Celebrity

CELEBRITY

Here I will review the songs of *NSYNC's newest album, Celebrity!
First of all, I want to say that I like the name "Celebrity." Everyone has this preconceived notion of how a Celebrity life is, how they do things, how they're just so darn different from us, how it's just part of the business that they dissected and analysed and their privacy is taken away...and I just think it's great that *NSYNC is saying, "You know what, that's not the way it works." Props to them.
And I'm liking the fact that so much of it is written by *NSYNC...okay fine, JC and Justin, but most of my favorite tracks from it are from them! It's no wonder, really.
*1. Pop: Okay, I will admit it right now. At the moment, I like Bye Bye Bye more than I like Pop. But that does not mean that I don't like Pop! Not at all. It's just that at the moment, I'm feeling Bye Bye Bye more.
Don't get me wrong, please. I adore this song. I'm going through all the prototype stages of *NSYNC addiction to this song. I like the beat. I like the twists. I like what it does.
But some people don't. I guess I can understand why...kinda? Let me rant for just a moment. I know everyone has opinions and stuff, but it's like what more do people want, you know? They told us it was going to be hard. They told us it was going to be fast. They told us it was going to be different. They told us it was going to have BT electronica. They told us it was going to be a whole other level.
I have a feeling that a lot of fans, even after hearing all the interviews and all the warnings they gave us and all the hype about it...I have a feeling that at heart they still just expected the same old same old, and that's why they aren't feeling this. Not that there's anything wrong with the same old same old, but you know, this isn't it.
And people will say that it doesn't emphasize on the vocals at all, and I would argue. No, it's not as mellifluous as say, BBB or IGBM, and I would readily admit that that's very possibly not what they were going for, but it's got the vocals; It's got the melody, the harmony, and that thing Justin does when he thinks he's too cool to be a dork when he really is:). I have to defend the "three other guys" because people are saying they don't do anything on this song that's just not true. They have a hard job and they do it without complaint.
So yeah. I like Pop! And I love its message! Not only to the critics, the opponents, and to the fans themselves. May Pop never fade.
Pointless thing that I noticed: The album version has one extra chorus...you know how the radio play version is different than the video version...well this album one incorporates both, along with a little "Oh, oh, oh" by Justin.
*2. Celebrity: Wow, what to say? I really really do like it. But like Pop, it was a weird thing to try to get into at first, you know? It was like..."It Makes Me Ill" pt.2 on steroids, you know? And it was just...WOW, you know? My first impression was that they're pretty dang serious about this next level thing, and I'm glad that they're going there:).
Anyway, I love this song. And they say cheese. I don't know why, I think it's important somehow that they mention cheese at various times throughout this song.
I'm not feeling Wade's vocals at all, they strike me in the wrong way, but y'all knew that:).
*3. The Game is Over: DIS IS MAH SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!!! I SO LOVE THIS! This is...oh man, undeniably my favorite.
Is it because I'm a video game addict?
Is it because I find the lyrics and beat so amazing?
Is it because my favorite band decided to pay homage to my favorite pastime?
Dis is mah song.
AH LUHV MY SONG!
Even more so than NSA:o! Which means that right now it's my favorite *NSYNC song!
I just...really like this. I totally feel it. Thank God for Playstation. If they don't do a single and a video for TGIO I'm going to cry.
*4. Girlfriend: This one's really good too, kind of mellow and releaxing, well-placed right after TGIO. And I absolutely love the interlude part, you know the part where JC says "damn?" Huh huh. Huh huh. He said damn. Uh-huh huh:D.
Very hot. And I love the part..."Ever since I saw your face, nothin' in ma life has been the same...!"
ABOUT THE NELLY REMIX: Hot d**n!!! I love it. I think the original is a little more laid back and stuff and that's tight too, but this turns it into a whole new groove thing and that's really cool. Which is weird of course since they both have the same beat. But Nelly just does that I guess. I don't know if I like this more than the original, but I do like this a lot.
I'm not into rappers as a rule, I guess. I just don't get into that very well. But I'm glad that if they had to get a rapper, that they got Nelly...it was a great choice. And I'm glad that they did this remix. Again, hot da**.
(And lol, I seriously had this huge moment of hilarity when I heard the part where they were harmonizin' on "...find you another home," I thought that they were saying "...find you another HO" and it was just this moment of me thinking *NSYNC was harmonizing "ho" and man it was just...lmao:D)
*5. The Two Of Us: I'm not sure where I heard this, but I heard JC say that people are very afraid of having "feel-good" stuff out right now, and I totally agree. When I first heard this I was really surprised at the sugariness. Not that I mind! You're speaking to the mack-daddy of all feel-gooders right here, and frankly I'm proud of JC for having the guts as it is to make this out and *NSYNC for putting this on. It's a nice song, and people shouldn't be put off just by the feel-goodness. I wasn't. It's just such a fun song, and it's the funnest:) to sing.
*6. Gone: Gone is my favorite ballad on this album, and yeah I was surprised too...everyone is basically aware of how much I don't want Justin to be grabbing all the light and how much I'd like the others to have a go at it too, but you know what? It's a very, very awesome song. The harmonies are tight and very strong. The solo areas are insanely souful. The chorus and interlude parts are amazingly done. I could not believe that the annoying child from a few years back(Justin, if you don't know me:p)was instrumental in creating this work of art. Performed live its rate of amazingness goes up by a few thousand degrees, as I have experienced first-hand recently. All in all I don't intend on not liking this amazing song just because Justin gets to sing it or that I want others to sing more, because after thinking about it for a while it came to me that *NSYNC knew what they were doing and did the right thing by arranging it they way that they did, Justin in the front and everyone else in the back:). I'm not in any way undermining any of the other guys' talents, and I still want more solos from them, but that's just how I feel about this song.
And I think it's so ironic how people are going off about how Justin squandered this song when it's one of the songs out of the album that has the most distinct and obvious harmony parts. I'm so annoyed that other people don't notice this as much...oh well, my ear literally trained to listen for stuff like this anyway.
If you have some time, make sure to check out my "Gone vs TIPY" theory;).
*7. Tell Me, Tell Me...Baby: You know something funny? I liked this song immediately. It's really cool, has a great beat and is kind of a little dirty pop-ish. But when I noticed that it wasn't written by any of *NSYNC, instead by Max Martin, something in my mind shut off. It's like I almost felt it was an intrusion upon the album. The more I thought about it the more ridiculous I knew I was being though; I've liked *NSYNC songs that were written by Max, why should I stop now. Still, there's just this weird feeling...after so much sampling of Justin/JC's raw writing talents it was just kind of a bump back to reality or something.
Fifteen minutes later: I finally figured out why I thought there was something wrong with this song. It sounds a lot like The Call. An upbeat, more dirty pop-ish version of it. Okay, I am now firmly against Max Martin songs on future *NSYNC albums thankyouverymuch. I'm not feeling it. I'm not feeling Max right now, what the heck did he try to pull with this? Did he think that people wouldn't notice that it has the same instrumentals, beats, that it's practically in the same key?
Don't get me wrong, I still like Max songs a lot, but this isn't doing much for my image of him as a serious songwriter.
*8. Up Against The Wall: Second favorite in the whole album. It's...VERY...cool...especially that little techno instrumental part that just rocks so much and so much of the harmony in there is so addictive, I find myself singing along with the harmony instead of the melody:). Not that I actually know what "shorty" means anyway. Or "two step." Okay, I do know what two step means, just not until really, really recently. Justin and JC both cowrote this:).
It's right up there, baby.
*9. See Right Through You: They said "pissed off." Heh heh. Heh heh. Heh heh heh:D. Um anyway, I really like this one too, it's classic dirty pop, and don't get me wrong, but I guess it lacks the infinite strength of the others. It's still cool, one of the easiest songs to get stuck in my head in a long time, and I wouldn't mind at all if they had a single for this, I just wonder how many people can handle *NSYNC saying "pissed off" lol.
*10. Selfish: Produced by Brian McKnight, cowritten by JC. Pretty darn awesome, but also a little simple as well. Maybe it's because I'm just comparing it too much with the rest of the album, because deep down I know it is a very complex and beautiful song, and I find myself singing along. JC's voice is very strong in this, which is a big good:).
*11. Just Don't Tell Me That: Basically feels about this the same way I did for "Tell Me, Tell Me...Baby" in that I liked it almost immediately, but it's pretty typical Cheiron. They did a great job on it anyway, and made a smart choice in including this, possibly unlike TMTMB.
*12. Something Like You: Another ballad, I don't really have much to say about it...it's fairly basic *NSYNC ballad, like Selfish, and it's pretty good. I have to agree with Justin that harmonica music is underrated.
*13. Do Your Thing: Oh...uh...okay...probably the only song off this whole album that I didn't really like. It's cool but...eh, too random of a spectacle for me to enjoy totally in an album like this. I like it more after several listens than the first time, but still...not feeling it too much...
A FEW WEEKS LATER: I like "Do Your Thing" now! It's so weird, I didn't like it at all when I first heard it and now I'm so getting into it!
If I had do, I think I'd dissect this record into three parts: 1, the songs that are just the far-out insane new sound, ie the "Next Step/Level" that they've promised us; 2, the ballads, which are very well done and performed, but don't take any amazingly huge steps one way or another...well this is arguable for Gone of course, but you get my point; and 3, the type of songs that we've maybe heard in some way before, but are kinda good songs anyway.
I really, really like this album. Wow, gee, REALLY!? Yes yes I know but...it's the first *NSYNC album that I've anticipated for so long and when it came out it just fit my every expectations, high as they were. And it doesn't hurt that half the songs sound like they could be video game themes, which gets me everytime;).
Major props to *NSYNC. Know that a lot of people are proud of them right now.
Is there parts of the album that I don't like? Well I have to admit, I have to be honest, it was pretty darn obvious from the overlapping of voices that several members of *NSYNC must have recorded some of these tracks separately, as opposed to them all in the studio at the same time, and that kinda gets me:(, but isszzzaaaaall good in the end:).
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