This week I find myself missing school and the freedom that comes with having a schedule that depends solely on your desire to succeed each day. With the college strike in full swing I remember the summers when I could wake up and fall asleep as I pleased as I see my younger brother doing now. I guess there's a balance required though because I also remember days when I was bored out of my mind.

 

This week's artist had to learn about balancing her career at a young age and to say the least, she took the beaten path to get there. The release of her tell-all YouTube documentary yesterday makes Demi Lovato the inspiration for today's album review. Demi's first big gig was as a character on Barney and she didn't earn her next big break until quite a few years later at 17 with the overwhelming response behind Camp Rock. From then Demi began touring with the Jonas brothers and got her own Disney channel show, Sonny with a Chance. All of this fame and responsibility would quickly prove to be too much pressure for her, though, and she would develop a cocaine and Adderall dependency at the age of 17 that lasted 3 years. Simply Complicated documents everything from her non-existent relationship with her deadbeat dad to her 6-year relationship with Wilmer Vanderrama to the recording of this album. 

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On Tell Me You Love Me Demi explores different sects of the pop genre with songs that use a funkier beat, songs with the classic upbeat pop sound and a couple of smoother slow songs. Let's look into the smooth songs first. Lonely, cry baby and concentrate are the songs that fit into this sub-category. Of the three, cry baby would have to be my least favourite with concentrate being the best of the three. I really enjoy the laid-back vibe that the strumming pattern of the guitar sets throughout the verses of this song and the subtle bass that accompanies it. In contrast, the guitar in cry baby creates a feeling of desperation, which is actually very good production-wise because of what the song is about but its just not my cup of tea. I am also not a fan of the melody of the chorus which sounds a little whiny.

The song games reminds me of a couple of different vibes. The bass at the start has a slightly funkier vibe and is marginally reminiscent of the bass at the start of Pony by Ginuwine. The parts where she repeats "two could play at" makes me think about old-school female gospel singers that I used to listen to when I was younger, although I can't put my finger on one artist.

The last group of songs I want to bring attention to are the songs where she really pushes her voice, to her success, and brings controlled intensity and passion to the album. These songs are sorry not sorry, tell me you love me, and you don't do it for me anymore. She really belts out the climaxes of these songs in a soul-bearing way that gets me excited when I listen to them.

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As a whole, I really enjoyed this album. I think that it's pretty universal in that most people would enjoy it or at the very least not dislike it. The strongest points for me would be that she was really herself in this project and did not hold back vocally. Some of the things that I didn't like were the vulgarity of the album which included a lot of unnecessary swearing and sexual imagery. The song instruction by Jax Jones was also a no for me. It felt like it was just thrown on there and it sounded like she was trying to be something that she's not. I also don't think the last song no promises needed to be on the album, or at least not at the end. The album order could have been better as well. Sorry not sorry feels like the middle of an album and not the start, but the acoustic version of sorry not sorry would have been a perfect end to the album. I always love it when artists end their albums with a different version of a song that was already included on the album. It feels very full circle and complete.

 

Overall rating for this album is 4 stars because the good songs and vocal acrobatics far outweigh the negative points of the few bad songs and album order. I would recommend this to anyone that enjoys the pop genre or is looking for an easy listen.

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