Taylor is often accused of using the same themes over and over again and yes this is true. Almost all of her songs have some past relationship. When I hear a new Taylor Swift song I really wonder sometimes how many men that woman has dated in her life, there seem to be a lot. Including older men, makes you wonder about things that are said about other young celebrities who have steady relationships but that’s a different subject.

Taylor isn’t the singer out there with the best vocals in the business, in fact they’re rather limited and the live performances I’ve seen of her weren’t exactly good. So she has to rely on lyrics, music and has to make sure she doesn’t do things vocally that she can’t do. Thankfully she doesn’t do the last thing as for the first two I’d say it’s very Fearless. I can’t say that I get the feeling that this is the album of an artist that has grown the past two years. Most of it is a bit the same as her earlier work.

I do like songs on there though but I like the ones that stand out, the ones that don’t really have the country vibe, like The Story Of Us (could you even say there is a bit of a dance beat to that song?), Better than Revenge, Enchanted and Haunted.

I can’t say that there are bad songs on the album but I do have critical points. Some of the songs are just too long, with some of the songs that are longer than five minutes long you get the feeling that you’ve heard the song now, that you don’t need it to be any longer. Then there is also the song Innocent which, as admitted by Taylor, is about Kanye West. I cannot help but feel that releasing that song is a mistake, last year she wanted everyone to get over what he did at the MTV VMA’s and a year later it’s Taylor herself who brings up the subject again. Combined with all these songs about past relationships it just makes Taylor seem bitter and I don’t think that that is a good thing to go for.

So the final conclusion is that this is another Taylor Swift album; it’s just safe. There is nothing new on it, no sense that there is a lot of musical development. I’d say it’s at about the same level as Fearless really, there is no other way I can put it. I’m sure fans will love it but is there really a need to buy it when you’ve already heard it? So no, it’s not a bad album, not by a long shot seeing there’s nothing really bad on it. It’s just a solid album and that makes me feel what I’ve felt for a while about Taylor now; it makes her boring. Rating still comes to a four out of five because I just don’t have enough reasons to give it a low rating, in the end it matters whether it’s good to listen to or not and it is. A musical highlight however it’s not.

Before I started listening this I didn’t expect anything new or something groundbreaking. When it comes down to it, it’s still a television soundtrack, that’s not the place where you’re going to find the next trend in pop music. There’s also no judgment on the involvement of Miley on this because she of course didn’t write anything for it, she never did for Hannah Montana soundtracks. The themes of the songs are boys, school, her life as a star but nothing more they can do really.

So what’s good and what’s bad? Good is Ordinary Girl, while Miley doing her own backup vocals is a bit annoying, the theme of the song is pretty much everything the show is about. That’s the main thing that should count for a soundtrack, does it go with the show or movie it’s for. There are actually even a couple of songs that show Miley quite well vocally, like the duet with her dad Love That Let’s Go, the duet with Sheryl Crow Need a Little Love or I Always Remember You. That’s the main surprising on the album actually, they give Miley quite a room to show of her vocal abilities instead of just overproducing her voice which has happened in the past.

Songs like I’m Still Good and Barefoot Cinderella are songs that go into the quite heavily produced section, mainly musically, but they’re enjoyable nonetheless. Hannah Montana is a pop star so there have to be some “generic” pop songs on there and those are the two on the album that are the best.

Yes, there are also negative things. Are You Ready? Not for that song, don’t know what to say about that, I just don’t like it. Kiss it Goodbye, I’d like to kiss the song goodbye but it’s on there so we’ll have to live with it. The duet, Gonna Get  This, with Lyaz is also odd. It just doesn’t fit the character Hannah Montana but that was the whole point of the song. So in that sense it does it’s job. So I’m saying it’s a good thing that there is a “bad” song on the album? I guess I am yeah.

So in general the main thing that surprised me is that Miley got the chance to stand out vocally somewhat. She didn’t always get the chance for that in the past on the soundtracks. As for the album in general, there are songs on there that are good enough and they do what they’re supposed to do, go with the TV show. Even the bad ones do their job in that sense. So how to rate Hannah’s final moment of glory? Three out of five, it does everything it’s supposed to do. Who expected something really new should be looking at a different genre of album. Hannah Montana is dead, long live Miley Cyrus!

As I said, it’s pure pop music, that’s just the best way I can describe it. It’s not any kind of sub-genre or anything, it’s just pop, even if they want to describe it differently. If you’re expecting deep lyrics or a “this is Emily!” feeling, because it’s not there. If anything that’s the main criticism I have on the album, the girl is 18, sure she hasn’t had a long run in music yet but people younger than her like Miley Cyrus or Taylor Momsen (ignoring whether that is sincere or not) can come up with them so why not Emily? She however did have a role in writing all of them so that wins her back some points, the general feeling is just a bit too….. teeny.

The singles off the album are Let’s Be Friends and Lovesick. The first is likable enough to listen to on the radio the second one….. yeah, don’t like it. You make my heart go boom boom? Yeah, really not feeling that one. Though in her case I don’t actually think it will manage that much, she’s not really being pushed as a big artist.

So what songs on the album are good? I like Double Talk which isn’t anything complicated, it’s a nice and simple track with some dance beats to it. Marisol is another good song, it’s a slow song, more of a ballad. It’s a song that just feels right for Emily, so vocally and style wise. The danger with songs like that is also that singers go a bit overboard in the vocal department but that isn’t the case her at all. It’s just a good solid song.

What stands out negatively? Really not digging a song like All the Boys Want, just not feeling it, just a no from me. 1-800 Clap Your Hands? Sorry, doesn’t make me clap either, really don’t get the point of that song, it’s just a bit all over the place.

For the rest the songs on the album don’t really stand out, not in the bad, not in the good. They’re just a bit average really. I think that is the best way to describe it, an average pop album. So an average rating would be 3 out of 5, though at the lower end of that rating I have to admit. I do wish there would have been something more substantial to the album, be it musically or lyrically.

My main problem with Selena’s first album was the lack of personality. At the time I blamed a lot of that on the fact that she recorded the album before forming the band (which was odd to begin with). So now she and the band have been together for a while and…… nothing has changed. Selena and her band members don’t have a single writing credit on the album that I could find. So that issue hasn’t been fixed yet; doesn’t mean that she didn’t give her input on the songs but it just feels less personal when people don’t involve themselves in the writing process.

The album starts with the two singles so far; Round & Round and A Year Without Rain. Good news is that they are the best songs of the album but it’s also the bad news because lets face it; they’re not exactly stand out songs. Selena doesn’t really have a stand out voice, you actually have to know it’s Selena singing the songs to know it’s her. So when the vocals don’t stand out the music and lyrics have to stand out and they don’t do either.

When we start about the songs that have the real problems it’s a longer list but I’m going to focus on the ones that stand out in that department. First Rock God and honestly; whoever figured it was a good idea for Selena to record that song should be locked up. The music is a mess, the production is a mess, the vocals are a mess. I just can’t say anything nice about it.

Songs like Off the Chain, Intuition and Sick of You might start out alright but at some point they just derail. Be it due to random placement of unnecessary back up vocals, too much production or other reasons. Sick of You just dies in genericness (is that a word?) after it’s done you’ll forgot what you were listening to.

You also have to wonder why they’d put a song like Summer’s Not Hot on an album that’s released on the first day of fall. Yes the song is nothing special but it’s a summer song and they can do quite well in summer, not in fall. That the album ends with the soundtrack from Ramona and Beezus just screams filler.

Songs like Ghost of You also show that Selena doesn’t really have any business singing slow songs. In all reality I think that singing generic pop songs is all she can do really. Yes there is a market for that, just look at your average chart listing and she’ll have a place there. Just not at the upper end because even in the generic pop music department she doesn’t stand out.

So yeah, I can’t give this a higher score of one out of five. Sorry Selena but Kiss & Tell was actually better, I was hoping there would be improvement going to this album but no. If you want to buy it, go for the deluxe version. The dance remix for Round & Round actually improves on the song and there’s an amusement factor in hearing Selena sing A Year Without Rain in Spanish.

One of the songs of the EP didn’t make it to the album but seven others were added. As for the themes of the album, they’re more of the same though that isn’t really surprising, the EP really should be seen as a preview of the album. So for the most part I’m going to refer back to the earlier review for that aspect.

So what are the best songs on there? I’d say Miss Nothing, Just Tonight and strangely enough the slower Nothing Left to Lose. Despite my reservations certain content in those songs. They’re just pleasant to listen to, mainly the last two. One thing I have to point out though is that I’m never that impressed with Taylor’s vocals, I’d call them sufficient and well suited for the music but she’ll never stand out as a vocalist.

I can’t say that I’m very fond of My Medicine (the reasons for that are known), Since You’re Gone, Factory Girl and the title track Light Me Up. They sound a bit generic to me as far as rock songs are concerned, that’s probably my main problem with the whole thing. The songs aren’t exactly spectacular and if you were to hear it on the radio and not know it, you wouldn’t go “wow, who is that?”. It would just slip by in the background.

So here is my problem with this whole Taylor Momsen and her music thing. The impression I get from listening to this album is that we’re dealing with someone who’s so desperately trying to be different from the current pop mainstream that she goes overboard and loses perspective. What have a lot of rock bands in the past made songs about? Sex, drugs, alcohol and who knows what. So what does Taylor do? She makes songs about that.

Sorry but I’m not buying it, I can honestly only give this a three point rating (at the lower end of the three point ratings). First because the EP made me hopeful for something better, most of the highlights are on there. In general however I just feel that for this type of music it’s rather generic and because of the themes of her songs she just loses point. Though I will say this, when Taylor comes out and states that she is a drug addict and alcoholic then I will post a correction of a lot of what I have said here and increase the rating of the album. To sum it up in one line I’d say that through the Pretty Reckless, Taylor Momsen trying so hard to be outside of the mainstream that she’s gone a bit generic.

So is it a good album to buy? It is yes, just could have been better.