Album Review: Kiss

... like a C-?

Months after her debut single Call Me Maybe, which for some bizarre reason became one of the biggest songs of 2012, Carly Rae Jepsen has released her first album Kiss. Just as you probably expected, it is a pile of auto tuned bubblegum pop junk sprinkled with pink fairy glitter. Kiss has simple sickly sweet lyrics, too much happiness and a guest appearance from Justin Bieber, make one overall poor album.  

The first song listed is Tiny Little Bows. I’m not sure what this song is about, because the only thing I could think of which has tiny little bows is those cute dogs you enter in dog show competitions. I really hope Carly Rae Jepsen is not singing about her favourite dog. Or her shoes. Does she wear shoes with tiny little bows? Okay, on to This Kiss, track number two. This one seems to be easier to understand; Carly Rae cannot resist some guy’s kiss. You know those songs where every sentence rhymes and the songs stops making sense halfway through? It, like the rest of Kiss, is one of those songs. Kind of like the stuff Hilary Duff did ten years ago.

There are two songs on this album which boost the star score to two stars out of five. The first is Call Me Maybe. Love it or hate it, it is the one hit wonder of 2012, and a wonderful guilty pleasure. The second is the collaboration with Owl City on the song Good Time. This is the best song on the album and it’s what Carly Rae Jepsen should be doing. It’s fun and catchy, not annoying and overly sweetened.  And then Carly Rae Jepsen featured Justin Bieber in a song about the two of them being Beautiful (?) and that lost her half a star.

The real issue I have with Kiss is it doesn’t fit with who Carly Rae Jepsen is and I don’t think there is a place for her right now in music. She is a 26 year old pop singer, but she sounds like she is 16. She’s older than Lady Gaga and Demi Lovato but isn’t putting out songs with any feeling or meaning. Carly Rae Jepsen should have taken her cut from Call Me Maybe and left it at that. Kiss does nothing for me and I think she will soon be on her way out of music making, tiny little bows and all.

And it seems iTunes has already given up on Kiss. Just over a week out and it’s already down to $12.99. Get it now, it’s a bargain!