By @EddieJSays, Contributing Writer
Will.I.Am's new album "#WillPower" (yes, the hashtag is in the title) is an underwhelming collage of generic pop that meets the P. Diddy-collab formula. Usually such an album has a couple of gems in the mix that you can take out and add to your iPod, but “pound WillPower” has no such song. The only songs of merit in terms of theme is "The World Is Crazy," where he comments on how desperate people become for fame and the lengths they go to obtain it (specifically on hyped up YouTube videos) and "Ghetto Ghetto," about how horrible the ghettos are in America (no duh). Aside from these random strays, he gives us reduced, re-used and recycled material: reduced production (nothing really wowed me except for string arrangements at the end of 2 songs), re-used chord progressions and song ideas (check out "Fall Down" feat. Miley Cyrus and try your hardest not to sing Ke$ha's "Die Young" atop of the instrumental), and recycled lyrics. I won't even harbor on Will.I.Am's vocal performance or overuse of auto-tune because anyone can do that, but to not even have a theme or direction is just ridiculous. Yes, we need our party albums, but even those have themes (see Kelis' "FleshTone," which ironically was partly produced by Will.I.Am).
Even the long list of collaborations doesn't make this album a must-hear; if Britney Spears, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus amidst others can't make your album at least a bit interesting, nothing will. As for the deluxe songs? Yeah, they were left off of the original album for a reason. However, the most innovative of production was on “Bang Bang,” where he has a weird mash up of 1940's show-tunes with dance music, but even that track wasn’t fully thought out and is easily skippable after the first minute, once you hear how he mixed the two. I enjoyed the occasional empty spaces in between song changes though. Since we at JSaysOnline get reputations for being "too harsh,” don't take my word for it, check out the consensus of customer reviews on the actual iTunes website.
Will.I.Am's new album "#WillPower" (yes, the hashtag is in the title) is an underwhelming collage of generic pop that meets the P. Diddy-collab formula. Usually such an album has a couple of gems in the mix that you can take out and add to your iPod, but “pound WillPower” has no such song. The only songs of merit in terms of theme is "The World Is Crazy," where he comments on how desperate people become for fame and the lengths they go to obtain it (specifically on hyped up YouTube videos) and "Ghetto Ghetto," about how horrible the ghettos are in America (no duh). Aside from these random strays, he gives us reduced, re-used and recycled material: reduced production (nothing really wowed me except for string arrangements at the end of 2 songs), re-used chord progressions and song ideas (check out "Fall Down" feat. Miley Cyrus and try your hardest not to sing Ke$ha's "Die Young" atop of the instrumental), and recycled lyrics. I won't even harbor on Will.I.Am's vocal performance or overuse of auto-tune because anyone can do that, but to not even have a theme or direction is just ridiculous. Yes, we need our party albums, but even those have themes (see Kelis' "FleshTone," which ironically was partly produced by Will.I.Am).
Even the long list of collaborations doesn't make this album a must-hear; if Britney Spears, Chris Brown, Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus amidst others can't make your album at least a bit interesting, nothing will. As for the deluxe songs? Yeah, they were left off of the original album for a reason. However, the most innovative of production was on “Bang Bang,” where he has a weird mash up of 1940's show-tunes with dance music, but even that track wasn’t fully thought out and is easily skippable after the first minute, once you hear how he mixed the two. I enjoyed the occasional empty spaces in between song changes though. Since we at JSaysOnline get reputations for being "too harsh,” don't take my word for it, check out the consensus of customer reviews on the actual iTunes website.
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