Album- Paradise
Artist- Cody Simpson
A young, cheeky blond chap with a charisma that will appeal
to many teenage girls, Australian singer- songwriter Cody Simpson has become a
teen star in his own right, with his pop persona being akin to the worldwide
phenomenon of Justin Bieber, although maybe a bit more summery. However, whilst
he has a loyal fan base, commercially the singer has not necessarily had the
commercial success levels of some of his teen star peers. So the question is,
is Paradise actually a good album that people are just missing out on?
Track 1- Paradise
Opening to the sound of waves and birds chirping, the first
song and title track is a real summer anthem that evokes beach imagery and
seemingly positions Simpson as the guy who can make us just forget our
troubles. Paradise is lyrically a pop song that is based in the notion of love
as Simpson sings to this girl about how great she is, how great she makes him feel,
and how being with her is like being in Paradise. Simpson vocally has a
youthful and light tone that gives a breezy quality to the track, with the “oh
yeah yeah mm mm” hook of the song and the whistling in the bridge being cool
and catchy and reminiscent a little of the song MMMBop by Hanson. The guitar
strumming and light and airy tone of the production is typical pop territory,
and so this is a track that opens the record nicely and will appeal to many of
Simpsons female fans, although it does not really stretch any boundaries and is
a bit typical young male vocalist/boy band territory.
3.5/5
Track 2- Got Me Good
Keeping with the light and acoustic tone of the previous
track, Got Me Good is a breezy number where Simpson is once again telling this
girl how she is making him feel really good and he really needs her, as he is
sick of the same type of things coming up all the time. Placing the first two
tracks side by side like this seems like a really terrible mistake, as this
song is okay but doesn’t have as catchy a hook as the previous song and feels
like it could have been written right after the last song was finished,
particularly when one of the lyrics in the verses feature the idea of Simpson
being in paradise with this girl. He brings another light smooth vocal
performance but the production is just too simple and familiar, and so this is
a song that only the fans of the singer will really enjoy.
2/5
Track 3- Be the One
Co-written by Colby O’Donis, Be the One keeps the guitar strumming
lightness and charismatic appeal of the record going, but it is also paired
with a cool dance rhythm and a little bit of an RnB tone, so it is not another
annoyingly similar song. Lyrically the song is once again another happy track
where Simpson is so focused on one girl, as here he is singing about how all he
wants is this girl and he doesn’t care what other people think. It’s a catchy
and fun statement at first but by the last like 30 seconds of him singing it is
a little bit like ‘ok Cody we understand’. Vocally he keeps a nice light tone
and plays to the strength that is his boyish charm, although the emphasis on
the vowels at the end of each line of the chorus is perhaps a little annoying.
And whilst it is still a bit of a pastiche of the teen pop genre with a base
that is reminiscent of One Direction, the sound is a bit more punchier and
catchy here with the introduction of a bit of electro pop sensibilities, and so
we have a nice if simple pop tune.
3/5
Track 4- Hello
Okay, so by this point you just want to say to this singer
that we get it, you really like this girl. This is because it seems that he has
no other lyrical inspirations: we’ve had him going on about how being with this
girl is like being in paradise, how she has him good, how he wants to be her
one, and now he just can’t get her off his mind and just wants to get her
number and hear her say hello. It’s something that young girls will find
appealing, but other music fans will not, with the repetition of hello in the
song just becoming really annoying. The song intriguingly starts off with cool,
electronic tones within the production, but all to quickly sinks into simple
teen pop territory that is something people will have heard before. Although
Simpson gives us a nice if simple (and a bit too layered) vocal performance, it
is not enough to make this an interesting song to listen to.
1.5/5
Track 5- Tears on
Your Pillow
With the title of this track I had hoped he was going to go
into a bit more of an emotional place lyrically, even if he was still focusing
on the idea of a relationship. But yet this is another song that is all about
how this girl is great, with the only difference between this and the other
tracks being that we have the idea of the girl crying, the only emotional
element that is invoked within the record so far. As Simpson sings about
telling this girl that she is and how he won’t take her crying on her pillow,
we believe him with the cute vocal performance that is light in tone, and the
production is simple pop territory but has a little bit of a Caribbean tone and
so is nice in terms of bringing us in a holiday, relaxing state of mind, even if
we are not. But the lyrical content is so bad, with the crux of the chorus
being extremely over repetitive, and the song is marred by terrible clichés
such as the idea of Simpson being a soldier of love.
2.5/5
Track 6- Wish U Were
Here (featuring Becky G)
Finally this is a song that offers a bit of a change in the
record and actually is something cool and exciting to listen to. Co-written by
current hit makers Dr Luke and Bonnie Mckee, as well as fellow musician Taio
Cruz, wish you were hear is not markedly different from the other tracks in
that there is still this intense focus on this one girl. But the song has more
of an emotional level, as Simpson sings of how he can’t live without this girl
and just wishes she was with him. It is a strong concept that is centred around
a solid and catchy pop chorus, and vocally Simpson sounds really strong, with
the layering of his vocals giving a soft, smooth tone to the track whilst still
holding this sense of fragility. Up and coming rapper/singer Beck G provides a
charming and highly catchy rap as the bridge that offers a little sprinkling of
a female perspective in the song that echoes Simpsons sentiment, and the
production of the track is solid with the solid dance pop rhythms and light but
forceful bass that makes for a simple pop song that is deliciously great.
4/5
Track 7- I Love Girls
Things are kept in more of an electro pop state with this
track that finds Simpson going back to simple boyish sensibilities and focusing
his attention on how great girls are. This song is a bit of a change in that he
is thinking of girls as a collective rather than a specific individual, as he
thanks God for making such beautiful and all-round great women. Clichés are
employed that are annoying, but vocally Simpson brings a charm to the track
that is really needed to carry the lyrical message, with the Auto Tune on the
track here working to give this cool essence to the vocal that marks the song
out against the other tracks. The production melds into the standing out of the
track as well, creating simple bass that is catchy and having this little bit
of a simple but frenzied electro energy.
3.5/5
Track 8- Back to You
The record takes a little bit of a softer and organically
driven musical edge with this track that finds Simpson in more of a apologetic
tone and giving the album bit of variation. The song has a strong RnB/ hip hop
flavour in terms of the way the song begins, and how this becomes a motif of
the track, and the handclapping beats of the production have that snappy RnB
love song quality. This sound is appealing when mixed with the light and smooth
vocals of Simpson, who comes off really quite charismatic within the song, and
this charisma gives the track a little bit more of a believable quality. The
lyrics are strong and a bit more touching, as Simpson apologies for letting
this girl down and just wants to know how to makes things right so they can be
back together. The only issues are that the chorus becomes annoyingly
repetitive just a little bit, and the bridge is to clichéd in terms of its book
metaphor.
3.5/5
Track 9- Summer Shade
With the clunky but light guitar rhythms and lilting quality
of the vocal, this song is signalled as a summery kind of tune from the outset.
The song brings the record back to a sound and lyrical concept that is familiar
Simpson territory, as he simply sings to this girl about how he just wants to
be with her all the time, preferably in the summer shade. Although he has a
vocal tone that brings a sweet edge to the track, and the vocal ‘oohs’ of the
bridge make for a stronger finish, the track just feels bland to a point if you
are not a teenage girl, whilst the chorus is once again repetitive to the point
of annoyance. The production is just too acoustic and summery, although the
subdued electronic tones that simmer in the song are nice, and if they were a
bit more prominent the song could have perhaps stood out a bit more.
2.5/5
Track 10- Gentleman
The final track is a typically soft way to end the record
and finds the singer in a mode that is so familiar you will think by the end of
this record that apparently the singer has only one side to his personality.
The song is all focused on how Simpson will care for this girl, and asks her if
she will let him be her gentleman. The song shows of a bit of delicacy in the
vocal performances and a few flourishes of nice falsetto, but as a whole this
track is just another song that is designed to appeal to a youthful fan base of
girls, with the lyrics practically spelling this ideology out. The only thing I
feel that this track should be commended for is the production, as although the
acoustic guitar driven sound is by no stretch of the imagination orginal in terms
of the rest of this album, there is a slightly more subdued quality to the
guitar instrumentation that makes this more of a chilled, less of a summery
kind of song, with the guitar to me having a slightly European feel.
3/5
Final Review
Cody Simpson has the potential to be a bigger kind of a teen
star than he perhaps is at the moment, but the probably is that he either isn’t
being given the right material or just can’t hear the fact that to most of the
world he will just come across as bland. The singer has a light and quite
charismatic vocal tone, but all too often his acoustically based sound with a
strong summer vibe just blurs into one, and there is this really annoying sense
of familiarity. The glimmer of hope here is the sixth track, which shows that
if he mixes things up with a more polished pop sound then he could create a
little bit more of an engaging record. And I’m not saying this to show
favouritism over one genre, but I feel that whilst it can work for some people,
too much of a similar thing and you quickly become bored. There is potential,
but some work really has to be done if the singer is to really stand a chance
in the music market.
Best Track- Wish U
Were Here (featuring Becky G)
Worst Track- Hello
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