped on over to the dark side as this third album plays as just more of the same from Katy. That’s not really a bad thing, the album is fun and funny and enjoyable. It just reads as a continuation of “Teenage Dream”, and I feel that the producers failed Katy on this album as they seem to deliver stale re-treads of former stuff, just with slight tweaks for the 2013 listener. Perry does her job vocally and lyrically trying to take the songs and make something new and different, but there’s only so far she can go. In general it’s a very cute pop album with plenty of hit potential. I would eventually like to see a darker, harder edged Katy emerge because I know it’s in her somewhere.

Paul McCartney “NEW”

Grade: A-

Favorites: Appreciate, Alligator, On My Way to Work

Sir Paul Delivers. I wasn’t sure what to expect from the “New” album, as I haven’t really followed McCartney’s solo career at all. However I was really pleased with what is a very satisfying and diverse album. Overall it’s very mellow, but he gives us different tastes of his talents with some very Beatles-like tunes, some Wings-like Rocker stuff, and he also provides some very beautiful contemporary songs. And with all this he seems so comfortable vocally and lyrically that it just seems like great and relaxing Jam session.

Sleigh Bells “Bitter Rivals”

Grade: C

Favorites: Sugarcane, To Hell with You, Young Legends
Don’t really have too much to say about this album. I do enjoy the Noise Pop of Sleigh Bells and I really enjoyed their two previous albums, and this third album is an enjoyable follow up. I just feel like they might have hit a peak as there’s not much new to report about their musical style. Yes there are some really fun peppy tracks, and some strangely beautiful down-tempos, but that’s just like their last album “Reign of Terror”. I think melodically they go into a more R&B/Pop terrain on this effort but that’s really the only thing that sets it apart and even that is very subtle. Good album, but nothing real unique or stand out.

Justin Timberlake “The 20/20 Experience 2 of 2”

Grade: C

Favorites: You Got It On, True Blood, Amnesia

I wasn’t expecting anything more than filler from this “Part Two” of Timberlake’s successful “The 20/20 Experience” from earlier this year. I thought it was a lazy attempt at getting his fans to spend more money on him (which, it still is let’s be honest), but I actually enjoyed a lot of what he had to offer here. I still believe that he could have done some editing and made ONE GREAT album, but it is what it is, and it’s pretty okay. You get pretty much the same of what you got on the first one, some electro’d out up-tempos and some soulful numbers. There still isn’t much as far as excellent lyricism or mindblowing vocals, but it’s still a fairly decent album overall.

Drake “Nothing Was the Same”

Grade: C+

Favorites: Furthest Thing, Wu Tang Forever, Own It

You guys know I love me some Drake, but ever since I got this album it has bothered me that I didn’t like it, and I couldn’t put a finger on why. There is a block of songs that I really love, but after they are done I lose interest and here’s my theory. On Drake’s last two albums he was the rapper who was hoping for legendary status, and then the rapper on his way to that status and just enjoying the moment. There was a sense of humility in him, and I think the problem with “Nothing Was the Same” is that all humility is gone and the record plays like a “Bow Down Bitches” as his confidence and ego are on 150. The album is fine, but I just want Drake to come back down to earth.

MGMT “MGMT (The Optimizer)

Grade: B

Favorites: Introspection, Cool Song No. 2, Astro-Mancy
MGMT are just weird, and I love it. Their third album “MGMT (The Optimizer)” follows suit with their last album in that it’s very mellow and very psychedelic, but somehow it’s a different type of mellow. It’s a more mature sound, and while there are a lot of tracks that feel very up to date there are others that go back to a 60’s sound (and seems like The Who was a big inspiration for at least two cuts). It’s a very balanced album, and at 10 tracks it’s the perfect length. These guys are still progressing which is a great thing, and still delivering very pleasing sounds which will make for a very diverse and interesting discography overall.

Tamar Braxton “Love and War”

Grade: A

Favorites: All The Way Home, Stay and Fight, Pieces

I talked about how much I loved this album on my YouTube channel, but I won’t hesitate to sing it’s praises one more time. Tamar Braxton, I would imagine, is a difficult artist to create a sound for as she is so fresh and current, but she’s also a grown woman who shouldn’t devote an entire album to “ratchet” club songs for fear of trying to be something she’s not. Thankfully Vincent and company pulled some amazing songs for her that show off her insane vocal abilities and provide some of the urban fun she enjoys. I love the fact that these songs are FULL songs and not the current standard of a half a verse, hook, same verse and repeat. I also love that vocally she fills each song to the very end with beautiful runs and vocal technique. It’s just a great R&B/Pop album that hasn’t gotten stale to me yet.

Lady GaGa and Katy Perry, Different Singles/Different Artists : IMO

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Katy Perry, Katy Perry Lady Gaga, Katy Perry Review, Katy Perry Roar, Katy Perry Single Review, Lady GaGa, Lady GaGa Applause, Lady GaGa Katy Perry, Lady GaGa Review, Lady GaGa Single Review

Katy Perry and Lady GaGa’s New Single Artwork

The Pop World went crazy this week, when two of Top 40’s favorite chicks released brand new singles. It started out with Miss Katy Perry, the first single from her upcoming album “Prism” (October 22nd) was released. “Roar”, the single, is a mid-tempo song about self-empowerment. It’s light, frothy and sweet like any good Pop confection, and it’s destined to be another big hit for the singer. Than, a week ahead of schedule, Lady GaGa dropped her highly anticipated first single from her upcoming album “ARTPOP” (November 19th) . Apparently the single “Applause” had leaked, and to maximize sales her team decided to release it ahead of schedule, much to the excitement of all her Monsters.

Personally, “Roar” wins this first round of the girls’ Pop Battle. Katy’s is catchy and easy to get into, while GaGa’s is way too much on the ears, but this post is less about what I think, and more about what these two new singles say about each artist. 

The truth is, the reigning stars of the current Pop landscape all offer something drastically different. Rihanna offers something completely different than GaGa, where Katy can’t be compared to a Selena Gomez for the same reasons. The Youth on the Internet loves to make everything a STAN War, pitting artist against artist, but it’s pointless because, as evidenced by “Roar” and “Applause”, everybody offers something unique. Here we have Katy Perry, a girl who loves her pastel coloring and goofy visual gags in her videos and performances, and her music reflects this bubbly personality. “Roar”, while having a strong empowering message, is still very light and poppy and very accessible to the masses. Katy is an artist that loves what she does and knows the power that comes with that type of super stardom, but she also never takes herself too seriously and knows how to have fun with herself.

Whereas you have Lady GaGa and “Applause”. The single does sound like nothing on the radio right now, and that’s where GaGa excels. She’s always found a way to make herself totally unique to every other artist out there, be it through her fashion choices, thought-provoking music videos or even the heavy Industrial influence of the new single. GaGa focuses on being different and living outside the box, more so than her contemporaries. Some might throw the “Try-Hard” label at her, but you have to at least respect an artist that goes left when everybody else is going right. Honestly though, “Applause” isn’t my favorite, it’s very noisy and the lyrics seems a little pretentious, but I know that with an amazing video and VMA performance I’ll learn to love the song. What we have now is a song that I don’t see as being extremely radio friendly, and that’s one problem I see with GaGa at present. Because she has blown up into such a huge international star in such a short amount of time I’m starting to think that GaGa doesn’t think she HAS to be accessible to any Top 40 Radio format or the masses. Because her Monsters are so loyal I think she feels she has the freedom to do whatever she wants and maintain her success. I’m not saying that she’s wrong, but she IS still a relatively New Artist (Katy actually had her first big hit before GaGa) and there’s a danger of her going too far outside the box and alienating potential new fans.

Both women are fine for now, 2013 has been a very weak year for big Superstar releases and fans have been waiting to sink their teeth into new material from their favorites. GaGa has been virtually out of sight for almost a full year due to her hip injury and Katy has also been slightly M.I.A. for at least the past 6 months which she’s been using, presumably, to bang out this new album. And for the most part these two new singles do set up the upcoming albums well, even though I don’t particularly care for “Applause”, it does get me excited for “ARTPOP” because,  if the song is any indication, it shows the singer moving further away from the DancePop sound she started with.

Check out the singles below and let me know what you think. I’m excited for this Fall rush of new music, I just hope the STANbases will not make this into a Pop Music War comparing each and every detail of the girls’ new eras… but in that case I think hope is a little fleeting. I’ll just be enjoying the music.

>Album Review: Quick Update/The Summer of Pop

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>Katy Perry “Teenage Dream“

If Katy Perry’s goal on her second outing was to put together an album full of potential top 10 pop hits, than she more than succeeded with “Teenage Dream” her second studio album. She was already the queen of summer with two #1’s from the title track and “California Gurls”. And the light fun and catchy tracks like “Last Nite (TGIF)” “Peacock” and “The One that Got Away” are almost Pop radio guarantees. The most surprising thing about the album is that the pop singer goes a little deeper than you’d think with beautiful and well-written tracks like “Firework” “Pearl” and “Not Like the Movies”. And even her subject matter (ditching an addict boyfriend on “Circle the Drain”) and production (“E.T.”) are superior to a lot of generic Pop songs out now. Katy shows them all how to do Pop music, and though it’s still really light and just a Fun album overall, it does show some growth as well as charm.

Rating: Four Stars
Best: Teenage Dream, Not Like the Movies, E.T.

Bruno Mars “Doo-Wops & Hooligans“

Bruno Mars became a name this summer from his various feature work, his debut album “Doo-Wops & Hooligans” is in the same vein of most of his features, laid back and breezy poppy hip hop/r&b odes, and his voice does help to fill out some of the songs. Overall though, the album has some catchy songs that are fun to listen to, but are so bogged down by lyrics that cater to the lowest denominator. On “Marry You” he proposes as something “dumb to do”, rhymes “snuggie” with “Teach me how to dougie” on “The Lazy Song”, and it gets no lazier than “Count on Me” with it’s hook “1,2,3… A,B,C”. Mars has a lot of qualities that could make him a star, but his elementary lyricism is really a distracting part of the total package. And really makes the album a lot less enjoyable.

Rating: Two Stars
Best: Talking to the Moon, Just the Way You Are, Our First Time

Maroon 5 “Hands All Over“

Maroon 5’s single “Misery” should have been a summer blockbuster as it’s catchy, fun and upbeat. However the song lingered in the mid-20’s of the Hot 100 throughout most of the summer, and unfortunatley when their 4th album “Hands All Over” there weren’t many songs to match that first single and confirms why I’ve never been a big fan of the group. There are a handful of highlights on the album, namely the beautifully produced and sung “Just a Feeling”, as well as “I Can’t Lie” “Never Gonna Leave this Bed” and “Out of Goodbyes” with Lady Antebellum. The biggest complaint about the album and the group is that they very rarely just go with the flow, it seems like on alot of songs the raw soul and natural energy is dilluted by trying to make everything a perfect package for radio. Leaving the listener with a somewhat sterile and over-worked and over-produced Pop album.

Rating: Two Stars
Best: Just a Feeling, Misery, Never Gonna Leave This Bed