Some random musings ...
This is not normally the kind of album I would buy, but I was really curious what all the buzz was about, so about a week ago I shelled out $16 and bought it, almost on a whim.
I'd read a couple interviews with her, out of curiosity, and an article or two about her. She's definitely very ambitious and seems to have a strong sense of what she wants, and how to get it. I also learned last year
she's a Beach Boys fan, so I figured she can't be all that bad. ;)
Anyway, I've given the album a few listens by now and, well, it's kinda what you would expect from a Top 40 star, I suppose. I'd put her on about the same level as a Madonna or Cyndi Lauper. At least on this album, it's sorta similar music to those two Stars of Yore (yes I know she's been a country-pop crossover artist before this album). In fact, listening to this album, it's amazing how little Top 40 music has changed in the past 30 years!
I get the sense she could be a better/more daring and creative songwriter if she really wanted to, but perhaps she's mostly interested in creating big, commercial successes. In that case, an album like this is about the best we might expect. There's 2 definite good songs on the album (
Blank Space and
Style), plus a couple nice ballads in
This Love and
Places, but we're not talking about major creative breakthroughs, just nice pop tunes. Another ~3 songs have potential but fall short, and the rest is fill. The ~3 songs that have potential can be a bit frustrating to listen to at times, because there are parts of the song where you sense she could have done certain things to make the song more interesting, but instead she opts for the most predictable path.
Anyway, it'll be interesting watching her career progress. What'll be most interesting will be too see if she stays on the Top 40 path, or if she gets bored with that after a while and does something more daring, even if it's not as commercial.
/random musing
