This time, Velvet, Adiam Dymott and Kevin Borg…
Velvet – The Queen
I don’t think Velvet will ever escape playing second fiddle to September in my mind, for 2 reasons: 1. September is much more consistent and never forsakes poptasticness in favour of dancetasticness, and 2. Her voice is much nicer to listen to than Velvet’s. There’s nothing wrong with Velvet’s voice, but in the obvious comparison with September’s unusual yet beautiful vocals, she can’t compete. The songs on The Queen all blend into one, and although it’s an enjoyable one, it makes it hard to take everything in. I think when I get chance to listen to the songs separately, I will be able to engage with them better. For now, it’s hard to say that any of the songs are any better than any others. The only ones that stands out are the token sultry slow song, Play, and the boring cheesy ballad, My Destiny, which probably would have done better in MF than the fabulously egotistical The Queen.
Adiam Dymott – Adiam Dymott (Listen)
The first thing I noticed about the tracklist of Adiam’s debut album was the absence of my favourite of her songs, Memory Loss. What’s that all about? Once I listened to the album, I could recognise that Memory Loss may not be so far ahead of the other tracks, as there are many great songs, but with only 10 songs on the tracklist, there was surely room for an excellent track 11? Very odd indeed, especially as I was hoping for Memory Loss to be the next single, so I could include it in my top tracks of the year list. Anyway, I will forget that for now and focus on the tracks we do have. They all have interesting lyrics and great melodies. Adiam sounds different to any other female popstars around now, and I think this album will be especially well-received for that reason. I love cutesy twee-pop, but it’s refreshing to hear a little edge and attitude from a Swedish act too.
Kevin Borg – The Beginning
I adored Kevin on Idol 2008, and I still believe he has potential to make brilliant pop music, but his debut album is distinctly average. I can only hope that he will be like Ola Svensson, and have some amazing singles on his 2nd album. To be fair, this is certainly not an awful album, considering how quickly he had to put it together. The upbeat songs are all about 8/10, and the ballads 6/10. Paint it Black is a definite standout, and The Last Words and Out of Time probably the best ballads. I’m on my second listen now and all the songs have grown on me. Kevin has a nice pop voice, but it is quite bland and indistinctive, meaning he needs especially ace songs to overcome that. Fans of Kevin will be happy with this as a quickly made debut, but anyone who hadn’t seen him on Idol would probably wonder what all the fuss was about. With a few more standout tracks, I’d be really impressed, but their absence is quite noticeable.