Alesha Dixon - The Alesha Show

I never got to talk about this when it was released probably because it was overshadowed by Girls Aloud and everyone else with new albums at the time but I have time now and after three singles(two of which I adored before they became singles..) I think it's time to put all my thoughts about this album into writing.

I've professed my love for Let's Get Excited time and time again but I honestly think it's a brilliant song. It's catchy and fun for the sake of it(I think I said that a few weeks back) and it doesn't try too hard to get your attention with all these unnecessary gimmicks and effects.

Breathe Slow was a song that I absolutely adored from the very start and it's the complete opposite of Let's Get Excited except for one thing - it makes you notice it. The melody and instrumentation are both gorgeous(what do you expect when this is a Soulshock and Karlin song?) then in comes Alesha's slightly raspy voice and the song morphs. If someone else with a smooth voice like Katharine McPhee or Jordin Sparks did this it would be a completely different song. Alesha's voice gives the song its quirk and sets it apart from all the other songs of its kind.

When I first heard Cinderella Shoe I instantly thought of Girls Aloud and how it would fit perfectly in Out of Control and Nicola could sing the start but as I listened to it more I heard similarities within the album that Girls Aloud would never do or even think of but I still think they'd do the song really well! hahah. The first song I heard off this album was The Boy Does Nothing(obviously, it was the first single) and for the longest time I hated it. Slowly it became slightly bearable for me but as I'm writing this and listening to the song in question, it's actually a competent song and deserves to be number one.

For some strange reason Chasing Ghosts reminds me of another Girls Aloud song along the lines of WWTNS or Chemistry. It's not one of the stronger songs on the album but it's nice to listen to. A little too flat for me though.

Another one of my favorites is Hand It Over - it's like a less epic Breathe Slow with a less screechy melody which makes for an over-all better song in my opinion. The strange thing though is that the start reminds me a lot of a Namie Amuro song I fell in love with a little more than a year ago. Besides that it's got a gorgeous melody that could rival Jordan Pruitt's Unconditional(the best song of 2008 according to me for those of you who don't remember..) any day.

Do You Know the Way it Feels? is your required simple, slow, bulding-up ballad without an R&B beat and more of an orchestral feel. I've heard songs like this before but none of them gave me goosebumps, this one did. It's slow, epic and very Alesha - she manages to make it a little less generic but still keep it adhered to the norms of the genre. Surprisingly, the raspy parts of her voice are gone and she delivers a smooth set of vocals - brilliant.

Can I Begin is something I think Lily Allen would put on an album or as a b-side - it's simple, has a sweet melody with an instrumentation reminiscent of a rainy day in London(that's what I'm getting!) and gorgeous vocals. This girl really knows when to go all the way with the screaming but when to pull back as much as she can to make a gorgeous song. Ooh Baby, I Like It Like That is a mid-range song and the instrumentation reminds me of GA again.

So, to sum up the album:
Best Track: Hand it Over and Let's Get Excited are tied
Better Tracks: Breathe Slow, Cinderella Shoe, Can I Begin, Do You Know The Way it Feels?
Least Favorite Track: Don't Ever Let Me Go
THE RATING: 4.5/5