Eric Saade – Saade Vol. 2
Eric’s third album, but the second in the Saade series, seems to be pitched as a party album. There’s only one ballad which is dreary and pointless, so clearly was only included to tick the ballad box. Like Eric’s previous releases it’s a very inconsistent album, with a few brilliant songs and a lot of just quite good ones. The lyrics are also typically Eric e.g. “you’re fly-er than wind”, “so I’m putting on my image”, but this is all part of his terrimazing charm. The standout track is definitely the lead single Hotter Than Fire but I also highly recommend Fingerprints, Explosive Love and for ultimate ridiculousness, Backseat. Earlier this year Eric signed to All Around The World in the UK, and while I don’t think he stands a chance of UK success (his inherently cheesy voice is the main problem) I’m hoping an album will be released of just the best tracks he’s produced so far, as that would be 5 CDs out of 5.
Taio Cruz – TY.O
After being possibly Taio’s biggest fan when he’d only released his first album, Departure, I was massively disappointed with the hit-deficient follow-up Rokstarr (remember Higher and Dynamite weren’t originally on it). TY.O lacks the variety of Taio’s previous albums, as his success has clearly led A&Rs to encourage him to play it safe and stick to the style of his hits. Lead single Hangover, despite questionable lyrical content, is extremely strong but most of the other tracks suffer from the same issue as his second album, containing some great hooks but within otherwise dull songs. Some have great verses (Make It Last Forever), some great choruses (Shotcaller), but he never manages to put both in the same song. Overall it’s an improvement on Rokstarr, but with no Break Your Heart/Higher/Dynamite-size hits I don’t think it will earn him anywhere near as much success.
The Saturdays – On Your Radar
I’ve never seen The Sats as a great girl band, but I truly loved their album Wordshaker and the new songs on Headlines were pretty good too. From the start I always felt they lacked star quality and the oomph it takes to make it big, but the one thing that had always been good about them was the music… until now. My feelings toward the first two singles Notorious and All Fired Up were tepid, and I really wasn’t impressed with their attempt at a winter ballad with My Heart Takes Over, but I still held out hope that the album would be up to their usual standards. Sadly, it’s not. There’s only one song (Get Ready, Get Set) that matches up to their previous hits, and even that is not a patch on Higher, Ego, Up and the rest. I gave the album a few listens to make sure I wasn’t missing its secret brilliance, but I had no such luck. Now The Sats don’t even have good songs on their side, it’s going to make it very easy for Little Mix to obliterate them in 2012.