Friday, April 17, 2009

Remember those photographs we took on that boat in Spain?

Stolen straight from the Popjustice forums, which in turn took it from his official site:

It's been ages since we heard news from Shayne Ward, but, as if I wasn't excited enough already for his third album, he's just revealed he's been recording with Quiz & LaRossi and Xenomania.

Amazing news. Add that to the fact he was working with Taio Cruz (I'm imagining him doing something like Avenue's original version of the Taio-penned "Set Your Body Free" or Taio's "Come On Girl") and it seems like he's headed in the right direction for his new album. While on paper I should have loved his last album--and in reality it was good, certainly better than the reputation it has--it didn't quite stick the way I wanted it to (though "No U Hang Up" took the title of my second favorite single of 2007 in my countdown). I'm not entirely sure why; maybe I felt like it was missing any bite or edge, though by "edge" I don't actually mean edgy, boundaries-pushing sounds necessarily but rather more music with a bit of a hard edge to it. I loved "No U Hang Up" and "Damaged," though, and both of those had a super-polished, cuddly, rounded-edges sound that apparently didn't bother me, so I'm not entirely positive that that's the right explanation.

Anyway, based on the collaborators for this new album (which also include Future Cut, the Underdogs, and Karen Poole), it's looking like if that was indeed what I felt the album was missing, that could be remedied here. I'm equally excited about Quiz & LaRossi, who've been on a roll recently, and Xenomania, who, short of the Pet Shop Boys, we haven't really heard work with male acts for quite some time. I still think Shayne has (here comes this phrase again) real popstar potential, so I hope he's taken in the right directions this time.

(This feels like a good time to revisit that album and see if I love it any more after some time has passed.)

8 comments:

Myfizzypop said...

love love love the second album and still remain devastated and somewhat bitter that it was not promoted properly by the record company. There could easily have been a few more singles from it. Boo simon cowell, boo. I firmly believe that if you are not leona lewis or a leona lewis clone (hello alexblandra) you have no chance with syco. But as a friend pointed out, they may have dumped Same Diff but at least they gave me an album from them, so it's swings and roundabouts really. I'm waffling now, i'll stop. Yay for new shayne!

John said...

You know my feelings on this, but yeah, the collabos definitely bode well. Now if we can find a way for him to do some secret showcase in London next month while I'm there, we'll be good.

Poster Girl said...

Paul, I'm still bitter, too--I know I should move on, but it really was mistreated.

John, I'll say some prayers to the pop gods for you! I wish we had some sort of time frame for anything, but just knowing progress is being made is helpful in making it through the wait.

Anonymous said...

QuizLarossi are one of my favourite songwriters of all time!

YAY!!

turnaround

The Different Beats said...

With a list of collaborators like that, then surely the album has to be the hit, the last one should have been! Providing they get the promo right this time...ttat is! :P

Damian said...

What a shame I never knew about such swedish authors as Quiz & Larossi. I can't say that in common last Shayne's album was my cup of coffee but he's very talented and he can perform something very tasty in any genre or style he would try.

Brown said...

The second album is a piece of art, an example of how a pop/r&b album should sound like

Poster Girl said...

Turnaround, they're an amazing team. They really should be one of those names everyone knows (though they're at least decently well-known). I wish there was a site that kept track of everything they're involved in.

Now that you bring it up, those collaborators give me hope that there's interest in getting the album to do well--if they're turning to established names, that's hopefully at least a positive sign in terms of label support for the project. Maybe.

He is a very good singer--I think that gets lost sometimes when everyone thinks just about Leona's ability to sing.

Even if I don't totally agree, it makes me so happy to hear that :D