It's been Two Years Since The Emergence & Début Album Of The Original Making The Band Winners - Danity Kane. Now, They Return To Music With The Pop-Tastic - Welcome To The Dollhouse.
Welcome To My Review
Track Listing
- Welcome To The Dollhouse (Intro)
- Bad Girl ft. Missy Elliott
- Damaged
- Pretty Boy
- Strip Tease
- Sucka For Love
- Secret Place (Interlude)
- Ecstasy ft. Rick Ross
- 2 of You
- Lights Out
- Picture This (Interlude)
- Poetry
- Key To My Heart
- Flashback Interlude
- Is Anybody Listening
- Ain't Going (Hidden Track)
The Music
The ironically titled album sees Diddy's play things on route to the International pop scene with some huge, radio ready hits. After the initial, rather pointless intro, we are immersed into a club banging joint entitled Bad Girl, the Danja produced track sets the pace well, & is a good representation of an album which is generally enjoyable, but fundamentally flawed.
The album continues well with the first single from the record, the Britney sounding - Damaged, which is not only matched, but smashed by the preceding track - Prettyboy. Danja has helped once again with his phenomenal production that sets a brilliant standard, which the rest of the record cannot uphold.
The sultry sounding - Strip Tease & the mid tempo joint - Sucka For Love provide some middle of the road filler tracks before the next bout of nicely polished records. Ecstasy offers some superb production with added token Hip-Hop flows from Rick Ross, that are not only un-needed, but seem to be a slightly pathetic attempt at getting the girls some 'street cred'. Still, It remains an enjoyable song, the vocal arrangements are excellent, as are the harmonies.
2 Of You offers some of the worst lyrical content I have heard in a long time - "You Got Me Having Breakfast In The Afternoon" is just a small example of one of the worst tracks I have heard from an apparent 'Urban Artist'. This song shouldn't have made the album & the writer - Wynter Gordon should possibly be shot. Even the excellent pop production from the Runners, could not save this song.
Next, we reach a solid, well rounded track entitled - Lights Out. I was surprised to learn that it was written by Dawn Richards, arguably the most talented of the group. This is a very likeable edition to the record, once again, the production is strong, without overpowering the ladies vocals.
The slow jam - Poetry offers some much needed down time to an otherwise up-tempo album. Musically, it is the strongest song on offer, Poetry finally shows off the huge vocal range & ability of the group. This well written track is one of a few ballads, & is set apart from the rest of the record.
After the very questionable performance on - Key To Your Heart - we receive another nugget of talent from Danity Kane with - Is Anybody Listening. While not as strong as Poetry, it flows well, is sung with emotion & let's us appreciate the vocals of a highly talented group.
Analysis
As you can probably pick up in my overview, my problems with the album don't actually lie within the tracks or even the girls themselves. I am annoyed by the principles & fundamentals of the record.
This is a group with huge potential & talent, their vocal ability is on a world class scale, it is apparent from watching the Making The Band series, that they have actually personalities & are real people. However, all of this is wasted in a soul-less, heart-less record which is so over polished that you can almost see through it.
This record is aimed at the 'Hannah Montana generation' & is marketed as R&B, which it is not, while there is rhythm, there is certainly no blues. These girls need to be let loose to do their own thing, Diddy is a genius producer, which shines through so much that you overlook the artists themselves, they become faceless & pointless. Danity Kane should be allowed to write their own material from their own experiences, then they will have the right to be called R&B artists.
Verdict
Overall, Welcome To The Dollhouse is production heaven, the varied beats from different producers is brilliant. This is a well sung, polished & professional album that provides some enjoyable listening. However, at times, it is poorly written & provides no depth or longevity, you will forget about this album as soon as you have put it down.
If you want Soul get Mary J. Blige, for R&B listen to Alicia Keys. But, if you need your Pop fix, I would recommend Danity Kane.
****** - 6/10
