Flashback: Guy Sebastian

Haven't done one of these in quite a while. hmmmm.

I rattle on and on about how debut albums should be this and that, how they should have certain characteristics to work and be brilliant but I realize that I've missed out on one of the biggest factors.

Debut albums should be imperfect. I know it sort of contradicts everything I've been saying for the past few months but it's true. Above all the mastery, songwriting, production and marketability a debut album should show that the artist is imperfect, just like you and me.

They should leave lots of room for the artist to grow.

Yes, this may be the only shot of some to make an album and you'd think it should be perfect but making it imperfect is an indication that the artist is just starting out, that if we keep listening we might just be blown away. I remember saying a few months back that production flaw should be hidden and artists' abilities should be played up(was that with the JoJo album? I think so..) and while that still stands, I think it's not the production and abilities that need to be imperfect - the songs should have this air of uncertainty.

Not completely uncertain but it should leave you with this feeling of rawness, like if you listen to the album five years after it was released you'd say that the artist grew a heck of a lot. I think being an artist means growing and making mistakes in front of your audience while giving them something worth listening to - no matter how crap you think it is.

The album opens up with Angels Brought Me Here which is probably one of the most beautiful Idol winner's songs along with Agnes' Right Here, Right Now and a few others. It builds up but it doesn't hit you in the head with the fact that it's a big ballad - a joy to listen to, if I were to say so.

So I is a fun track and it sounds light - like a warm summer morning(I'm not kidding). Great melody but very little dynamics - enjoyable, to say the least. I've heard something like Can You Stand The Rain before although I do love this waaaay more than whatever it is I heard. Gorgeous instrumentation, OK verses but the chorus will just blow you away. It's a timeless song, give this song with the same arrangement to someone like Kevin Borg or Jesse McCartney and it would seriously work. Although I do love how this song just compliments Guy's voice - no one will be able to do it like he did it.

My Beautiful Friend is like a sloppier Angels Brought Me Here but for some strange reason I love it. The piano section is gorgeous and the arrangement is just brilliant. Reminds me of something S Club or some late 90's pop band would sing.

All of these tracks are brilliant but if I was to call my favorite it would be All I Need is You. Everything about this song screams pop and yet it's not Swedish, it's not American nor is it Brit - I can seriously say I've only heard something like this from the likes of Guy Sebastian, Amy Pearson and Ricki-Lee. What I love so much about Australian pop is that it's so perky, so fun and the melodies are so gorgeous that you'd want to gobble all the albums up in a matter or seconds if you can. Everything about this song is gorgeous.

NOTE: This is the last flashback.

Flashback: Lindsay Lohan

OK, I know she's practically ruined her career at the moment but she used to be good - better than Hilary Duff if you were to ask me.

If the late 90's had Britney and Christina, the early to mid-2000's had Lindsay and Hilary. If you were a kid/teenager growing up between 2002 and 2005 you would've seen every single episode of Lizzie McGuire, watched Freaky Friday, Mean Girls and Confessions of a Drama Queen and would've eventually bought Either Lindsay or Hilary's albums. Later once the movie/TV acting careers of the two were done and over with, the music remained.

Although I think Lindsay is the more talented of the two, you gotta hand it to Hilary for keeping herself together longer than Lindsay and making tons more albums than her. I'll get to Hilary some other time, let's focus on Lindsay.

The first single off the album was Rumors and it's one of my personal favorites from Lindsay. It's racy, dance-y and it's nothing like what Lindsay was portrayed like in the movies. In a sense I think it was the right move, mainly because they had to separate her movies from her music - if they didn't people wouldn't know her real name and just refer to her as the girl in those Disney movies.

Then came Over - a very nostalgic track for me mainly because it was HUGE here in the Philippines and I used to hear it every single day on the local music channel. After about a year of not listening to it at all, I've come to really, really, really love this track. It's like she goes from pole to pole - the first single was uptempo, club-y and now this is a ballad. Still, it shows just how much better she is than Hilary vocals-wise and gave fans something to argue about. Which's better - Fly or Over? Yeah, sure Fly was a gorgeous song but it's too big for Hilary.

The last single off the album was First and it was featured on the soundtrack to Herbie: Fully Loaded. It's a great song, very catchy - very Disney, unmistakably actually. Very good for promotions and to put on the soundtrack to an advertisement or trailer.

What I'm trying to say is that a debut album must be marketable, it must have potentially commercial songs - songs you can slap on a trailer or ad campaign. It should also be able to sell quite a lot because that's the record company's main criteria if they'll let you make another album - if your singles sell, your albums charts well and you bring in a lot of money and attention.

Flashback: Aly & AJ

I've said time and time again that there are very little artists Disney actually gets right and even less that they actually give some kind of creative freedom to. Aly & AJ however, are one of those extremely lucky few.

I think in order for a debut album to work, it should be convincing and we listeners have to hear something in it that makes us somewhat believe that the artist actually had a hand in even just choosing the songs.

You see the difference is that Aly & AJ actually wrote or co-wrote about eighty-percent of the songs on their debut. They didn't just choose the songs and have other people write songs for them(nothing's wrong with that, it's just that I like artists who at least try to write their own stuff more), they actually took part in making the actual songs and have their names on the album credits not just as singers but as songwriters.

Yes, some of the songs are obviously Disney, some of them just scream 'put me on a DCOM soundtrack', but by listening to the album, you know it's them and you know that if they weren't forced to write some of those songs, they would've still written them.

Technically, Disney won't be able to create another Aly & AJ with the exact same songs and the exact same sound because most of the songs on this album weren't made by them, they were made by the sisters. They're irreplaceable, simply put.

And the number of tracks they produced is astounding. I'm talking about the special edition here with SEVENTEEN tracks(including two new versions from the original album..) which is very uncommon for an album these days. Maybe in the 90's or early 2000's this would've been normal but now the average album length is about twelve to thirteen tracks, sometimes less, sometimes more.

That just goes to show how much these two girls can write on just one album. Their second album was a more 'normal' length so to say, with eleven tracks and a remix of Chemicals React.

Writing that number of songs is amazing and all but what makes me love these girls even more is the fact that I loved every single track on the album. it's another one of those albums that I'll listen to from start to finish and not skip a single track because every track is good, every track has an amazing melody and every track shows their identity. Once you finish listening to the whole thing, it's like you know them really well musically.

Flashback: Delta Goodrem

I like this album. I don't say I like it but only listen to maybe 40% of it, I like it as a whole, I like listening to the album from start to finish and not skip a single track. Why?

Because every single track on this album is worth listening to, every single track compliments the ones before and after it. In short, this is what an album should be for me.

It should have all the other things, it should have identity, it should be this and that but it should also be an album. It shouldn't be a bunch of songs that are just thrown together and called an album, it should be songs that are grouped together because they fit each other and make a whole, complete collection.

Why call it an album otherwise? I don't see the point.

We respond to things like this, the album was number two in the UK and number one in Australia. See what I mean? Good.

Of course there are tracks for me that stand out more than the others, that are more recognizable when I listen to the album but still, they compliment each other.

Lost Without You is a perfect example of that. It's an amazing track, I love the melody and all but if you listen to the track from start to finish, it really falls into place in the album. Butterfly though has got to be my favorite track on the album. Gary Barlow wrote this but that aside, it's just an amazing album and I think it should've been a single.

Another reason though why I think this album is an amazing debut is because it's no-frills pop. It's not 90's pop, it's 2000's pop and there's nothing else, it's not Pop/R&B, Pop/Dance or anything else, it's just pop. It's something that I think the US is missing, but it's something so many other countries have perfected, adding Australia to that list.

Flashback: Westlife

In celebration of ten amazing years at the top of the boyband hierarchy, let's take a look back at Westlife's very first album, and see why it catapulted them into superstardom(which included 40 million albums sales, 14 number one singles and massive sold-out arena tours..).

Westlife was the first of maybe three or four experimental albums, all the songs had a certain sound to it that differed slightly from their albums. You can clearly hear them going down the ballad mid-tempo route, something they've come to master and repeat over and over again.

Westlife aren't your typical sing wimpy songs and jump around the stage boyband, they can actually sing pretty well. Have you ever heard of another big boyband who can master five-part harmonies like Westlife can? NOPE! Which is why the Westlife formula is heart-wrenching ballads and mushy love songs that show off just how un-wimpy their voices are.

That formula is clearest in two songs, Swear It Again and Flying Without Wings which are two of the biggest Westlife songs. See? That is exactly what I'm talking about, the formula in work. Swear It Again was used as their debut, and the song just exploded. People clearly reacted well to the formula, Simon and Louis saw it.

And the album tracks kept to that formula, I Need You, Can't Loose What You Never Had, Try Again and We Are One all used and supported the Westlife formula that people liked so much. They kept to that formula, while churning out some typical boyband songs like No No and Open Your Heart, that are still to this day, amazing.

It may not have been a number one album, but it dictated where the band would go music-wise, and proved the point that pop is a formula. Formula or not, Westlife is an amazing debut album and it was a huge success something that's extremely hard to do for a boyband or any artist.

Flashback: Taylor Swift

Will post quite a lot today, so make the most out of it since school's starting tomorrow!

Part of the Countdown to Fearless!

So just how good is an album that produced four singles in the top five and one single in the top ten of the country charts and hit number one on the country albums before being certified 3x Platinum? In Taylor Swift's case, it's very, very good.

2006 was the year that Taylor Swift would being blowing us away. At sixteen, she released Tim McGraw and it hit the top ten on the country charts. The song was a hit, and it deserved to be, it was amazing. Then another single was released at it hit the top five.

Now, Taylor Swift's career-making song was her third single, Our Song. The single hit number one on the country charts, making her the youngest sole-writer of a number one single. This was the song that made me stop and notice her, the country elements mixed with the uptempo pop elements produced an amazing melody for an amazing song. Suddenly, Taylor Swift became the next big thing. She finished off her album with a bang, the last single hit number one.

This album just proves to people her age in the industry that you CAN make an amazing debut album. She wrote a lot of stuff on the album, and she did it well. It just goes to show that the consumers aren't stupid, they know a good song when they hear one, and they react even better if the artist wrote the song(s) themselves.

Let's see, how many number one singles did Vanessa Hudgens' debut album produce? None, not even a top 20 single(Come Back To Me peaked at 55). How many number one singles did Miley's debut album turn out? None, See You Again peaked at number ten. How many number one singles did Ashley's debut produce? None, she did worse than Vanessa, He Said, She Said peaked at number 58.

Taylor Swift's debut produced two number one singles, and there's more! She was the SOLE writer of the two number ones. Vanessa, Ashley and Miley don't write their singles without outside writers, because they can't.

This is another important thing that every debut album should have, at least one song that the artist him/herself wrote without the help of professionals. I think it's important that consumers like us know exactly who we're listening to. It's sort of related to the identity issue, but it deserves more attention.

An artist not writing his/her own songs becomes replaceable. The best example of that are the Sugababes. They co-write a lot of stuff, but there's no one who really writes all the songs so when someone leaves, she's replaced. I guess pop is like that, but Taylor Swift just proves otherwise.

Which is why I'm eagerly anticipating Fearless! Enjoy the countdown to the album release every day until November 11!

Flashback: Craig David

With the release of his Greatest Hits just around the corner, why not go back, way back, to his first album, the album that made his career.

I've said before that Brits make amazing R&B, but what makes it amazing is that they don't just copy US trends, they take some and make it into something the British public will adore. The issue of identity has always been a big factor for me liking a certain artist. Unlike some American artists, British know who they are(at least from most of the British albums I've heard). They change, yes, but you can hear how much they stick to their roots, because from the start, they know who they are as artists.

Fill Me In(which he was Nominated at the Grammies for..) is an amazing song, and it's become the standard for every other Craig David song. This song was the perfect single, it highlighted his voice, set his standards and showed that he could really write a song, and do it well. Here's one of my favorite performances of Fill Me In, it's just genius!



When you listen to the album, you hear fourteen different songs, but in each song is a similarity in genre and style that, by just listening to it once, you know is Craig David. The similarities aren't spelled out, but listen carefully enough and you'll hear them. Once you hear them, you begin to appreciate Craig David even more, and you see just how much work he put into the album.

After Fill Me In, we got 7 Days as a single, which became his most successful single since. It was nominated for 2 BRITS and ANOTHER freakin' Grammy! How many people his age, and in his genre can do that? Plus that fact that he's British, and not a lot of Brits crack the US market.

This is what I meant when you don't really hear the similarities between the songs if you just listen to the surface, but when you listen carefully, you can hear that Craig David really knows who he is, and he shows us that, something not a lot of artists can actually do.

It's amazing how a guy like Craig David, at such a young age, could achieve that amount of success with just his first album. I mean, 2 self-written UK number one singles, six BRIT nominations, 2 Grammy nominations and heaps of other awards just for that album are testament to just how amazing he is.

Born to Do It has become one of the biggest albums by a UK R&B artist, 6x Platinum in the UK and Platinum in the US. I think that's enough proof that Craig David knows what he's doing, and he does it well.

NOTE: I wrote this review before I read this interview, which made me admire Craig David even more than I already do. So check the interview out, OK?

Don't forget to get your copy of his Greatest Hits when it comes out on November 24!

Flashback: Girls Aloud

With their new album coming out sometime in November, I think it's a good idea to go waaaay back to the start of GA, and see just how much they've changed over the years. But before we get to the music, can I just say something? The album cover is genius! Although Kimberly's hair could use some work..

I remember saying when I reviewed The Saturdays' Up that gone were the days when reality shows just kept on cranking out pop bands, well we all know that Girls Aloud is one of those bands that were manufactured on a TV show. Not only did they become the most successful reality show-created pop band, they became the most successful girl group ever. So let's take a look at how this all started, shall we?

The lead single, which also happens to be the title track, is perfect for it's title. I mean, we all know that the girls aren't your run of the mill Spice Girls wannabes, they started out a bit edgier than that, thanks to Xenomania. The song just fit them like a glove, and it did them justice.

The other singles also did the girls justice, and I think it's another factor that every good album should perfect. If your singles don't do your album justice, what use is it releasing singles? Singles are meant to let people hear what your album is about, so they'll go out and buy that as well, but the real test is the debut single and album. If your debut single is light years away from your album, what's the use of releasing it? You should've just released the album already.

The album tracks are equally amazing. They're all very dance/pop of the early 2000's, which is exactly what they showed us with their singles. The album explores different styles within that genre, there's ballads, mid-tempos and uptempos, which I think is another important factor in a debut album.

The fact that you shouldn't be confined to one style in a specific genre is very important. I like continuity, but I like change, as long as the change isn't too drastic. Once you've laid down who you are as an artist, I don't think you should change. I mean, it is who you are.

So all in all, this album truly catapulted the girls to stardom, for various reasons. Plus, I can't wait to here their new album!

Flashback: JoJo

While most pre-teens care about school, friends and fashion, JoJo was making her debut album at thirteen, something only a select few get to accomplish, let alone start. By the time she was fourteen, she had a US platinum-certified adult contemporary number one single('Leave'), beating Britney Spears as the youngest solo artist with a number one single in ANY US chart.

Only months after that feat, her debut album was released. It hit the top five, coming in at four and selling nearly a hundred thousand copies in it's first week alone. JoJo was suddenly on top of the world and at fourteen, she was probably just as overwhelmed as she was successful.

The album itself is a cool mix of R&B and mainstream pop, channeling JoJo's strengths and conveniently hiding her weaknesses, like what I think an ideal debut album should sound like. It should show people who the artist is, what he/she can do and most importantly, hide all possible flaws in production, songwriting and the vocals.

Before I heard her second effort, I thought this was all the work of the producers, except for maybe one or two songs but apparently not. Her second album was different, very different but I heard the similarities, I heard the transition of a girl to a teenager, of a new artist to an experienced one.

So what does that all mean? It means that even if she was just a young girl when this album was made, she had as much creative input with the album as she wanted to have. The album was a reflection of who she was at the time, and maybe even who she wanted to be.

Christina Aguilera - A look back..

My homework's all done! Seriously.
So after I watched her amazing VMA performance, I had this sudden urge to listen back to Christina Aguilera's debut album, which I think is a masterpiece.
Ever since, it's been Britney versus Christina but I don't see the point in comparing the two when clearly, it's Christina who has the voice and it's Christina who hasn't screwed up her career. Think Hilary vs. Lindsay but with a clearer winner.

ANYWAY.

Christina was one of the lucky ones in her generation. Countless others tried but failed, leaving a few unsuccessful singles and sometimes albums, the 'pop princess wannabes' of her generation just disappeared into thin air. Listening over to the album, I realize that she shot to the top not purely because of luck, the songs were phenomenal. 

It was really the right mix of slow, mid-tempo and up-tempo songs to shoot her to the top and show just how better she is than Britney. Songs like 'Come On Over' and 'Genie In A Bottle' are perfect up-tempo pop-y songs, then there are the ultra-amazing mid-tempos like 'Love For All Seasons' and 'Love Will Find A Way' and finally, the songs that make the hairs on your back stand up, 'I Turn To You' and 'Reflection'.

Judging by the success of this album(US #1, 8 times platinum) and how it propelled Christina to the top(a Grammy win for Best new artist in 2000 and another 2 nominations), it has truly become a model pop princess debut album.

5/5