Gee whiz, this sounds like something that would make me puncture my eardrums.
It’s not so much the singer, it’s the original songs that sink the album. Many of the tracks clump together because they follow a formula; light, vaguely urban beats hinting at hip-hop without really getting their hands dirty, or slow-build orchestrations augmented with choirs.
The arrangements follow a similar pattern too: They start moderately low-key, as if the fate of the world is about to be decided. With solemn deliberation, the voice grows in size and volume, overwhelmed by the power of love, the truest and purest kind ever experienced by any human being, ever. It all inevitably ends in a drizzle of high-pitched melismas that are meant to convey ecstasy, like the fireworks that go off in the night sky when the lovers finally kiss and the credits roll.
[Click to read more of Turn It Up - A guided tour through the worlds of pop, rock and rap | Chicago Tribune | Blog]
We've discussed my utter contempt for music that is 'created' in this mold previously, nothing has changed.
