Demi Lovato has dropped her first album called Don’t Forget. There are a total of eleven songs on the album totaling about 38 minutes but my problem with far too short albums is already known; everyone does it anyway. A large portion of the album was co-written by the Jonas Brothers who Demi was opening for on their tour and of course also knew from Camp Rock. Her reason for doing this is that she says that songs written by her wouldn’t be Disney material; she’s more into metal.
The album starts of with La La Land which already clearly indicates she’s going into a pop/rock direction instead of the sugar coated pop teen stars were doing for years. Though Disney seems to be trying to change that by giving their singers some freedom (looking at others like Miley Cyrus as well) but Demi still choses not to go full out as stated earlier. The song itself I’m not sure about; it’s about what people expect from people in Hollywood; what to wear, how to behave and what to eat. She points out that she doesn’t care about that and just stays herself; lets hope she listens to that herself. The beat to the songs sounds incredibly familiar but I can’t quite place it. I might just be imagining things though; it’s an alright song just nothing spectacular.
Next up is Get Back; the first single from the album. I’ve grown to like this song a bit since the first time I’ve heard it but I wouldn’t rate it as a favorite; it’s an alright song. The one thing that still bothers me about it is that she seems to be trying too hard at times, playing too much with her voice instead of just putting out a good song. If you have a good voice let the song do the work and don’t try to show off and don’t try to cram as much as possible into one song. More of the songs on this album have this problem.
Trainwreck is next; I’m somewhat confused by the lyrics of this song. She’s saying that the person she’s in love with who she’s singing about is a trainwreck but that she wouldn’t love him if he wasn’t. Which seems odd seeing people usually don’t like people they love being on a destructive path. The song itself I’m not too crazy about, after just three songs on the album I can already spot a couple of problems in general. There isn’t really a change in rhythm; they’re all the similar kind of song. Don’t get me wrong; they don’t sound the same but they’re just not dissimilar enough. The other thing that’s bothering me a bit is the rather Jonas Brothers feel it has (though they weren’t involved on Trainwreck), you can clearly tell they were involved.
The same goes for Party really it’s all a bit of the same stuff. It’s hard to understand what she’s singing in this song at times, that’s because of the too much playing with her voice. The music is also overpowering it all a bit. Clearly not fond of this song. On The Line features the Jonas Brothers which is logical but seems a bit unnecessary to me. One of the Jonas Brothers’ singing really bothers me, not quite sure who it is but it just ruins the song for me. It’s an alright song and probably the only different song on the album. I could do without one of the guys moaning on the track though.
Don’t Forget is too slow; that might sound weird seeing I complained about the songs on the album not being too different enough but a 2:07 minute intro on a 3:45 song is just ridiculous. Not even mentioning the 1:05 minute outro, which means the actual song is about 33 seconds long. Even though she sings in the intro and outro it just doesn’t work.
Gonna Get Caught is yet another average pop/rock song on the album, the songs seems to be about a cheating boyfriend though again with this song it’s sometimes hard to properly understand the lyrics (and it’s not my audio equipment, I only use the good stuff) with the overpowering music and I keep repeating it; the playing with her voice.
Two Worlds Collide is finally a slower song; it’s not that I like slow songs that much but an album needs a bit of variety. I wish I could say it’s a good one but it doesn’t really stand out. I’m also not quite sure what the song is about; it’s obviously about a girl she knows who’s completely different than Demi herself. You just have to wonder who it’s about though that’s not really new; people draw from their personal life when they write songs and it doesn’t always need to be publicized what it’s about.
She seems to have her voice in check a bit more for The Middle, she stays in the same region of her vocal range throughout the song which just sounds better. It’s a decent song though maybe the line I Like It is a bit overused in the lyrics. The lyrics are just a bit repetitive at times. It also sounds like she does some of her own background vocals which makes it impossible to sing the song live as it is on the album.
Until You’re Mine I like; it has nice tempo changes though in some places the music is overpowering Demi again. That’s the only thing I can fault the song on really though it doesn’t mean it’s a great song, it’s just a decent song. It goes with the general theme and sound of the album but it’s probably the best of the bunch. So the album ends on a high note.
What makes me wonder about this album the most though is why now? Sure Demi did Camp Rock but she isn’t exactly a household name yet. Next year Welcome to Mollywood (which is now rumored to have been renamed for some reason, haven’t seen confirmation on the actual title yet) comes to the Disney Channel you would think her popularity will increase around that time. Though what Disney does do with this is that they don’t link her to the show. I just don’t think it will be a major hit in music stores, most people will still say Demi who? Doesn’t matter if she toured with the Jonas Brothers or not.
Now to the final conclusion of the album. The general feeling I get from the album is just average. There isn’t really anything that climbs high above the rest and all of it is just a bit the same. It’s nothing we haven’t heard before though I have to give her credit that she actually took part in writing most of the songs. That’s still something which is an exception these days with younger singers. It’s a decent start to her career but I was hoping for better. So the Starletviews rating (with some rounding up) will be three out of five.
Tags: Demi Lovato
