Friday, March 16, 2007

Soy tu adicción

I just got Nash's album last night and--shock!--it is good. Very good. As in, if you like boy bands (or at least don't mind them singing your pop music), I recommend running to 7Digital and buying some of their songs. They don't always do a good ballad (although sadly I didn't get the version with their best ballad, "Más allá de las estrellas"), but I'm pleasantly surprised by the overall quality--it's the best new boy band album I've heard in a while (of course, when was the last time a "pure pop" boy band released an album?). It's not even a matter of one or two stand-out tracks--there's a surprising number of solid songs on it.

Perversa--does that beat sound familiar to anyone else? It might be me imagining it, and even if it isn't, who knows if it was intentional, but there's another musical bit later on that also reminds me of her. Anyhow, wherever it comes from, that opening beat is chunky, and I love it. The boys have brought in a girl to sing with them, which was a pretty good decision--her vocals help the song pop more. A lot of boy band or boy band-esque albums try to go "edgy," resulting in songs that are fun but laughable--say, Ola's "Cops Come Knocking" or Mercury4's "In The Club" (incidentally, out of the "hip" songs on the Mercury4 album, "Miss Sophisticated" is definitely the best). "Perversa," like those songs, is going a little more for the club vibe (the boy band idea of club music, that is), but it works; I don't feel compelled to laugh at the ridiculousness of the posing--this style of song fits Nash--and the song itself is strong. "Dirty" definitely isn't the right word for this song, but convert the aura of a "dirty" song into the world of G to PG boy bands and you'd have a vibe pretty similar to the one "Perversa" is giving off (that's just in regards to vibe--in regards to lyrics, it verges on the racey side--the title means something along the lines of "Wicked"--but the song really relies on the delivery and sound of the words to enhance that impression).

Who knew? I wasn't sarcastic when I kept writing about how fascinated by them I was, but I never expected the album, Capaz de todo, to be this...good. How could I have? The video for "Capaz de todo" was well-done, but the one for "¿Dónde estás?" was just too easy to laugh at--the song was a typical overwrought boy band ballad, and the video was everything you'd expect from such a song. Their live performances on Misión Eurovisión were very rough around the edges--endearingly so, but still.

If you can afford it, I'd say to go for the second edition of the album: song-wise, it only has two new songs, but they're both good--as I mentioned, I don't have "Más allá de las estrellas," but judging from live performances, it's their best ballad and "¿Qué sabes del amor?", which I do have, is a great mid- to up-tempo catchy pop song that has had me singing its chorus since I first heard it. You can buy that edition of the album here (physical). However, if you live in the U.S. (and possibly outside Spain, though I doubt it's to the same degree), the shipping charges are really expensive and you might be better off getting the first edition of the album here (digital). As I said before, I very much recommend buying more of their songs--I don't think it's just lack of expectations that has led to me being so impressed and pleased with this album. There are a couple of tracks that aren't as good as the rest of the album, but it's generally consistent, and not in an "oh, I can put this on as background noise and not skip anything" way--it genuinely has a lot of good songs. I'm very tempted to do, for the first time ever, a track-by-track album review--it's that good, and I'm that convinced that other people should buy it (it won't be to everyone's taste, but at least listen to the song previews on 7Digital).

Basically, what all this means is that any chance you all had of getting out of all these Nash updates just disappeared--I'm actually now quite in love with them as a group.

Next up: possibly that French song.

2 comments:

Paul said...

oo oo oo! I will trust your judgement and rush out to purchase said album (actually download it but it's all the same now adays) then come back to discuss :)

Poster Girl said...

I hope you like it! There are so many good songs on it that I can listen to it straight through without feeling the desire to skip anything. It is solidly boy band, and not pushing any boundaries, but no less good for that.