I think Better To Lie is the best song on the album i really hope it comes out as a single.

Here we go...

 

First of all, the first album was a huge disaster. I only liked the 2 remotely uptempo songs on it.

 

1. Promise this *** - Nothing much to mention onto this song, next to the fact it is mad, and not the good mad. Remix is better.

2. Yeah yeah **** - Hallelujah, we've crashed into some unknown territory... great song.

3. Live tonight ** - Oh great, will.i.am produced this, wouldn't look out of place on that horrid debut album.

4. The flood *** - Pretty generic, quite Disney... at least her vocals aren't too harsh on this.

 

That's already 3 decent songs, surely it's better than "3 words", yet some critics give it less appreciation? WHAT...

 

5. Amnesia *** - The influences are very surprising considering it's Cheryl, the intro however promises more than the song eventually becomes.

6. Everyone *** - Dizzee is a nice addition to this track, and I usually dislike him... 3,5.

7. Raindrops *** - It's another average track, the lyrics are pretty weird to state the least.

8. Hummingbird **** - Quite a sophisticated little pop track, I like it.

9. Better to lie **** - The featured artist is quite talented, wonder if he has solo material. This'd make a nice next single.

10. Let's get down **** - Cheryl goes club... and Cher Lloyd! Oh and there was will.i.am again... best song so far nevertheless...

11. Happy tears **** - Nice poppy ballad, if she wants to release a ballad next this could well be it.

12. Waiting **** - Sample sounds familiar, can't place it, some 90's eurodance song... great ending to the album.

 

3.4/5 - average to good. Great improvement from "3 words" which would roughly deserve a 1.6/5.

Best song - Let's get down. Worst song - Live tonight.

Edited October 31, 201014 yr by Mason

I'm surprised you think Live Tonight wouldn't sound out of place on the debut. I really can't imagine what you mean by that and I don't think there's anything here that would really fit in on the debut, except perhaps Promise This (which has obvious similarities with Fight For This Love) and maybe Let's Get Down (the new Happy Hour although not as so-bad-it's-good as that song).

The song as a whole reminds me a lot of "3 words" *gasp*

My copy arrived today!!

:D

 

No lyrics though.

:(

My postman is seriously f**king me about! :angry: HMV delivers are usually here on Saturday and I'm still waiting. :mellow:

My copy arrived today! Will start listening as soon as I can :D

After a few listens, I'm loving this album so much, it's my fave album of 2010 so far!!!

I shall finally have mine tomorrow! Being in London has messed up my buying plans :(

ONLY TRACKS WORTH LISTENING TO:

 

07 :: Yeah Yeah - interesting instrumental (but then, I'm a sucker for 90s-house style piano). The chorus's lyrics are a bit '...really? REALLY?', but then we're talking about CHERYL here so to be fair it's not like I should've really been expecting Ivor Novello-esque material. I can't quite decide if Travie annoys me immensely or makes the whole thing better, which is pretty reflective of the whole album.

08 :: Everyone - actually, on pretty much the whole album it's the production that saves it. Cheryl's really not a particularly intriguing or rewarding solo artist, but I'd say she just about manages to stop the production from completely overwhelming her. That Dizzee makes the whole thing better really isn't a good reflection on Cheryl given his track record lately.

07 :: Better To Lie - a complete exercise in genericism. Could this BE any more of a rip-off of Knock You Down? Keri could actually sue. Indeed, it's only vaguely worth listening to BECAUSE it's chord-for-chord based and production-mirroring a pretty good track.

10 :: The Flood - this is all I'm giving her as an unmitigated victory. WONDERFUL. It's been a while since we've had a good old ridiculously sappy lighters-in-the-air power ballad, and Cheryl gladly obliges. I remain intensely pissed that the producers didn't throw sleigh bells on the end but we can't have everything, can we?

09 :: Hummingbird - Another victory for production! Although I'm not quite sure why. In any case, one can't help but be disappointed that this is one of the highlights of the album - given the amount of money going into her and that she's definitely one of the biggest stars in the UK, this is the sort of thing she should be having as a standard track.

09 :: Happy Tears - I'm not quite sure what it is about this track, but the production is somehow...quite hypnotic. Cheryl actually does a decent job on vocals as well - she's never been the strongest of voices, but she actually does a pretty good job of emotionally connecting with the track here. Other than that, copy-paste positives/criticisms from Hummingbird.

09 :: Waiting - The sample actually works quite well here - just twee enough without slipping into being cheesy. Otherwise, it's just, well, good. It's hard to find the words to pass any comment on this (but more on this general phenomenon on the album in a bit)

 

The rest just doesn't bear commenting upon. Given the amount of money that's gone into her in general, that you could only just manage to muster a decent album off of selective picks from TWO albums is really a sore indictment of how lazy the people behind Cheryl are. The worst thing is - there really isn't the vaguest sign of a personality on the vast majority of these tracks (The Flood, Promise This and Happy Tears aside). Literally, anybody could've done them and, Cheryl stans aside, it really wouldn't make a difference to how somebody would appreciate the track's musical merit, or make a difference to how somebody would actually CARE about the track. Most of the album literally is just music for music's sake - which, in fairness, is representative of pretty much all music nowadays, but it's not even GOOD music for music's sake - example: Commander is pretty much music for music's sake that doesn't arouse any emotional investment or really much comment other than 'THIS IS GOOD YEAH', but that doesn't stop it from being rather amazing. Most of this album on the other hand just pretty much passes me by - even a few of the above tracks.

 

(I've specifically not mentioned chart positions in my criticism of how most of these tracks could be done by anybody because frankly she could release pretty much anything off the album and it would go at least top ten, such is her following at the moment.)

 

It's an improvement on 3 Words, but then frankly ANYTHING would've been an improvement on 3 Words given it was just the singles and Stand Up that were worth being given the time of day on that album. Overall, it's a pretty disappointing album.

Here we go, I'm aware that I'll come across incredibly loony with these ratings but I've long accepted I'm BJ's second biggest Cheryl fan after Theo :drama:

 

10.0 Promise This - Great comeback single, and my favourite solo single of Cheryl's to date, marginally - but I seriously loved all three from 3 Words too.

09.0 Yeah Yeah

08.5 Live Tonight

09.5 The Flood

05.5 Amnesia - Easily the most b-side/filler track on here, it's not awful and I don't rush to skip it, but it's completely average

08.0 Everyone - Decent but nowhere near the best on the album and I'm surprised it's being touted as so by so many people

09.0 Raindrops - Not getting the hate for this, I'm a fan!

09.0 Hummingbird

09.0 Better To Lie

09.0 Let's Get Down

09.0 Happy Tears

09.0 Waiting

 

Very solid imo, far better than 3 Words, Amnesia shouldn't have made the cut but everything else is very good or great.

Loving Yeah Yeah :heart:

I really dont get all the Amnesia hate!! Its my fave song on the album :(

Loving Yeah Yeah :heart:

Really Matt, really!? On my first listen, I found that the weakest of all 12... I can't name highlights yet but give me a couple of days and I'll rate it all!

Really Matt, really!? On my first listen, I found that the weakest of all 12... I can't name highlights yet but give me a couple of days and I'll rate it all!

 

Really!

 

I'm going to do a rate once it all sinks in! Shouldn't be hard when it's on at work :cheer:

Price reduced to £6.99 on Tesco and Amazon.

Really Matt, really!? On my first listen, I found that the weakest of all 12... I can't name highlights yet but give me a couple of days and I'll rate it all!

 

For me it's about the only really good song on there. I was hoping she'd make a good album this time but yet again it's more throwaway cheap sounding pap. :(

It has now grown though. :P 'Everyone' is my new least favourite. Loving 'Live Tonight'!

See Yeah Yeah's intro reminds me of Dario G sorta stuff. This should be a club anthem :heart: Give me some remixes :kink:

Just got this today. It's good but there aren't really any brilliant standout tracks, although I like that it has more variety than 3 Words which got extremely boring half way through.