Pixie Lott "Turn It Up" Mariah Carey "Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel" & Ghostface Killah "The Wizard Of Poetry"

New reviews of Pixie Lott, Mariah Carey and Ghostface Killah.

Pixie Lott – Turn It Up

Pixie Lott was originally spotted after L.A Reid heard one of her demos and signed her to Island Def Jam. Considering he was also responsible for kick-starting the careers of Avril Lavigne, Usher and Pink, that’s not exactly a bad start for the now 18-year-old. Since then, Lott has changed managers and subsequently changed labels, but she’s still been pushed a hell of a lot for an artist that is yet to prove herself.

On ‘Turn It Up’ it’s painfully noticeable that Lott is being labeled as the UK’s next big thing but unable to live up to the hype. She has been compared to the likes of Amy Winehouse and Duffy, because of the 60′s throwback sound that is so popular in the UK right now. Despite those comparisons, she’s being marketed more as the new Lily Allen, without the allure of what actually makes Allen likable. Think along the lines of Kate Nash, who a couple of years back was being billed as the new UK it girl, and even played the Big Day Out only to have her career stall due to a lack of a second album.

‘Turn It Up’ churns out a few obvious stand-out singles. ‘Boys & Girls’ has an infectious chorus that sounds like it belongs to the Sugababes and elsewhere ‘Gravity’ and ‘Cry Me Out’ have their moments in the sun. For some reason I sort of like that “I got your email/ you just don’t get females, do you?” line too.

It’s not all perfect though. God knows she’s got the looks but ultimately it’s about the music. The biggest problem is that even though she has a good voice, she doesn’t always use it to her advantage. Take closing track ‘Hold Me In Your Arms’ as an example. ‘Hold Me’ takes a simple and catchy production that could have been a memorable ballad but instead we get Lott, who sounds a little unsure of herself and stumbles on making the chorus as huge as it has the potential to be. And it’s moments like that which make the album so unmemorable. It’s a pity it couldn’t be more.

Mariah Carey – Memoirs Of An Imperfect Angel

Apart from the odd Dream ad-lib, ‘Memoirs of an Imperfect Angel’ has no guest appearances. Coming from an artist that has never struggled to stay relevant but often had unnecessary guests on her albums (e.g. T-Pain, Damian Marley on E=MC2) it comes across as a breath of fresh air. Of course, the real attraction to this album is The-Dream and C. Tricky Stewart, who produced and wrote almost everything on the album. The-Dream is pretty much the go-to guy in R&B right now considering he wrote ‘Umbrella,’ ‘Single Ladies,’ and more recently the charming and sometimes dirty Electrik Red album as well as his second solo album.

On ‘Memoirs,’ The-Dream focuses on the understatements of powerful R&B. Apart from ‘Obsessed,’ there are no obvious singles, and instead we get a whole bunch of songs that often sound unstructured and get overlooked but like most great albums this one starts to grow with every listen. What we end up with are songs that are so littered with tiny aspects that they take a few listens before they start to truly unfold.

Right near the end of the album and before the Foreigner cover, which we’re not going to mention, we get two reprises, an interlude and a prelude. They all work really well, especially the the whistles and marching band drums of the ‘Up Out My Face’ reprise, which gives the potential single a little something extra. On a personal note, I probably play ‘Up Out My Face’ the most. There’s something I totally love about MC adopting The-Dream’s audacity and relaying it back over a song like this. Those bullshit Dream lines that sometimes frustrate the hell out of me totally work here as well, despite them being completely ridiculous. “If we were two lego blocks, even a Harvard university graduating class of 2010 couldn’t put us back together again.”

Overall, the album might not get MC the commercial success that she’s used to or the two number one singles she needs to break the record currently held by The Beatles but she’s made an album that will be remembered as one of her most consistent works at this part of her career. Plus if she decides to work exclusively with The-Dream for the rest of her career, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.

Ghostface Killah – Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry in Emerald City

Right now anything Ghostface releases will be greeted with open arms. Despite a few career misses, he has created such a name for himself that he has a loyal and growing fanbase. On ‘The Wizard of Poetry’ Ghost takes on a new persona and except for a couple of exceptions there is little gangster talk. We’re guessing that he saved most of that for ‘Only Built For Cuban Linx II.’ Here we get songs about love, sex, and in general, women.

Let’s get this right out of the way. ‘The Wizard of Poetry’ is by no means his finest effort, or for that matter, it could be one of his worst albums. Following albums like ‘Supreme Clientele’ and ‘Fishscale’ isn’t exactly easy. But it’s still Ghost and there are a few moments that stand out amongst the clutter. The one thing that will always be prominent while listening to him is his amazing eye for detail and the way he can transcribe that into rhyme form. The other is his ability to switch between serious subject matter and making you laugh your ass off; sometimes at the same time.

If you haven’t already heard it, ‘Stapleton Sex’ will probably go down as one of the filthiest songs ever recorded. It actually makes you feel a little dirty even listening to it through headphones, and the song was subsequently left off the clean album version since I really don’t think there’s any way to possibly edit it. The fact that it has a video is a completely different concern.

But then there’s ‘Guest House,’ a song which puts its hand up for one of his best storytelling adventures Ghost has ever done. The verses take you from a panicked Ghost searching for his missing girlfriend to finding her in his guest house with the guy that installed his cable (played by Fabolous). It’s full of great one-liners too.

Unfortunately, the R&B concept isn’t pulled off perfectly. Too many songs have weak, repetitive hooks that only do Ghost a disservice. But when he’s at his best, even a weak hook can’t stop you from liking what you hear. Take for example, ‘Paragraphs of Love’ which has him sweet talking a pregnant woman about to be married. For the casual listener of Ghostface, there are always better places to start but there are still moments worthy of attention.