Okay, as a total Paulini-phile I LOVE her new album, from start to finish, with all it's brilliance and any failings that might be in there. I adore it – warts and all. And there are warts, tho very small and precious few. To me this is her first REAL attempt at making her own music and as a 'debut" album it has a lot to commend it.
Of course, there is room for improvement, it's her first go at it and Paulini herself has pointed out how much she wants and needs constructive criticism from the music industry and buying public. Unfortunately, most of the critism around the web and elsewhere can hardly be called "constructive", with most commenters clearly having given the album little to no attention. Reading some comments I can only assume the writers didn't even bother listening to it at all – they simply made up their opinion based on the track list and the fact that Paulini was once on Australian Idol.
Well, I've got news for those people, THAT WAS YEARS AGO! Get over it and move on – Paulini quite clearly has! It's time to take Paulini on her own merits, as the serious singer/song-writer she has been since she was in her teens.
Now, back to the album. I hope I can give it the critical attention it deserves, though I admit I am clearly biased because I LOVE her vocals and always have.
To start off, I'd like to point out some important things about the album that MOST reviewers and lonely blogger types have completely missed.
1. Paulini arranged ALL OF THE VOCALS on the entire album.
2. Paulini sings almost ALL OF THE VOCALS (that means most of the backing vocals too) on the entire album.
3. Paulini wrote 3 of the tracks on the album – Last Love, So Over You and Shake It Up .
4. Paulini's vocals on the album have had little to no technical enhancement or interference. It's all her own work – and if you have seen/heard her live you'll know what I'm talking about.
Right. Now that's off my chest, here's the rest of my review.
I noticed the other day that when I play Superwoman I tend to get to the end of Last Love and then skip back to the start to listen to the first 8 tracks again. I realised, as a matter of personal taste, that I prefer the first tracks of the album to the last lot (with the NOTABLE exception of the Club Mix of Superwoman).
To begin with I have noticed that most SERIOUS critics of her album have one main criticism in common – and it's one I tend to agree with. Here is an example:
From DNA Magazine -
Music Reviews
Paulini – Superwoman:
Idol finalist from a few years back, Paulini returns with solo album two. There’s a few highlights (the spunky Grease-like Call Me and the title cut, but it suffers from Paulini’s own affliction: is it pop or soul? Well, it’s a watered-down version of both that no one’s gonna be happy with. It might have been nice to include her super hit, This Time I Know It’s For Real as part of The Young Divas, but perhaps the fab four are keeping that for a whole album of joyous pop. Thankfully, the bonus club mix of the title track proves Paulini’s good-to-go as a disco diva. Mardi Gras, here she comes!
While I think there are tracks on Superwoman that are world standard and deserve far more critical acclaim than they are getting, I can understand part of the reason why the album isn't taking off as well as we all hoped it would. It's kinda schizophrenic!
It's got too many different styles on it – which is great for those of us who already love her music, but as far as fitting into the market – it doesn't quite fit into any particular genre.
Personally, I prefer the fast-paced tracks over the ballads – and that's because I have particular tastes in music that do not generally run to "diva ballads". For someone like me, the track I Chose You is WAY too Idol finalist sounding, ??? is far too reminscent of a Delta hit
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