adidasss

You were gonna argue what? Mika made a good pop album, it's not my fault that you have an inherent teenage dislike of anything mainstream. It's hella gangster of you.

I'd say this one is one of the better pop albums of the year. Ranks right up there with Feist's The Reminder, in both style and quality. Do you hate that one too?

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sleepy jack

I listen to Avril, Vitamin C, and Maroon 5.

Feist is icky, and this album is terrible. It holds a watered down and overproduced sound that even Hilary Duff could admire. Lyrically its disgrace I find it hard to believe the same woman who wrote "But it's a jungle when war is made / and you'll panic and throw your own shit at the enemy / The camera pulls back to reveal your true identity / Look, it's a sheep in wolf's clothing / A smoking gun holding ape." Could write such crap like "I was your silver lining high up on my toes / while you were running through fields of hitchhikers, / as the story goes / hooray, hooray, i'm your silver lining / hooray, hooray, but now i'm gold." Musically its okay, but the entire album stays too rooted in bland overproduced pop to be very interesting, and it goes all over the place but not with enough subtly to avoid sounding like a poorly assembled mixed tape made by a preteen who thinks High School Music is the greatest soundtrack ever.

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adidasss

Can pop music really ever be "overproduced"? I understand that they may have changed their sound and spruced up their production when transferring to a major label (thus getting access to better producers and equipment), but to discard the album completely because of it...well, lemme just say that you sound a little like a sulking child.

Per usual, I don't really give a shit about the lyrics, but I'm betting you chose the most superficial song on the album. Are we saying she's never written anything of the sort before? Because I find that hard to believe....this is not the Arcade Fire. This...is...pop. Plus, ...Pitchfork disagrees.:-/

There's one thing you have gotten right, there is not concept they stuck to, no clear guide line or theme so it does sound a little like a mix tape. The songs, however, are good enough on their own not to make this a major issue.

I give it a solid 4/5...it will definitely rank at the top of my 2007 list.

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sleepy jack

The album sounds so incredibly polished over and the vocals so safe and instruments tame that the overproduction becomes amazingly noticeable. Blake sounds nothing like he normally does in Dream world.
Shes written some crap like all lyricist but overall shes a very solid songwriter minus this album, and if I were to choose the worst song lyrically on the album I could've gone with the Moneymaker. And who says pop can't have good lyrics? Look at Morrissey.

Are you using pitchfork as your source for disproving something I said? Like seriously?

Thats where I disagree, these songs suck. I'd easily rate this as one of the biggest disappointments of this year.

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adidasss

That's what pop is about.

I never said all pop should be shallow, but that's what it is for the most part, mainstream pop anyway. So you shouldn't be so outraged...And I quoted Pitchfork because they gave a very negative review and yet focused on the lyrics as the only positive thing. And apparently they're not the only ones that praise Lewis' abilities...

Ok. Agree to disagree.

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sleepy jack

I disagree, lets look at the Beatles, or the Smiths They're better than the all the pop artists that fall under the safe overproduced category, and why? Because they didn't take the easy way, lets look at the Smiths they could've had amazing production and a high polished debut but did they? No, they went with an indie label and sub-par production why did they do that? To have complete control over their music.

Yeah but pitchfork is indie hipster trash man, lets be real.

Alright then.

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adidasss

The Beatles were as well produced as bands got in those days. And the Smiths are a cult indie rock band, and as far removed from pop, especially the mainstream version, as a band can be. I don't know why you assume RK didn't have "complete" control over their music. You think this isn't actually the final product they wanted to put out? Maybe this is actually the sound they've been searching for all these years. And I bet it goes on to become their most successful album. It's certainly the best they've ever made.

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Gentleman Johnny

who cares about what kind of music they make?

Jenny Lewis = bangable.

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sous les pavés, la plage!

sleepy jack

That maybe true now but it wasn't in the 80s.

No, its easily their worst and just become something is successful doesn't mean its the best going by the logic you've been using Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera are two of the greatest artists ever, theres a big difference between a fun album and a good album.

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adidasss

Us fags?

But yeah, she is uber sexy...vocally at least.

Yes it was. They never had "major" commercial success, at least not in the realm of other, mainstream pop artists of the decade, such as Madonna, Michael Jackson and the likes...I'm pretty sure...

Is there? I'd say Christina and Britney are easily among the greatest POP artists of all time. They didn't achieve the success they've had by performing crap music. Even if elitists like yourself can't see it.

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