At first (having only heard Tonight Tonight) I thought that Hot Chelle Rae was just a bunch of talentless wannabes posing as a rock band. However, I just heard their 2009 debut album Lovesick Electric & it's actually pretty good, and I discovered that they're not talentless, and were pretty genuine at one point. It's a solid power-pop album that might get some replays out of me inAt first (having only heard Tonight Tonight) I thought that Hot Chelle Rae was just a bunch of talentless wannabes posing as a rock band. However, I just heard their 2009 debut album Lovesick Electric & it's actually pretty good, and I discovered that they're not talentless, and were pretty genuine at one point. It's a solid power-pop album that might get some replays out of me in the future. Whatever on the other hand is for the most part a crappy bubblegum-pop blatant sellout of an album. Even on first listen there were only 8/13 songs I didn't absolutely despise, 2 of them being bonus tracks. I must admit that the worst songs on the album come sporadically, mainly appearing at the beginning and near the end. The rest is just mediocre filler with a few exceptions that I'll get into later. Most of the lyrics are either meaningless or just lazily obnoxious in the most annoying way possible. The melodies might be catchy sometimes but usually they have nothing to say, which makes it a waste of a potentially good melody. I almost liked Honestly as a guilty pleasure until I realized just how douchey the lyrics are. Beautiful Freaks is a lazily constructed & pandering "celebrating individuality" song that tries & fails to double as a concert anthem. Downtown Girl has basically the opposite meaning of Queen of the Scene from Lovesick Electric. Whereas QotS was a sardonic look at & criticism of arrogant & entitled girls, DG celebrates it. Why Don't You Love Me sounds good as a power ballad until you realize how needy & whiny the lyrics sound. The title track tries way too hard to relate to its now-target audience of "rebellious" teenage girls. This album sounds so safe, politically correct and "meant for the masses" that it sounds like it was made for Glee, and a member of which happens to be the brother of one of the band members. I doubt that's a coincidence. There's not much emotion, sincerity or artistic integrity to be found here, all of which were present throughout almost all of Lovesick Electric. Now, onto the few positive things I have to say: Keep You with Me could've had less overproduction & blatant autotune (at least in the chorus) but it's a decent ballad in the basic melody & lyrics. Wish it could've been stripped down a little but it gets a passing grade from me. Luckily I did find an acoustic version on YouTube that I prefer over this one. I highly recommend looking it up. Forever Unstoppable actually has a fairly good message, melody & lyrics, and does kinda remind me of Lovesick Electric, despite its very minor cliche tendencies and slight overproduction. Probably my favorite on the standard edition. The Only One is also a highlight, and features some of the most emotional singing on the album. On the deluxe edition, Come Back to California sounds fairly sincere despite the slightly clumsy lyrics (and also in a way because of that) and it's got a nice endearing quality that I can't help but enjoy. It also contains this album's only guitar solo, which is very notable despite its relatively short length. Finally, I Wish has a very good melody but it's slightly held back by its somewhat empty & cliche "breakup" lyrics. Still I like it. Funny how 2 of my favorites here weren't even on the deluxe edition. Kinda reminds me to a lesser extent of when I heard Maroon 5's mediocre sellout album Overexposed & the best track on it was a phenomenal 7-minute blues cover of a Prince song that was left on the deluxe edition. Overall, this is a very mediocre followup by a band that showed a lot of potential on their debut but in the end sold their souls for the almighty dollar. Hopefully they'll snap out of it on their next album but who knows how far away that's gonna be? Favorite tracks: Keep You With Me, Forever Unstoppable, The Only One, Come Back to California, I Wish. Least favorites: I Like It Like That, Tonight Tonight, Whatever, Radio, Downtown Girl, Beautiful Freaks.… Expand
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