James Arden checks out the garage rockers latest album.
The Christian rock band from Brighton bring religion to the masses.
Recipe for modern R'n'B album: liberal helpings of guest rappers and an overdose of sexual euphemisms.
1,047,000 copies sold in the first week. For Speak Now, the statistics speak for themselves...but do they?
Success seems to have come quite naturally to this teen sensation selling a combined 4 million copies of her two previous albums, Fearless and her initial eponymous album Taylor Swift, in 2008 alone. Speak Now, Taylor Swift’s third studio album, is evidently continuing in this impressive form of album shifting in what has become a increasingly difficult market due to corrupting influence of internet downloading, in its legal and illegal forms. However, we all know that commercial success does not always result in a good quality musical product. What is the verdict in the trial of Miss Swift? Has this shining starlet managed to graduate into the school of serious songwriters or is she guilty of languishing back in high school singing about boys?
Now, despite her huge commercial success, I think it would be fair to say that few outside of the group of young gaggling girls would proudly admit to be being a Taylor Swift fan. Her sweet, squeaky clean adolescent image is clearly aimed predominately at the pre-teen female market. However, when I admit that her music is a guilty pleasure of mine I am pretty sure that I will not be alone. It’s true that on the whole her music is over-sentimental, samey and well just all about boys really, but having said this Swift and producer Nathan Chapman really do write some great country-pop songs. It is no mistake that she has become the princess of pop in recent years and is selling vast volumes of records and, seriously, who can resist the saccharine brilliance of ‘Love Story’?
This is not a great album. It is over long, a little self indulgent and, in true Taylor form, pretty samey. However, it is not without its merits. ‘Mine’, ‘Speak Now’ and ‘Never Grow Up’ are all beautifully crafted pop songs and if you want an insight into her high profile relationships with the likes of John Mayer (‘Dear John’), Joe Jonas and Taylor Lautner then the album gives diaryesque accounts of her new celebrity experiences.
Speak Now is unlikely to convert any non-Taylor fans as it much the same as what has come before, but there is some good stuff here. Unfortunately I doubt that any of these songs have the crossover quality of ‘Love Story’ however this is a solid enough album from the mainstream country phenomenon.
Like it? Try Catching a Tiger by Lissie
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