Alexandra Burke
Albums
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Alexandra Burke
album reviews
Overcome 7 ( 2009 )
Bad Boys / Good Night Good Morning / The Silence / All Night Long / Bury Me (6 Feet Under) / Broken Heels / Dumb / Overcome / Gotta Go / You Broke My Heart / Nothing But the Girl / They Don't Know
Twenty or so writers contribute to Alexandra Burke's debut album yet she states she was always in the studio with her diary and that the songs would spring from there. Well, that's interesting considering the fact Burke doesn't get a single writers credit anywhere. Alexandra also stated she wanted this album to be fun and upbeat and not too heavy on the ballads. Well, she wouldn't do would she, or she'd get called a clone of Leona Lewis. Just a thought actually, as an aside, why do talent show winners feel the need to have a different producer for almost every single track on the albums they record? The Phantom Boyz produced lead single 'Bad Boys' does just enough without offering anything truly beyond average, far preferable is second track, 'Good Night, Good Morning', featuring Ne-Yo and co-production by Ne-Yo and Stargate. Yet, when you surround yourselves with the likes of Ne-Yo are you getting the prime cuts or off-cuts? Still, I do prefer 'Good Night, Good Morning' - it's credible dance-pop and no mistake. 'The Silence', a ballad', is destroyed by Auto-Tune and vocal production effects, the dancey 'All Night Long' fares far better and clearly a pattern emerges during 'Overcome'. Where Alexandra and company keep things simple, the tracks work. Simple, unpretentions dance tracks work well with her voice. The ballads are amazingly undistinguished and she was right to ditch the idea of having very many of them.
'6 Feet Under' aims squarely for Amy Whinehouse territory, two tracks produced by electronica producer RedOne acheive album highlight status, 'Broken Heels' being good enough to be considered a future single and if it is one, it'll be a far better one than the rather safe 'Bad Boys' and also 'Dumb', another storming, particularly European sounding r'n'b dance track. Next time out Alexandra, ditch around 18 of your producers and just work with Ne-Yo and RedOne. You'll be onto a winner. Well, 'Nothing But The Girl' is another Ne-Yo co-production and funnily enough, is another dance-pop winner. Special word for the vocals here, Ms Burke soars effortessly throughout the upbeat pop-stomper. Oh sure, 'Overcome' is a very disposable album yet one gets the feeling it wasn't meant to be anything other than fun and danceable pop. For the level of ambition Alexandra was aiming for in the first place, 'Overcome' succeeds admirably.
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this page last updated 08/11/09
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