Like many people nowadays, I have quite
a media backlog of things I'd like to consume on streaming services,
and yes, even things I've paid money for too. What better way to go
through a music backlog than by writing about it? Instead of writing
typical reviews of even slightly older albums, and in the spirit of
my habit of ranking songs, I thought I would start a new series. In
Album Battle, I compare two somewhat similar albums. In this first
installment, I compare two 2012 albums by female pop singers:
Halycon
by Ellie Goulding and
Warrior by Ke$ha.
Track 1
“Don't Say a Word” opens with some
soulful wailing. I love this kind of mystical poppy Ray of Light-like
stuff. “Warrior” is a manifesto with the typical Ke$ha sound. The
chiptune bridge is really out of place.
POINT: Ellie
Track 2
“My Blood” has a great chorus (both
the part of the song as well as the group vocal).
“Die Young” is fun to do at
karaoke. That's how classics are made!
POINT: Ke$ha
Track 3
“Anything Could Happen” is a little
too twee. The chorus is just the title repeated many times, then
repeated high pitched “oooh oooh oooh.”
“C'mon” is a
midtempo pop song that has the typical lyrical content of a Ke$ha
song, but the chorus sounds a little Katy Perry-ish.
POINT: Ke$ha
Track 4
“Only You” has some
crazy chipmunk effects. Ellie's breathy soulfulness works well here.
“Thinking of You” is pop-rock
that's a little too angry. There's some weird autotune effects on the
bridge, which don't work as well as the voice effects on “Only
You.”
POINT: Ellie
Track 5
“Halcyon” is more of the same.
“Crazy Kids” has some awkward
rapping, and is a little too close to “We R Who We R.”
POINT: Ellie
Track 6
“Figure 8” is a dark pop song over
a heavy beat that is barely disguised dubstep.
“Wherever You Are” is bouncy, but a
little too tame.
POINT: Ellie
Track 7
“Joy” is sweet but a lacking in
power.
“Dirty Love” has Iggy Pop.
POINT: Ke$ha
Track 8
“Hanging On” has some sweet vocals
and dubstep elements.
“Wonderland” is a country-ish
singer-songwriter song. Ke$ha has always been a singer-songwriter,
but her songs don't sound like the stereotype.
POINT: Ke$ha
Track 9
“Explosions” is an appropriately
powerful ballad.
“Only Wanna Dance With You” is trivial and
bouncy, but not particularly catchy.
POINT: Ellie
Track 10
“I Know You Care” is solemn,
composed ballad.
“Supernatural” sounds like a
single, with pop and dance in balance.
POINT: Ke$ha
Track 11
“Atlantis” sounds mystical and has
some dreamy harp.
“All That Matters (The Beautiful Life)” is
catchier but doesn't have a very good message. Partying is a lot of
things but it isn't everything!
POINT: Ellie
Track 12
“Dead in the Water” is another
quiet ballad with a moving chorus.
“Love into the Light” is a quiet
ballad, too, until the chorus where it picks up energy and
percussion. Actually, it's the closest Ke$ha gets to Ellie's
material.
POINT: Ke$ha
Track 13
Ke$ha's album ends in twelve tracks,
but Ellie's still has one more. “I Need Your Love” is a major
dance single and is better than most of the songs on Ke$ha's album.
POINT: Ellie
I didn't appreciate Kaas enough when I was following Eurovision 2009, nor am I a Piaf fan (and the crowd definitely seemed like all serious Kaas or Piaf fans), but it was easy to enjoy Kaas's wonderful deep voice.
