Editor’s Pick of the Week

For my pick this week, I’m torn between two songs. Both are completely different but are both amazing. However, I’m going to go for the upbeat song and save the ballad for a top ten idea i’m having.

So, this is Salt Air by Chew Lips, a fantastic London based group of electro-pop singers. Their debut album Unicorn was released January 2010 but, Salt Air featured on their introduction EP and never made the final cut of the album. Anyway, it is a great track which always reminds me of being a teenager and the TV show Skins for some reason. It’s been popping up on my iPod alot recently so I felt it was only fair to share the song with you all.

 

7/8

sevenslasheight: Song of the Week

Maybe, we should have picked the dangerously catchy: Friday by Rebecca Black. But we couldn’t bring ourselves to make that call. Here is, however, something young and poppy that will make you feel just as good.
This is Willow Smith‘s 21st Century Girl, the follow up to the strangely addictive Whip My Hair. This second effort is just as catchy, just as much “fun pop” as the hair whipping, the Video however is incredibly clever and fun, and proves pop can be fun and not sexualized. Willow’s done nothing to get rid of those ‘mini Rihanna’ comparisons but thats hardly a bad thing.

 

Excuse us, we’re off to the beach to pull something out of the sand.

6/8

Avril Lavigne: Goodbye Lullaby

Title: Avril Lavigne Goodbye Lullaby

Details:

• Highest UK Chart Position: 9
• US Billboard Chart Position: 4
• Label RCA
• Producer (s): Avril Lavigne, Butch Walker, Deryck Whibley, Max Martin, and Shellback

Overview:

Goodbye Lullaby is the new album from Avril Lavigne, arriving four years after her last album The Best Damn Thing. Since then, she has been divorced, entered a new relationship, brought out perfumes and a fashion line so has plenty to speak about on the 19 track album.

Review:

The album plays it very safe, sticking to Lavigne’s usual guitar and piano backing and mixing rocky punk songs with the softer ballads.

An unfortunate thing with having 19 songs is that they soon become very repetitive, with the themes of love and heartbreak becoming quite tiresome by the end. Lyrically, most songs start strong but soon sound repetitive. The songs Push, Smile and Stop Standing There all seem to follow similar structure making them seem too samey. Some songs such as Not Enough and 4Real never seem to hit an epic moment and ultimately fall flat.

There are some odd choices in lyrics such as the line “Boy, I like messing in your bed” during What the Hell. Strange lyrical choices like that make you think Avril has not put as much effort into the writing when you compare it to the likes of I’m With You from 2002’s Let Go

Avril performs at her best on the more upbeat numbers such as What the Hell, Bad Reputation and Alice. The cover versions are some of the best on the album which suggests that maybe Avril should stick to the singing.

Best Track:

Nothing quite beats What the Hell, The first cut from the album was ‘classic Lavigne’ although it did ultimately leave the rest of the album to be somewhat of a letdown. 7/8

Worst Track:

The promotional Black Star is only one verse and because of that you don’t really engage with the song, it should of maybe been an bonus track as opposed to the album opener. 3/8

The Track Chart:

• What The Hell
• Bad Reputation
• Everybody Hurts
• Alice
• Knocking on Heaven’s Door
• Smile
• Darlin’
• Push
• Stop Standing There
• Goodbye
• Wish You Were Here
• I Love You
• Not Enough
• Black Star

Listen Here: Avril Lavigne Goodbye Lullaby

Final Rating: 5/8

Some songs really are a return to form for Lavigne however; the album is over indulged with ballads and songs that sound too similar to make an impact.

Buy At:

Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Goodbye-Lullaby-Deluxe-Edition-Video/dp/B004Q5XYRQ/ref=sr_shvl_album_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1301086367&sr=301-1

iTunes

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/goodbye-lullaby-deluxe-edition/id417848985

Play

http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/10087864/Goodbye-Lullaby/Product.html?searchtype=musicall&searchsource=0&searchstring=avril+lavigne&urlrefer=search&strefer=musicall&searchfilters=s{avril+lavigne}%2bc{34}%2b

Do you agree?

Leave your comments below.

Welcome to sevenslasheight

Hello, this is sevenslasheight, a blog where I will post news, views, opinions and thoughts. I’m going to start a sister site: sevenslasheightmusic which will be about – you guessed it: music. So take a look around and give some of your thoughts in the comment boxes.

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– sevenslasheight