Steffi

CELEBRITY

When I recently discovered that NStink would soon be releasing a single from their forthcoming new album, I will admit that I was biting my nails. After all, only one and a half years earlier, in March of 2000, NStink had shattered every conceivable sales record with their second album release No Strings Attached. Along with their almost 2.24 million excess copies sold in only one week, they had also, rather publicly, smashed the previous record of 1.13 million copies held by the Backstreet Boys’s Millennium. Although I believe that there were some logical explanations for their Herculean feat, it was an admirable feat nonetheless, and I was worried that they would be able to re-duplicate their previous success with this new album.

My anxiety has been eased now that I have had an opportunity to hear this touted single, “Pop.” While I believe that NStink was commencing on their climb towards my respect with No Strings Attached, they have now stumbled off the side of the cliff, nowhere in immediate sight. Not only is “Pop” the worst NStink song ever written, produced and recorded, it is possibly the worst pop song I have ever heard in my entire life. In light of the success of “Bye Bye Bye” and “It’s Gonna Be Me,” NStink decided to again use their urban pop style for “Pop.” However, “Pop” fails miserably in comparison to the former two songs. It concentrates too much on a funky groove, which I might add, is not funky at all. As a result, the song is lacking immensely in its deliverance. The singers’ voices, especially Justin and JC, seem unrealistically digitized and the producers attempt to mask this with over-produced urban beat sounds.

Furthermore, a disappointing song will inevitably lead to an unsuccessful video. The Stinkers had shown some creativity with their ventriloquist doll concept in “Bye Bye Bye” and their ken doll concept in “It’s Gonna Be Me,” but have failed to showcase this type of originality in “Pop.” The video reflects the inadequacy of the song, as it uses gaudy and bright colored background, and a cheap dance routine, even by NStink standards. Overall, the video seems like it was on a budget of mere pennies, for the editing, directing and the final product are poor.

In short, unless their anticipated album Celebrity yields songs that are drastically different from “Pop,” I believe it will once again be an album unworthy of $13.99. However, that being said, I will be on the lookout for new NStink songs on the radio and provide honest reviews for them; even NStink deserves an opportunity to prove me wrong.

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Steffi