Havana Brown- Flashing Lights Album Review

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Album- Flashing Lights

Artist- Havana Brown

When most artists come into the mainstream these days, they either tend to be singers in their own right, or DJ’s who get others to feature in their work. Havana Brown seems to be a lady of all trades, initially emerging as a DJ for Island Records Australia, before she emerged as a solo artist in her own right in 2011. But is Havana Brown’s music as a singer worthy of listening to, or should she just go back to her DJ roots?

Track 1- Warrior

Opening track Warrior is an up tempo electro pop number that finds Brown putting on a commanding persona, as she states that she is going to dance to the beat of her drum and be like a warrior. The song finds the singer in a state of cliché as she tries to sound like a forceful, strong person but just comes out with these statements that you can’t believe in. The song also lacks a really strong hook, with the vocal performance lacking charisma and at times just sounding like Brown is shouting at us. The lyrical sparseness and lack of vocal charm is only slightly salvaged by the production, which is slightly interesting with the squiggly electro beats. But the production also needs work, with the dubstep breakdown towards the end sounding incredibly annoying with the use of sirens, and just making the song feel like it is a remixed track trying to be a great club song but ultimately sounding unfinished and bland.

2/5

Track 2- We Run the Night (featuring Pitbull)

Currently Brown’s biggest selling single to date, We Run the Night is a fun dance pop track that is designed to be a stomping party track that you can just dance along to and go a bit crazy with. The song finds Brown focusing on telling us how she feels alive with this music, and when the evening comes she just go’s crazy to the point where she ‘runs’ the night. The lyrics are peppered with cliché, but the simple hook of the chorus is a bit catchier than the previous track. Vocally Brown comes across slightly blander on this occasion because the use of Auto Tune just makes her come across as robotic, but the presence of Pitbull provides a slightly feisty, hard hitting edge that sees the artist give one of his better featured performances. Producer Red One also does a good job with the production, focusing on this meld of thumping dance beats and cool post chorus breakdowns that don’t sound that original but which do the job of getting you wanting to dance.

3.5/5

Track 3- Big Banana (featuring R3hab and Prophet)

Brown takes a slightly different direction with Big Banana, a dance pop track that has a slightly tropical feel and which finds the singer in a sort of feminist mode. This is because Brown doesn’t just play the simple role of girl ready for a guy, but instead owns her sexuality and uses the sexual innuendo line of ‘big banana’ to objectify this guy. The concept is fun and flirtatious and although the lyrics could do with some work, the cheekiness of the song does kind of win you over. Brown also sounds better vocally as a sense of a fun loving personality shines through in the track. The only issue is the production, as the blend of light, shiny dance rhythms that have a summer vibe don’t quite meld as well with the more forceful post chorus beats as you would wish, whilst the presence of R3hab and Prophet feels like the song has just had a rapper added on so that it can be a single, rather than the two artists featured being relevant.

3/5

Track 4- Ba*Bing

Promotional single Ba*Bing grabs your attention pretty quickly with the smouldering style of the production, which utilises more of a house music sound with forceful, kind of dark sounding beats. The production is definitely the songs best asset, with producer Carl Ryden creating this tribal sound that keeps your attention and which makes for a more exciting dance track than the previous songs. The lyrics of the track find Brown in a confident mode as she exclaims of being a cyclone and seemingly wanting you to hear just how grand a person she is, and although the ‘ba bing’ hook shouldn’t work, it is quite irresistibly catchy. Vocally Brown is also strong, once again showing off a bit more personality, whilst the use of layering for the chorus adds a sultry and feisty edge to the singer’s persona, and really it is just hard to understand why this was positioned as a promotional single over some of the actual singles.

3.5/5 

Track 5- Naughty

Naughty treads back to more straightforward dance pop territory. Here we find the singer once again in a flirtatious frame of mind as she tells this person of how she knows what they want, and how she can do things for them because she is naughty too. The lyrics are slightly stronger and sell the message of naughtiness and flirtation well, but vocally Brown lets herself down through the use of Auto Tune. Because of the style of the vocals Brown just sounds more lifeless than naughty, and it just makes her come across more like an insecure vocalist. The simple quality of the dance pop production is nice but not very exciting, making it seem like the producers kind of didn’t give this track much attention.

2.5/5

Track 6- Flashing Lights

Title track Flashing Lights finds Brown teaming up with producer RedOne again for a song that is built upon passion. But this time round Brown and RedOne don’t deliver a typical dance pop style, but instead the song is embedded more in simple pop and disco groove. This sound is really interesting and brings a great sense of diversity to the record whilst still working within the album as a whole. The frenzied disco beats create a thumping, groovy sound that makes you just want to dance in a different way, whilst vocally Brown is at her best, as she fits into the sensual persona of the track brilliantly and utilises her voice to make the song sound passionate and airy. The use of vocal layering also adds to the songs catchiness, and with the sharp simplicity of the lyrics being equally catchy, this is a brilliant title track where you can believe in this idea of Brown looking for love on the dance floor and feeling this chemistry, with the only annoying bit being the vocal production in the bridge.

3.5/5

Track 7- Any1

Instead of moving on from the disco delights of the title track, Brown keeps in the same realms with Any1, a sensual party tune with a prominent disco edge. The song is a lyrically clichéd mess that simply finds Brown telling us to grab anyone and have a good time, because we are apparently party people. It is pretty much the epitome of typical pop lyrics, with Brown’s vocals doing little to get you interested in the song. This is because the singer’s voice just wears thin and feels too processed and lifeless. Legendary producer Darkchild does an okay job with the simmering beats of the production, but this sound also equally feels bland, and when the slightly harsher sound kicks in before the final chorus it just feels like a case of too little too late, with the song trying to edge towards being a full on club track but lacking the drive.

2/5

Track 8- Someone to Love

Brown takes us back to more of an anthemic dance pop sound with Someone to Love, a song that finds the singer playing the role of this girl who keeps making mistakes, but who just wants someone to love. The lyrics are a bit more focused and less clichéd here, but the chorus is definitely overkill in terms of the repetitive hook of ‘give me someone to love’. Furthermore, Brown ruins the songs lyrical appeal with her weak vocals, as she once again just comes across as too processed and bland, highlighting that she is just not a great vocalist and maybe shouldn’t be making this record. The simple pop style is refreshing after the disco tinged rhythms of the last couple of tracks, but the production also feels equally as grainy and unrefined as the vocals, giving us another song that could be great if a better artist had sung it.

2/5

Track 9- One More Time (featuring Cave Kings)

One More Time opens up with this rattling electric guitar riff that commands your attention, and the song finds the singer showing off a bit more emotion as she reminisces of a former love and asks for that person to be with her again for one more time. The lyrics pack more emotional weight and although the cliché is there it doesn’t feel completely annoying. Likewise Brown’s vocals are once again weak, but the singer comes across a little more passionate and isn’t as annoying as some of the previous tracks. Why producer Cave Kings needed to be featured on this track is a little lost on me considering he wasn’t credited on Warrior, but the production value is definitely great, bringing together that nice guitar riff and a sea of powerful dance beats that lack originality but which definitely do the trick in getting you in that frame of mind to just have a good time.

3.5/5

Track 10- No Tomorrow

Collaborating with Darkchild once again, No Tomorrow finds Brown lamenting a failed relationship as she forgets to remember that there is no future between her and this person. The concept is nice but once again the song lyrically fails, relying too much on repetition that becomes incredibly annoying. Vocally Brown keeps things simple and light with an airy performance that brings out the emotional intensity of the song quite nicely, whilst Darkchild’s vibrant production works equally well with rattling, dubstep esque beats and rumbling dance rhythms.

3.5/5

Track 11- Last Night (Pitbull featuring Havana Brown & Afrojack)

Originally featuring on Pitbull album Global Warming, Last Night is your typical club track designed to get you throwing shapes at your party best. The track focuses on Pitbull and Brown playing lovers who had a good time last night. The song just makes Pitbull come across as a typical, egotistical rapper, whilst vocally Brown is reduced to the simple role of a girl who has just been brought in to sing the hook and doesn’t really do anything. Really the only thing going for the track is the squiggly beats and vibrant club sound, with Afrojack making a tune that is fun and light. However the production equally lacks originality, and the track doesn’t go as full throttle and get you excited to the level that it could.

3/5

Track 12- You’ll Be Mine (featuring R3hab)

Final track You’ll Be Mine is another track that featured on a previous record, this time on the singers When the Lights Go Out E.P. The song itself is a stomping dance number embedded in a lyrically clichéd message that goes nowhere. Here we find Brown telling this person of how she wants to be with them, and she will make them hers. It would be a sweet prospect if she didn’t repeat her intentions so much, coming across more like a crazy stalker than someone in the throes of love. Brown completely lacks charisma and passion within her vocal, and whilst the forceful dance beats are nice and fun, the sound is so typical of the genre that it means the song just loses any credibility.

2.5/5

Final Review

For a debut album Flashing Lights is not worth your money, having a lot more problems than positives. Whilst the dance production is vibrant and infectious for some songs, all too often the production style leans towards a bland, stereotypical club sound that is purely designed to be commercial and therefore lacks any appeal. Brown is a weak vocalist who tries to hide her issues behind an annoying sea of Auto Tune, and with the amount of lyrical clichés going on here, we are just given a record that buys into commercial aspects of the music industry and lacks validity and passion, making this an album that proves Havana Brown should have just stayed a DJ.

3.5/10

Best Track- Ba*Bing

Worst Track- Someone to Love