The new album, Celebrity
Okay, overall, I think the album is great. I remember when No Strings Attached first came out, I was like, "What is this? A bunch of white guys doing R&B?" I was especially dumbfounded by "It Makes Me Ill" -- I'd never heard a 'boyband' sound like that before. But I liked it. And pretty soon, that's what pop was. All the pop acts started coming out with this tougher sound. And now, with Celebrity, I think it's going to be the same deal. Instead of putting out another album full of the regular pop sounds and boring us to death, *NSYNC has brought us a new sound, and managed to make it a sound that everybody likes. Once again, they're redefining pop music. Now just sit back and watch all the other pop acts' next album be full of two-step.
This is what I think of all the songs individually on Celebrity.
Track 1 - "Pop": LOVE the sound of this song. I was worried it would be bad, but the first time I heard it, I was so happy it was good! I think what they say in it is also great for their carrers, letting people know they're really serious about music and not just here to give the record companies more money. I think it was a great song to have as their first single, giving people a taste of 2-step without scaring them to death with the new sound.
Track 2 - "Celebrity": Personally, I don't like this song very much. It has kind of a flat, bland sound to it, and frankly, the "celebrity, celebrity" chants scare me. I'm sure that what they say in it is good for any potential girlfriend of theirs to hear, but none of us teenyboppin' fans can relate to it. I liked this song the first time I heard it at the concert, mainly because it has a pretty good beat to it. It's the kind of song that could get stuck in your head all day. But overall, I don't like the sound of it too much.
Track 3 - "The Game is Over": When I saw heard this song at the concert, I was watching the whole 'space video game Mobius' thing so intently that I wasn't even listening to the song! But really, I like this song. It keeps with the steady beat of pop that we're used to, and plus it has the fun Pac-Man sounds to it. It's the kind of song where, when you're listening to it, you can't do anything else. You just have to get into the song. I also think the lyrics are clever. The one thing is that it sounds really really scary when they yell "How could you think that you could do me like that?!" I just have to get really wide-eyed when I hear that part. Other than that, the song is great!
Track 4 - "Girlfriend": As soon as this song starts, you know you're gonna have to 'get your groove on'. It's got a great sound to it -- it sounds like Justin's kind of song, i dunno. You can listen to this song over and over and never get sick of it. It just makes you want to move around. I like it. (It gets stuck in your head really bad, though.) I love the bridge part, the part that doesn't sound like the rest of the song you know? (The part with the bad word.) That's one thing I don't like about the song. But that's just me, I never swear, but I hey, *NSYNC are guys in their 20's and I think they have every right to.
Track 5 - "The Two of Us": This is my favorite song on the CD. I spend the whole first verse of it in happy anticipation for the two-step part that I know is coming up. It is, as JC says, a "feel-good song". You can't listen to it without moving your head and feet to the beat. And besides that, it's kinda the only song on the CD where they're not steaming mad at the girl. Ha ha. Anyhow, it's just very easy to listen to, and a really fun song. I love it, love it, love it.
Track 6 - "Gone": Oh, what can I say about "Gone"?! It's a nice, lovely ballad, and yet, it sounds so sad and hollow. I like it though. And of course, everybody loves the parts where Justin wails in his loud, whyney voice. That definitley brought some of the loudest screams at the concert. I love the part where they all harmonize, it sounds so good. I don't understand how they can sound that good. It blows my mind. It's like hearing angels. But it sounds so sad! I like the blusey sound of this song though. The one thing that really annoys me about this song is that at the end, they say, "But the truth remains you're." It annoys me to death when people do that. It's like, "it's only one word, just finish the song!" But I'm a perfectionest, so don't mind me. Overall, I like this song.
Track 7 - "Tell Me, Tell Me... Baby": Do they really need the "..." between 'Me' and 'Baby'? 'Cause it's not like there's a big space between the two words when they say that in the song. Maybe they got the idea from Britney with all her 3 little dots things in "Baby... One More Time" and "Oops... I Did It Again." Anyhow, about the song. I love the little "Hold on. Uh, you know what? Can we back it up just a little bit?" Because after hearing the end of "It Makes Me Ill", I can't imagine an *NSYNC album without senseless talking. I love that. And then all those crashing, banging, glass-breaking sounds are fun to listen to. Probably not so fun if you have the flu, but I don't, so... Anyhow, this is another song of the standard kind of pop we're used to hearing, written by the standard pop writers we're used to. It lets us know that *NSYNC hasn't strayed completely from the good old pop we know and love, which is a good thing. I like this song. What's not to like about it? Also, it's a song that a normal person could relate to, which I think is the one thing *NSYNC could have used more of on this CD. They really got into the whole Celebrity thing so much that they ended up with quite a few songs we can't relate to. But I like this song.
Track 8 - "Up Against the Wall": Everybody I know loves this song. We're totally digging the two-step, and the lyrics in this song also give us a very clear visual. It's just a fun, dancing kind of song. Misheard lyrics: when they say "she turned around, and she worked in the worst way", I thought they said "she turned around, and BURPED in the worst way!" Ha ha. I love this song just like everybody else... what more do I have to say?
Track 9 - "See Right Through You": I don't see anything especially spectacular about this song, but again, I like the sound. It's another fun song that I can picture me and Jewels sitting in the back of our car singing as we punch the air to the beat and move the back of the seat up and down just because we can.
Track 10 - "Selfish": This is definitley my favorite slow song on the album. Justin sounds so sweet in it. It's a nice song. JC sounds really good in this song too. I prefer their soft, sweet voices over their harsh, loud voices. I think this was a good song to have on the album because it's just your standard sweet ballad, and I don't think *NSYNC would be the same if they didn't sing this kind of song. I really like it.
Track 11 - "Just Don't Tell Me That": This is the least two-step sounding faster song on the album. It reminds me of Backstreet Boys songs (please don't kill me for saying that!) And I know y'all are making a big deal out of the "Playboy mansion" thing, but for the life of me, I don't know why. I like this song a lot. It's another back-of-the-van-with-Jewels song.
Track 12 - "Something Like You": This is a really nice song. It flows along well. Almost too well -- it makes me sleepy. It really wouldn't be as good without Stevie Wonder's awesome harmonica work. It makes me feel really good inside, and I like this song a lot. It's another sweet one, where the actually LIKE the girl.
Track 13 - "Do Your Thing": All I can say is, what were they thinking??! I don't know if any of you have ever heard *NSYNC's song "Forever Young", but when I heard that song, I was like, "this is *NSYNC?" Same thing with this song. It also reminds me of "Flight of the Bumblebee", it's a jumpy, quick, flighty little song. I'm glad nobody from *NSYNC wrote it, I'd be scared if they did. It's inspiring, it makes me want to go out and do my thing and do it well, but it's much too repetative. It sounds like something that would be on one of *NSYNC's 1998 import singles or something. I don't know. It's a decent song and all as far as songs like that go, but it gets annoying, and I usually turn it off before it gets to the end.
So for the most part, I really like the CD. I Love it. It has a good mix of all different types of songs, so you don't get bored listening to it. Remember right after No Strings Attached came out, all the critcs said that since NSA was so successful, there was nowhere to go but down? Well, looks like *NSYNC proved them wrong.Back to Reviews
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