In her previous album, she
gave us catchy ditties. Who would ever
forget the line “Ako’y kinikilig” which was exploited heavily by Aldub
loveteam? So, how does this new album
from her fare? To sum it up there are few hits and some misses.
The Hits
Maja opted to go middle of
the road. She followed the same formula
with her first album. As a result, you
have songs that have familiar refrains and even vocal qualities. You can say that many of her tracks sounded
like tracks from Debbie Gibson or any other female one hit wonders at that
time. It was indeed a good trick on her part to merge several genres like light
pop tracks with R and B vibes. It makes
tracks like ‘Habulan” and “Nakawin ang Sandali” very sexy tracks from her. It is also a good strategy on her part to do
duets not only that it will give better commercial appeal but also with limited
vocal ability, she needs a partner to make the song more pleasurable to
listen. Vocally, she sounded like Ellie
Goulding in tracks like ‘Love Me, Kill Me” and “Bakit Ganito Ang Pag-ibig.”
The Misses
She tried to play it safe
and followed the same formula with that of her first album. As a consequence, you have an album that
pales in comparison. There is no track
in this album that will stand the test of time or at least have lyrical lines
that will linger in the minds of Pinoy listeners the way “Ako’y kinikilig”
delighted them. Another miss is that,
the album is full of trite lyrics. Perhaps she should hire better
songwriters. While the song “Hiling”
manage to rise up but somehow the whole synth affair with the track ended up
this song sounded like an old Depeche Mode track. “Love Me, Kill Me” is both a hit and miss; it
is good she managed to put an Ellie Goulding stamp in this record but it is not
good that the song sounded like Ellie’s “Love Me Like You Do.”
Overall the whole album
has shades of being a run of the mill album.
There are high expectations with this album considering that her first
album was quite satisfactory. This situation can only be described as suffering
from “sophomore syndrome.” It is a situation where the second album of an
artist is neither here nor there in terms of musical quality. It fails to
surpass the first album.
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