There are a lot of big new releases this week. The release with the highest score has even come as a surprise to me! Read on…
P!nk: Hurts 2 B Human (ALBUM)
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with P!nk. When I was introduced to her in 2000, with the urban sound of “Can’t Take Me Home”, I was a 14-year-old gay that didn’t yet realise it, but, I knew the music was right up my street. “There You Go”, “Most Girls” and “You Make Me Sick” could have been released by TLC, Destiny’s Child or even the Spice Girls, who were going through their bandwagon-jumping Darkchild phase. It was brill!
Then she transitioned into rock bitch P!nk via the Moulin Rouge, the huge “Missundaztood” era and the slightly floppy “Try This” period, which I also thought was great; “Trouble” and “Feel Good Time” are 2 of my favourite Pink songs ever.
My favourite P!nk album to date is “I’m Not Dead”. The songs were a perfect mix of unadulterated pop and Stripper-era Christina, albeit improved rather than coming across as reductive. Also, the music produced came at the start of Max Martin’s period where he was making guitar music for pop girls (“Since U Been Gone” the best example), so his contributions were the strongest.
Then something changed. Following the epic #1 “So What”, another Martin smash, Pink went bland and sweary. Don’t get me wrong, I’m no angel but I’m really turned off by effing and jeffing for the sake of it in pop music. Sadly, this trend has continued to be a Pink thing ever since. There have been shimmers of greatness though, such as “Blow Me One Last Kiss” but, dirges like “Just Give Me A Reason” and “(effing) Perfect”…they’re not what made P!nk’s records worth listening to nearly 20 years ago.
2019 started with Pink receiving the Lifetime Achievement award, or whatever they call it these days, at the Brit Awards. I thought this was a strange choice seeing as Pink isn’t British. Her stans shot me down for that observation though, telling me the recipient is someone who has made a significant contribution to the British music industry so I’ll stand corrected. Being in the Britney Army, one of the worst popstar fanbases around, I know how angry and irrational some stans get!
One thing you can’t deny is that P!nk is a vocalist and showgirl of the highest order. She is amazing but on record, as I’ve no doubt made clear in my opinions above, her track record is not great. So, when I first heard the song “Walk Me Home”, when she debuted it at the Brits, I was pleasantly surprised. It sounded a bit country, which is in vogue at the moment, it had a weird time signature that was all fingers and thumbs and it had a simple, sweetly sung melody, very intriguing to me.
Then she released “Hustle”, which felt like a regression, back to shouty, sweary P!nk that angry ladies of the gay scene, in their late 20s, seem to really dig. What a shame. It was all sounding promising. Saying “Fuck” does not equal edge.
The 3rd song released as a promo single was the Cash Cash collaboration “Can We Pretend”. P!nk doing EDM?! The song is great. It’s slightly dated as the plinky plonky minimalist rubbish that’s dominated the charts the last few years is finally on the way out and, this sound has been adapted and refined for “Can We Pretend”‘s breakdown. It works in this scenario. But, one starts to get the feeling this latest P!nk album is a bit of an oddity. Here’s why:
1. The songs are very short, many under 3-3:30 minutes. This suggests the label were after songs that would appeal to the streaming market. Most streamers (myself included) want an instant hit of sound when listening to new tunes. If it’s not there, we skip to the next thing. This is why songs in the charts are becoming shorter and shorter. In fact, this week’s UK number 1 single, “Old Town Road” by Lil Nas X, at 1:53, is the shortest track to hit the stop since 1963, when songs were only short because of the space on the 45s manufactured at the time, and the cost of hiring a recording studio at a time when records were generally laid down live without overdubbing as would become commonplace when technology improved in the mid 1960s.
2. All the promo tracks are different in style. You can tell the label are trying to get Pink appealing to everyone, even if the listener still doesn’t want a whole album of her. At least more people will stream SOMETHING of her’s. Trouble is, P!nk has never been a big streaming entity…
3. I’ve read that some of the songs were registered with the publishers rights databases back in 2017, before her last album was finished. It feels like some of the songs weren’t good enough for the last album, yet they’ll do for the next. That strategy didn’t work for Justin Timberlake (who, coincidentally duetted with Chris Stapleton on a dirge for his recent flop album, he now appears on a dirge on P!nk’s new album too) when he released “The 20/20 Experience Part 2”. The songs on Part 2 sucked and SOUNDED like cast-offs.
4. Maybe because of the aforementioned streaming issues, the label made the release of this album the quickest after the previous P!nk album ever, and chucked the last album’s leftovers onto it as they think P!nk’s money-making days for the suits are now numbered.
Anyway, you may have gathered by now that I don’t think much of “Hurts 2 B Human”. Where the era started promising, it all became disappointing very quickly. There’s no cohesion to the collection. There are too many bland songs padding out the collection. Even highlights like “Courage” may sound melodically and vocally beautiful but, lyrically and instrumentally it’s music for sleeping to.
VERDICT: Hurts 2 B listening more than once to this album. 3/10.
MARINA: Fear (ALBUM)
“Love+Fear” is a double album. “Love” was unleashed on digital platforms 2 weeks ago and was reviewed on the last “Smash or Gash” post. And I really think the songs on that half of the collection are excellent. So, I’m very excited to listen to the “Fear” section.
The first thing that strikes me about Marina’s latest batch of songs is the ethereal atmosphere running throughout. Gone are the depersonalised, overly processed vocals which were present in earlier songs like “How To Be a Heartbreaker”. Effects, reverb aside, aren’t particularly present. Instead, out comes an angelic, fragile voice dancing over strings and Dua Lipa-esque beats on “Fear”. Well, except on the 3rd track, “You” comes complete with some vocal squelches which wouldn’t feel out of place on a late 70s ELO song. This song is a highlight of the figurative side 2.
What separates “Fear” from “Love” other than the polarising themes, is that “Love” feels more like a collection of straightforward pop songs with pop song structures. This is in contrast to “Fear”, which focuses more on the sounds produced and the vocal ability Marina has. “Fear” is less commercial in its presentation.
I think releasing 2 8-song EPs, which is essentially what “Love+Fear” is, and staggering the release on streaming services, is a very clever marketing strategy. There aren’t too many songs by the same artist being unveiled at the same time, so the typical, almost fickle Spotify listener of new music, as I alluded to in my P!nk review, invests more time in the body of music being presented when there is less to choose from. Then, just as you are stanning the first wave of music, the rest is brought out a couple of weeks later while the interest in the artist’s new collection is peaking.
It’s a pity Marina isn’t a bigger record seller than she is. Then again, maybe this is a positive thing. Could being more of a commodity cause more record label interference, which in turn would potentially have a negative effect on the finished product? For now, she’s the underdog, and my thought is hypothetical for better or for worse.
VERDICT: I love the collection. the other pop girls should live in fear at how good it is! 8/10.
Unperfect: Yeah, Why Not (EP)
I’ve been championing Unperfect since the release of their debut single “Gots To Give The Girl” in January. The newest girlband from the Xenomania hit factory (Girls Aloud, Sugababes) have now released a 5-track EP, which includes an even more acoustic mix of the single (who knew this was even possible), a cover of the 1975’s “TooTimeTooTimeTooTime” and 3 new songs.
“Looking For a Hug” is the most Xenomania-ish of the lot. It’s a combination of a relentless bass and drum machine track, coupled with Bananarama-ish plain vocals which work for this type of song. If you’re familiar with the single, the end to this first track on the EP is similar in that it ends with a long twangy acoustic guitar passage, before you’re abruptly dropped into song 2 (which is a tad jarring).
Song 2 is called “Rope” and is more akin to “Gots to Give”…it’s laidback, almost Corinne Bailey-Rae-like. There are some unusual key changes but, this is a Xenomania song so one would expect nothing less. It also features the production team’s trademark 2nd chorus and a bunch of “ooh” sounds. Perfect!
The third new song is “Jaded”. This song is the least Xenomania-sounding on the collection. In fact, it wouldn’t sound out of place on Little Mix’s recent, slightly disappointing album “LM5”. The song is a bit urban-lite and reminds me of the sort of b-side you may expect on a single from a group like Liberty X.
The group has the next year and a bit mapped out apparently. This is probably easier to keep to when there’s no major label ploughing money into the group as I don’t think they’d make it past this EP if they were with, say, Syco. Nevertheless, while Unperfect are being paraded by Brian Higgins and co. I stan overall.
VERDICT: (Almost) filling a Girls Aloud-shaped gap, I give the EP. 7/10.
Bruce Springsteen: Hello Sunshine
There’s something very Glen Campbell about this latest single from Bruce’s first album of new material in 4 years. There is some gorgeous instrumentation courtesy of musicians who must surely have come straight from Nashville. I think the vocals, if anything, take a back seat on this song and the strings, guitars included, do the talking. It actually reminds me a lot of one of the few songs that can make me blubb, Elvis Costello’s “Good Year For The Roses”. I’m also reminded of the sweeping scores from Catatonia’s “Dead From The Waist Down” and Blur’s “Till The End”.
I’ve never been a particular fan of Springsteen’s records, save for the Pete Seeger tribute album and a few from “Thunder Road”. Live, when with the E Street Band, he is mesmerising though. This song probably won’t fit the setlists of any future E Street show, mind. It feels like this new era is all about Bruce Springsteen solo, and there’s actually nothing wrong with that if this first song from the album is anything to go by. I may even listen to this collection when it comes out!
VERDICT: A bright start to this campaign 9/10.
Taylor Swift and Brendon Urie: ME!
At the time of writing this review, anyone who wants to listen to this probably already has on the performers’ names alone. Taylor is one of the biggest names in pop, end of. Brendon Urie is currently riding the crest of a wave, following a very successful year of live shows and, the surprise long-running success of “High Hopes” from his 2018 album “Pray For The Wicked”.
On paper, this collaboration spells a big money-making venture for the artists’ record labels. Listening to it, it’s not particularly groundbreaking. It sounds a bit like “Blank Space”. Some may call this a regression seeing as since that song came out, Taylor has released 2 albums and steered away from straight pop, in particular, with the release of “Look What You Made Me Do” which was huge for about a week. Maybe that’s why she’s regressed and, as a safety net, in case playing it safe is a poor move she has hotter property than her featuring on the track with her. I’ve already forgotten all of the song except for the “Me-hee-heee” at the end so, there we are, it’s not that memorable. Maybe “me-hee-hee” is enough of an earworm to make it a long-running hit. Time will tell.
VERDICT: Thank u, next. 4/10.
DJTim:E's Pop Music Journal 