Exclusive - Chris Brown
Chris Brown's sophomore release, isn't much better than his first one (which I thought wasn't all that great). Every song seems to be about 'getting the girl' and staying up late at night doing who knows what. Sure, I guess it would be a good album if you were into that sort of things, but for people like, me it seems degrading to women because he doesn't seem to mention anything about the women themselves, but more about their 'hot bodies.'
Sound wise, Chris Brown sounds more mature. His voice is still as whiny as it was before, but the feel that you get from the songs seems a lot more mature. It seems Chris has picked off where his self-titled debut album left off. I have to admit, even though I don't like Chris Brown very much, this album does have quite a few catchy songs that one may find themselves humming randomly. On this CD, he's collaborated with many mainstream rappers such as T-Pain, will.i.am, and Lil' Wayne. With his age, Chris Brown's ego has also inflated to the size of a blimp. In the song 'Wall to Wall' he talks about women coming from 'wall to wall' and he has to decide which one to pick. Even my ego isn't that big.
1. Throwed - A decent way to start the album. He could have possibly picked a stronger track to put in the beginning to get the listener's attention, but of course, he might have had no say in the track order. Chris needs to work on enunciating his words because sometimes, I can't even understand what he's saying. His higher register also sounds weak and whiny. Probably when he ages and his voice deepens, his music will sound better, but I wouldn't hold my breath.
2. Kiss Kiss ft. T-Pain - The first 'official' single to Chris Brown's new CD. One of the stronger tracks on this album, so I would have personally chose this song to start the album, but then again, I'm only a blogger, what do I know? The song gets pretty annoying after a while though.
3. Take You Down - The song starts off with a guitar solo that sounds like something that would come from a jazz club. One of the slower songs on this CD. It's nice that Chris knows that he needs variety on his album, but it still isn't on par with Say Goodbye from his debut CD. I actually liked Say Goodbye from his debut CD.
4. With You - I actually like this song. It doesn't contain any lewd lyrics or equally lewd rappers and it's actually quite easy on the ears. Chris doesn't strain his vocals by attempting to sing high. He actually sounds like a good singer judging by this song. He really should just sing naturally more often. I wish I could say the same about the next song though...
5. Picture Perfect ft. will.i.am. - This is one of the lewd songs on the album. Is there some rule states that all teenage male singers must always sing about getting the girl? That's what it seems like nowadays. This is another song that demonstrates how large Chris's ego is now.
6. Hold Up ft. Big Boi - This song would be almost decent if Big Boi wasn't rapping on it. I'll just ignore the lewdness of this song just because he mentions Angelina Jolie in this song.
7. You - This is another song that demonstrates that Chris is a good singer when he doesn't overextend his vocal range.
8. Damage - Another song that needs to be enunciated more. I've found that when Chris tries to sing high, his enunciation starts to become worse and worse. This song could have been nice... but too bad it wasn't.
9. Wall to Wall - The song that Chris, himself, leaked online. It was supposed to be the first single to the album, but since it wasn't so successful, Kiss Kiss replaced it. I actually like this song; it's catchy. This is again, another song that demonstrates the sheer size of Chris's ego.
10. Help Me - The beat to this song is really similar to Wall to Wall. For a moment, I thought I was listening to the same song. This is another song that I actually kind-of-sorta like. It's catchy, but it's repetitive.
11. I Wanna Be - This song is so similar to Say Goodbye. The piano part in the beginning sounds exactly the same. Obviously, Chris or his record label thought that since Say Goodbye was fairly successful, they should try to replicate the effect on the new album. It actually does kind of work.
12. Gimme Watcha Got ft. Lil' Wayne - Another lewd song. I strongly dislike Lil' Wayne. His voice just irritates me. It would have been a catchy song if it had not been for the rapping in the beginning.
13. I'll Call Ya - YES! This song has lewd lyrics, but it is probably the best song on the album in my opinion. The chorus is insanely addictive to just hum, and I'm surprised that this came from Chris.
14. Lottery - Probably the second best song on the album. This song is actually kind of sweet. It talks about how meeting the girl was like winning the lottery.
15. Nice ft. The Game - I don't like it.
16. Down ft. Kanye West - Though it bears no resemblance to Run It! I predict that this will be Chris's next big single. This song is without a doubt, the second best song on the album.
This was an okay album. Not as good as I thought it would be, but it was by no means, a sophomore slump.