Unbroken
By: Katharine McPhee
Genre: Rock
My Rating: ????
Now a blonde, you wouldn’t recognize the former Idol frontrunner on the cover of her second album. That’s probably the point. After an awful, R&B-leaned 2007 debut bombed and struggled to artistically define the singer-turned-actress (causing her then-label RCA Records to drop her), the former broad’s going the Mandy Moore route – right down adult-contemporary road. Songs like the first couple pop confections – mid-tempos “It’s Not Right” and “Had It All,” the irresistible first single – fit McPhee better than the shoes she ridiculously sang about on her predecessor, partly because the focus wisely shifts to her fine, cloudless voice. It’s an alluring instrument that works marvelously on “Say Goodbye,” a piano-led lament vulnerably conveyed in a haunting cadence. Unfortunately, it’s often also stylistically vanilla – and a heap of bland ballads rounding out the album aren’t particularly wooing. But at least she’s moving her Manolos in the right direction.
Animal
By: Ke$ha
Genre: Rock
My Rating: ???
Pop’s new “bi” on the block is the kid Katy Perry would have if she could birth a 22-year-old smart ass. Her stock elocution is an almost-clone of the “I Kissed a Girl” phony’s. But Ke$ha likes booze more – or so she sings (and sometimes raps) in her teen-sounding tone. The no-BS-taking brat is hammered on much of her drunk-on-dance debut, sneaking alcohol into her purse, guzzling it like water or using it as a metaphor. Oftentimes she unleashes some snarky, cackle-causing zinger. All this is sloshed over electro-pop beats via music-making majors like Dr. Luke and Max Martin, who manipulate Ke$ha’s Katy-meets-Miley vocals to crazy robotic, half-Chipmunk effect. Much of Animal is cut from the same blippity-blooping that assaults the first single, “TiK ToK,” with the opening lead-in of songs offering irresponsible fun – especially on the fuzzed-out “Take It Off,” promoting drunken hot messes. But as if to make her seem like a real person, she turns to insufferable ballads that aren’t believable when she’s channeling more machismo than a frat boy. There’s still instant gratification to some of this disposable, processed party-pop, but it’s on par with a night of nonstop drinking. You won’t remember much of it tomorrow.
Stronger with Every Tear
By: Mary J. Blige
Genre: R&B
My Rating: ??? ½
If ever an artist could sell a cliché, it’d be Mary J. Blige. So much raw conviction is served alongside her inimitable powerhouse voice that even self-empowerment platitudes, like those on the canned MJB upper-anthem “Each Tear” off her ninth studio album, go down easier than they should. But even a bona fide soul queen like Blige can’t redeem something as abominable as “Kitchen,” cooking up atrocious rhymes and silly appliance metaphors like a parody. Meat’s missing in the hallow shells of “I Love U (Yes I Du)” and “I Feel Good,” and a few cookie-cutter club songs – produced by trendy hip-hop hot shots – dilute Blige’s trademark stamp, but still do their job. She gets into her groove on “I Am” with its classic-ballad throwback vibe. But it’s the prized closing paean, “I Can See in Color” – a sparse, bluesy song of joy, redemption and self-love – that makes bold boasts like “I’m the best” more believable.
