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.

New Music!

I can't help myself, there are quite a few things out. I'm almost done studying anyway! hmm.

• THE CRAIG DAVID CONCERT WAS SPECTACULAR. I promise to review the whole thing once all my requirements are done.. You had to be there to feel the brilliance.
• I've become a HUGE The Script fan. When I first heard them I thought they were this crappy Coldplay wannabe but then I turned the volume up and heard my dad's production in it. He didn't produce it, obviously, but all the qualities of something he'd produce were there and it made me tear up for some strange reason.
• Ronan Keating's cover album is out at it's number one in the UK. Not a big fan of the covers(Carrickfergus was better when Charlotte Church did it.), but hey - he's got four number one albums so you gotta hand it to him.
• Two new Mandy Moore songs are out. They're OK, but I Could Break Your Heart.... is still the best new song so far. Will be waiting for the album!
• Esmee Denters has a new song out - AND IT'S BRILLIANT. Just when I thought Gia Farrell would never come back, here's someone who sounds a lot like her! yay! hahah.
• Well, Kian Egan and Louis Walsh's STILL unnamed girl band had an Irish TV appearance the other day, singing a Dixie Chicks cover. They apparently have competition now, the new girl group with a girl who didn't get a place in the other band are rumored to record the new Grey's Anatomy theme song. This is WAR.
• Last year's Swedish Idol winner has an album out. There are some gorgeous songs on it but once again, there's no cohesion. They're nice songs to listen to though. I might review it after exams.
• Savannah Outen has a new song for this charity out and she sounds a lot like Jordan Pruitt at the start and though I will forever love Jordan Pruitt(and her utter brilliance), Savannah can be jaw-dropping at times.
• Pixie Lott got her first play Radio 2 some time back! Congrats!!!!!!
• I got re-addicted to Guy Sebastian some time back. I might do a few reviews as well... yay!
• Taylor Swift's song for the Hannah Montana movie has a video out already and may I say, it's the only good part of the whole soundtrack.
• Hold on, I thought the video for Moments That Matter was out already? Apparently not, here's a new one.
• Girls Aloud's new video is out. The album version was amazing, and I love the fact that Nicola sings first but something in the single mix and the video makes me uneasy about the whole thing. I'd love Revolution in the Head as a single though! haha.
  
  
  I guess that's it! Back to studying. Asian economics, systems of quadratic equations, uniform accelerated motion, Newton's laws of motion, Filipino short stories(which are like 10 pages each..), adverbial clauses of concession, congruence postulates, and everything else! UGH.