Selena Gomez has her first CD out. Oh sorry, I’m supposed to say Selena Gomez & The Scene, as Selena wanted to be a band effort instead of pure solo. Probably why she finished recording the album before the band was formed and putting her own name in the band name. Though lets not hold things like that against her, in the end it’s the music that matters so here is “their “ debut album Kiss & Tell.
It is important to make a good first impression, I have to admit I actually sort of liked the first single Falling Down. The first track on the album however is the naming track Kiss & Tell and there is nothing nice I can say about that song so I’m not going to say anything about it. At least it got the worst song out of the way, shortly followed by the last track on the album which is a horrid adaptation of Tell Me Something I Don’t Know, which was on the Another Cinderella Story soundtrack.
Selena co-wrote one song on this album; I Won’t Apologize. I would say it reminds me a little of a Kelly Clarkson song, it’s nothing spectacular but it isn’t bad either. Just a bit generic. Generic is a thing I’m affraid I have to say about a lot of the songs, the album just seems to lack an identity. When I hear an album I want to get an idea of what the artist wanted to achieve when they made this album, that Selena only co-wrote the one song doesn’t help in that. The album just doesn’t say “Hi, this is me; Selena”. There is nothing in the lyrics either, the themes seem randomly picked and don’t seem to relate to Selena at all.
Does that mean this album sucks? No, there are some things I like about the album. There however is one thing that I wonder about on the album, mainly caused by the cover As a Blonde. If I didn’t know any better I would say that that song was not recorded by Selena, it just doesn’t sound like her. There is a bit of a voice difference between songs in general, which makes me wonder how much computing power was involved in recording this album. Would have to wait for live performances to see if that suspicion is justified or not.
Now to the plus points on this album. There actually are a couple of decent catchy songs on there, even if not a lot. Naturally, More and the previously mentioned Falling Down are quite alright. Though I have to admit nothing great either, it’s not really something that can’t be heard anywhere else. Probably already shown by the chart performance of Falling Down which just barely made it into the Hot 100, though who knows, it still might go up.
If the chart performance is any sign, it’s not going to be pretty as far as album is concerned. The album just lacks personality and is just too generic. While listening to the album I never got the “this is Selena” feeling, that the choice of genres of the songs is all over the place doesn’t really help either. I have no idea who would actually buy this album. So for the final score I have to give one for effort and another one for a couple of alright songs even though they are not songs that will stay with you forever. Making it two out of five, if Selena Gomez & The Scene want to make it they have to find their own voice, fast!
Tags: Selena Gomez
