Carly Rae is one of those artists who seemingly came out of nowhere. Next to nobody knew who she was (aside from being Justin Bieber's friend), and yet her song "Call Me Maybe" became an instant smash hit with nearly everyone on the planet. The video, where she gets rejected by a cute gay boy, just made the deal even sweeter. I know that her singles are good -- she's proven that she can make a number one hit twice with her Owl City collab "Good Time", but can she pull off a whole album that is hot?
The lead in track, "Tiny Little Bows" is a great way to get a feel for what the album has in store for everyone. The song is a pure bubblegum sounding track, that fits right in with today's wave of teen signers such as Demi Lovato and Selena Gomez. Its your typical song about a girl pining over that boy who doesn't know she exists (a common theme in this album), but it's so cute that I can't resist.
"This Kiss" is set to be the new single for Carly, and as pointed out by some of my colleges, this track feels much more like an Alphabeat song than anything else, which is why I was taken to it so quickly. The song is one of the strongest on the album, and should outshine "Good Time" with no problem at all. The other obvious single choice would be the slower song "Beautiful", mostly because of the namesake of Justin Bieber being provided to it. I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere along the road, this song was picked up by the radio. It is a slower, sweeter song than the others she has put out so far. That and anything with that kid's name on it instantly becomes overly popular.
The entire album isn't a traditional and predictable pop album. The unusual sounding song "Curiosity" is one of the songs you will either love or hate. It mixes a lot of styles, and changes tempos a couple of times. It has a build in it like a house track, but it still retains that light hearted acoustic sound that she is famous for, making it a truly stand out song. Lyrically, it doesn't show much uniqueness, because it's yet another love song about her wanting someone who doesn't exactly know she exists. Damn, I think this girl has a complex or something.
What is really great about this album is that she really went for it. Sure there are some ballad songs and some heavier songs, but for the most part the songs are of a similar nature. She didn't feel the need to explore too many genres or styles for her debut. I compare this to Ke$ha. She released a couple of singles, people liked them, and she didn't feel the need to try and do something drastic for the album. She just released what the people wanted, which is exactly what Carly did with her debut. The album is made up with songs that sound similar to the singles she has put out so far, which isn't a bad thing. Most of the people looking to buy the album were wanting more of that cutesy feel-good pop that she has perfected in such a short time.
The only real complaint that I bring from the album is the lack of topics. Most of the songs are about her wanting some boy. She even has a song on the deluxe edition called "I Know You Have A Girlfriend" (watch out Selena!), where she explains that she wants to steal a guy away from a perfectly fine girl. We already have a pop home wrecker, and her name is Taylor Swift. One is enough.
This album may not be the most moving or original thing to come out in the past ten years, but it does what it set out to do, and does it well. It is a pure pop album. It works off the hinges that are the singles that it had produced before hand that exploded in popularity. It delivered what we wanted. I'm satisfied. Are you?
Pick up the album for yourself on iTunes.
NOTE: "I Know You Have A Girlfriend" is available only as a Target exclusive.
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