Conor Maynard - Contrast

As something of a late developer in the whole "fancying celebrities" department I guess I missed out on a whole range of teenage heartthrobs in the early noughties. Zac Efron for the gay side, Britney Spears for the straight. Somewhere along the line though it developed and with it a bewildered observation of those younger than I and what passes for a poster-boy today. JLS, Justin Bieber, Taylor Lautner... I don't see it with any of them. The British equivalent is no different.

Nineteen year old Brighton prodigy Conor Maynard has seemingly emerged out of nowhere (or a BMI marketing drive) with a direct assault upon the nation's Twitter-using mega-loyal teenage girl market. It's an incredibly lucrative market - regularly grabbing chart positions (and toppers) for One Direction, the Wanted and McFly (heck, even Jedward are still going). But the sounds of debut song Can't Say No suggested a more serious, palatable fodder than the likes of those talent vacuums - and with production team The Invisible Men (responsible for Jessie J, DJ Fresh and Noisettes' recent hits) behind him, the world's his oyster.


As one might predict, thumping beats and a hacksaw of a synth-loop introduces the album in the form of 'Animal', which gives us our first glimpse of the half-talking, half-crooning Maynard talking vaguely about the sex and the girls (recurring lyrical themes, so watch out), and the end result is all very heated and a bit of a fumble. Permanent music sleaze-merchant Ne-Yo then pops up on 'Turn Around', a slightly more romantic venture with the whole piano-synth shtick and a bit of a arms-waving chorus that's just easily seen a mile off. Single material comes then in the way of 'Vegas Girl' which, if not irritating in its overuse on TiVo right now, is relatively catchy and 'Can't Say No', the frankly bloody good lead single with a distinctive hook and understated suggestive vocals.

The Pharrell production and guest spot 'Lift Off' lamentably follows the formula of pretty much every feature he's done on anyone's albums: lacklasture samba/R&B fusion with minimal identity and longevity. Some fairground noises segue into 'Mary Go Round', another relatively forgettable, but in the meantime pleasant, filler track. Welcomely, the Arcade's lending hand (as seen on 'Animal' and 'Can't Say No') returns on 'Take Off' and the final product is a strong, if slightly repetitive, club tune with lyrics that make you pause and think "oh lord" ("grab your girlfriend, pull her closer/ make her ride it, ride it rollercoaster"). Fellow hot-new-thing Rita Ora pops up on what's sure to be a mere pitstop in her increasing coverage-drive - 'Better Than You' doesn't ever really specify what it is that they're above us in, but the ride is enjoyable.

The winding down phase of the club bangers comes on 'Another One', which rhymes "she had me going damn oh la la" with "said she wanna peel my banana na na" and uses the very basics of French language to seduce some nondescript girl ("I got what I came for" is a little nauseating and sure to delight feminists). After all the hubba-hubbub, 'Pictures' demonstrates that Maynard's cool drawl isn't his only vocal technique, and instead introduces some nice falsettos with a much sweeter, romantic melody - once performed by Frank Ocean under the title 'Miss You So', apparently. 'Glass Girl' is one of the album's strongest evocations of Justin Timberlake cool, slick pop production and personal involvement with the song's narrative (the spoken outro can be done without, though, thank you very much). Closing track 'Just in Case' lets a girl in a relationship know that she can do better and that better is Conor himself, which is all very lovely and modest and stuff.


Of course, Contrast doesn't exactly stretch the imagination - it has two separate songs titled 'Take Off' and 'Lift Off' for Christ's sake. The lyrics are largely avoidable to anyone above the age of 18, but the productions and songsmanship displayed for a debut record are quite impressive indeed. The songs never quite reach the appalling lows of Bieber's Baby, but then they never reach the dizzying heights of Timberlake's Cry Me a River. There remains to be a case made for Maynard's identity, however - all of these songs could quite feasibly be performed by other current popstars, and that ultimately doesn't leave me wowed.

Rating: 5.5/10
Highlights: Pictures, Can't Say No, Vegas Girl, Take Off, Glass Girl
Avoid: Turn Around, Lift Off

Artwork Watch: I'll be honest here and say that I haven't a fucking clue what he's doing.
For fans of: JUSTIN BIEBER APPARENTLY. Timberlake would be more apt.
Up next: Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Fleet Foxes - Helplessness Blues, a review

Image
In 2008 the Fleet Foxes launched onto the music scene with their eponymous debut, landing themselves #1 positions in end-of-year reviews from the likes of Pitchfork, The Times and Mojo. Their unique brand of baroque-fused folk struck a chord with many, and the time has now come for them to follow that success up. In May they will release 'Helplessness Blues', the title track for which they recently released as a free download. The opening track 'Montezuma' is a slow repeat of their signature sound - the version I have unfortunately riddled with a few technical glitches - a minimalist and pensive reflection on life and impending death. In dirth or in excess /Both the slave and the empress/ Will return to the dirt I guess/ Naked as when they came. There's a slight rockabilly tune to 'Bedouin Dress', a slight threat to Robin's claim that the record will be "less poppy, less upbeat and more groove-based". The groove is certainly here, a Garfunkelia
Read more

Lady GaGa - ARTPOP

Image
Ah, the Lady GaGa album cycle. It's rivalled only by the surfacing of a celebrity's nudes in the "what gets the gays riled up" stakes, and is subject to a hideous level of hyperbole, high expectations and Germanotta's own unmistakeable hubris. This time around she's stretched as far as vowing to be the actual first popstar to perform in space (many have claimed they will, but apparently she actually will), has made a typically overstated cameo in Robert Rodriguez's Machete Kills , and gone down the gimmicky app route that Bjork and Jay Z did to varying results (Bjork's was innovative and interesting, Jay's was done for a deal with Samsung, go figure). GaGa herself has clumsily tread between the two: her own app appeared to be free, as she probably intended, but now something's popped up, most likely thanks to the label, with O2 that charges consumers £1 a week to listen to it a week earlier than its release date. This careless slipping be
Read more

Icona Pop - Icona Pop

Image
Although usually condusive of a bemused shrug (honestly, I swear some of their featured musicians are made up), the 'Best New Track' feature of Pitchfork occasionally throws up something surprising and instantly loveable: I Don't Care by Icona Pop was just one of them. So when this was also recommended by Popjustice, and given my desperate attempts to immerse myself in pop music and simultaneously be cool, I hopped aboard the bandwagon with gusto. And you know what? I love it. That phenomenal single aside, Sweden's newest pop sensations have, off the back of their international (modest) success, find themselves yet to take over the UK or States. Let's hope, then, that they're not doomed to an embarrassing record label drop and future solo efforts on the X Factor (in the same vein as Mini Viva , who had equally brilliant but tragically-ignored singles) or a series of delayed release dates of album #2 ( VV Brown ). The album, however, seeks to buck the
Read more