triple treat:

Keri Hilson In a Perfect World... Album Review

Mar 19th, 2009; 3:10 pm (GMT+8) 2


In a Perfect World...
The album can finally see the light of day! It's coming out from the dumpster to the cd shelves next week, March 24th! Orignally slated for October 2007 release but the album was pushed back so many times. According to Keri herself, it was mainly due to budget cuts at her record label. I think its more to the fact her singles, Energy and Return The Favor were big flops. I can understand why Return The Favor is yucky, but Energy is such a hot track (at least to me).

dirrtysean
For her debut release, she has enlisted big big names to launch her solo career. Names like Danja, Timbaland, Polow da Don and even Justin Timberlake. Keri herself wrote 10 out of 14 tracks. I love artists who write their own songs. There are enough of "hand me a hit" artist our there.

At first listen of leaked tracks like Slow Dance and Turn Me On, i thought Keri Hilson was trying to revive the 90s with this album! It reminded me how much i missed those RnB tunes back in the day. But after listening the whole album, its much more diverse than i thought.

rickified
On the first listen once through without skipping any tracks, the album doesn't 'hits' directly at you as compared to most mainstream albums, which is usually easy to pick up on the first listen. The main album with 14 tracks in total, not sure whether there would be bonus tracks for it. Was hoping that some of the leaked tracks would be on the album, like Get It Girl, Mic Check and Control Me, which would fit in the album very well.

And since this is a R&B/Hip-Hop album, most tracks have Hip-Hop and Rap elements to it. As a result, this album is a grower as you give more spins to it. The overall feel of this album is mostly on slow jams or Rap-infused tracks.

airotcivqueen
This album has a mixture of slow, and slightly more upbeat tracks, I would not say this is a fantastic album, with me liking every single song, some are pretty good, and an improvement from before. Although I personally feel that the album does not have alot of stand out tracks, there are pretty much "sure-win" favourites. Like "Make Love" for example and the already successful "Turning Me On" Although Keri's "Numba 1 (Tide Is High)" was a flop single, I actually liked the song. To each his own, they say.


Tracks We Like
  • Turnin' Me On
    dirrtysean - I didnt like Turnin' Me On at first. But after hearing the various remixes of the track... it finally hooked on me... i love the phrase "Dime Divas Give It To Me!"... i hope club remixes of this track will leak soon (if there are any)!
    rickified - Third Single of the album (!!!). Featuring Lil’ Wayne, who is infamous for using the vocoder and auto tuner. Already in the Top 20 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the beats are addictive. =)
    airotcivqueen - This is already a winner, needless to say.

  • Set Your Money Up
    rickified - Featuring Keyshia Cole and Trina. Loved how fast-pace this song can get. A Booty-shaking song in a R&B Club.

  • Return The Favor
    rickified - Featuring Timbaland (Head Honcho, LOL). An underrated song. 2nd single off the album. Hate the album version, prefers the Radio Edit as the album version runs too long at the end. The chorus is pretty unique. The ways she sings ‘Hey’ in ascending order. 2 times, 3 times, then 4 times.

  • Knock You Down
    rickified - Featuring Kanye West and Ne-Yo. 4th single off the album. A grower and the slow jams starts from this track onwards. Ne-yo makes reference to his single, ‘Miss Independent’ (Keri guest stars in that vid). I can do without the Rap from Kanye though.
    airotcivqueen - Possibly remix worthy, sung with Kanye and Neyo, which makes the track slightly different.
    dirrtysean - I really like the Miss Independent line... it's so hot!

  • Slow Dance
    rickified - Justin Timberlake has writing credits to this song. Could easily fit in his ‘FutureSex/LoveSounds’ album. Timbaland influenced track.

  • Make Love
    dirrtysean - The "Love Love Love Love Love" part so reminds me of 4 Non Blondes - Whats Going On! Really! It gives me that vibes!
    rickified - Kanye West is supposed to contribute vocals to this song, but was ommited out last minute. Can do without it. As the title suggest, play this song while making out. =)
    airotcivqueen - My favourite in the album. As the title suggests, this song is sweet raunchy. Kanye West also appears in the video.

  • Alienated
    airotcivqueen - Interesting title, I've liked this since it came out months ago.
    rickified - A mid-tempo. The ‘Outta ma system’ part gets stuck to your head. In a good way. =)

  • Change (feat Akon)
    airotcivqueen - Collaboration with Akon, a slightly more upbeat track.
    dirrtysean - This is such a hot song. Akon's singing vocals in this track is very different. Something new!

  • Energy
    airotcivqueen - This track has a Brandy feel, I love Brandy, so this is good.

Rating
dirrtysean:      
airotcivqueen:
rickified:        


Overall
rickified
This album features a stellar cast of guest singers, Keri can do no wrong. But it worries me that this album might be a flop as it lacks mainstream appeal. This gal is uber talented, so do give this album a chance, spin it at a CD store and buy it. =) Given the intensity of this album, this would be a nice make-out album, in the same reins of Ne-Yo’s stuff.

airotcivqueen
Anyway, Keri's career might possibly steer upwards, if this album becomes successful, well hopefully, because I think she has the looks and charm, plus a pretty good voice, which is a headstart to success. All the best Keri! As for whether to spin it or trash it, I'd say spin it, it ain't perfect but it doesn't suck.

dirrtysean
It took 3 singles to make her team to decide to release the album. If her 3rd single didnt perform as well as it did, i doubt we will be doing this review at all... But Keri deserves to make it big. She totally does!
triple threat:

"Kelly Clarkson - All I Ever Wanted" Album Review

Mar 13th, 2009; 10:30 am (GMT+8) 0


After having shunned by having full creative control of her 3rd album, 'My December' (a minor hit, the CD went single platinum, phew!!!), Kelly Clarkson is back on full force with her fourth studio album, 'All That I Ever Wanted'. Released on 6th March 2009 in Australia and Germany, and on the 9th 10th and 13th, in the UK, New Zealand, Canada, USA, Italy respectively.


dirrtysean:
Although i L-O-V-E Kelly but this album to me is tooo mainstream and i feel like she's trying too hard. It's too poppish rock for my taste. She's just like another Avril Lavigne. Maybe i prefer those dark rock tracks like "Never Again" and "Behind These Hazel Eyes". The Kelly Clarkson i learn to like and love can't be seen on this album. But in comparison with "My December" i think this album definitely tops it. But the track "Sober" from that album tops every single track in "All I Ever Wanted".

Everybody's raving on how good is Cry, but I like "Already Gone" even better. "Already Gone" writted by OneRepublic's Ryan Tedder. He also wrote other tracks like "If I Can't Give You", "Save You", "Impossible". If you hear properly, you'll probably hear him sing the background vocals. But If I Can't Give You sounds like Miley Cyrus' Fly On The Wall. The beat sounds 90% same!!!!

American Idol's Kara DioGuardi together with Katy Perry wrote "I Do Not Hook Up". Probably Katy Perry leftovers...

I thought Dr Luke and Max Martin will have more important roles in her album but they only wrote/produced her lead single - My life Would Suck Without You. Yes! It's a mouthful just to say out her single name.

Overall i like all Ryan Tedder productions more than the others. He did 4 tracks (and 1 bonus track).


airotcivqueen:
Honestly, I only like these few songs out of the whole album of 14 songs Which puts it to 7/14 tracks (without counting bonus tracks), thus, I probably would not buy this album.

Pardon me,I am not a KC hater, she's had amazing songs before, that we can all totally relate to, or would already have the tune in our heads after hearing it countless of times over the years, some so catchy, you instantly can sing along to once you hear the intro, but this album doesn't stand out very much, But I will not deny that Kelly has a great voice, she just needs to work on more stand out tracks, and as you can see, she has been singing a lot of her old songs in her recent performances, and not much of the current album, as yet.

airotcivqueen's fave tracks

  • My Life Would Suck Without You: We have all heard this track, it has a very similar feel to all her old songs
  • I Do Not Hook Up: A jumpy track
  • Cry: A rather sad and emotional track as the title states, but nice though
  • Already Gone: Another emotional one, which I kind of like as well
airotcivqueen also listed "Long Shot", "If No one Will Listen", "Don't Let Me Stop You" as okay tracks.


rickified:
First impressions, surprisingly that I could listen to this album once through without skipping a track. Kudos for her. It's abit too mainstream, very safe I dare say. Given Kelly's excellent vocal prowess, she could be a successor to Pat Benatar (whom she's compared to at times). It seems that this album is made to pacify the mainstream people and her record company (I sense a multi-platinum record yet again with tons of ka-ching). Nevertheless, I could digest the album easily, aint an easy feat since I'm could be quite harsh.

Lead single 'My Life Would Suck Without You' sets the tone of the album, which is filled mostly with uptempo, high-NRG tracks. The tunes mirrors too much on 'Since You Been Gone'. The 'tried-and-tested-confirm-success-formula' is being applied to the next few tracks, the first 5 to be exact, with 'Cry' being the lone exception of the pack. My sixth sense tells me that 'Cry' would most probably be the 3rd single off the album (with the 2nd confirmed on 'I Do Not Hook Up').

Maybe the first few tracks is to build the momentum towards mid-album, which is the highlight of the entire CD (holds my fav tracks consecutively).

rickified's fave tracks

  • Already Gone: The 'Goose-pimples' song of the album. Intro sounds abit like Beyonce's 'Halo'. Cause it's co-written by Kelly with Ryan Tedder. I could really 'feel' this song. Triggers the Emo button in me. Deserves to be a single. My fave Power-ballad so far this year.
  • If I Can't Have You: Even thought it's abit too 'Fly on the Wall' sounding, it's way better than that annoying Cyrus, and I can groove to the beat. Disco-rock tune I must say. It's remix-ready too. Could be a club hit.
  • Save You: The verses sounds abit like Britney's Quicksand (Bonus track off 'Circus'). And the chorus, it's similiar to 'Sober', from Kelly's 'My December' album. A good thing though. 'My December' is so damn underated.
  • Whyyawannabringmedown: First thought that crosses my mind, sounds like Paramore's 'Misery Buisness'. Aint half bad. It's Kelly with the punk attitude. =)
  • Long Shot: I could imagine a MV (Music Video) for this song. Single-worthy. Katy Perry is one of the writers for this song.

rickified feels that the album cools down towards the end. With the next few tracks being alright only. Not really filler material, but aint single material either. 'If No One Will Listen' closes the album with a quiet note. Quite a number of peeps like it, but I think compared to 'Beacause of You', it's miles away. The 3 bonus tracks are just icing on the cake. Nothing to be excited about. Fits well with the album. Nobody would complain having extra tracks to listen to if it sounds acceptable rite. =)


Rating
dirrtysean:
airotcivqueen:
rickified:

Final Verdict
airotcivqueen: This album, apart from "My Life Would Suck Without You" and maybe "I Do Not Hook Up" does not have that "OH IT'S KELLY!!" feel I get whenever I hear her songs. Anyway, we'll see how she progresses in the next few years, you go girl!

rickified:
As I said, this album is too safe for my liking. But a good record I admit. This album lacks a strong ballad like 'Because of You', which most people could relate to. This album proves that Kelly is here to stay and she's has one of the best voices in the music industry now, along with CA. =) Awaiting for a breakthrough for her next album.

dirrtysean:
I still love Kelly Clarkson no matter what. In time this album may grow on me. After listening for around 4-5 times, it still hasnt.

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