Animal doesn’t live up to radio hype

To those who routinely wake up in the morning feeling like P. Diddy, Ke$ha is a common name. The new singer has recently been burning up the iTunes charts and playlists across the country. I’m not usually the type to listen to popular “radio music.” I’m honestly much more into pop bands whose music will never reach the mainstream. But admittedly, the second I heard Ke$ha’s “TiK ToK,” I knew I found a new favorite song even though I had no reason to like it. It was pretty generic sounding. It didn‘t relate to my life whatsoever. I guess music just works like that sometimes.

When I sat down with a copy of Animal for the first time, I had reservations, but I was pleasantly surprised by “Your Love Is My Drug.” It has an infectious beat and catchy lyrics like “TiK ToK,” but the songs don’t sound so similar as to be annoying.

By the time I made it all the way to “Stephen,” I was aching to pick up my iPod and drown out Ke$ha’s singing with some acoustic guitar and a voice that wasn’t quite so painful to listen to. My face did brighten slightly at the song title, though. I thought of Taylor Swift’s “Hey Stephen.” Ah, something familiar. But however pathetically predictable it may seem, the two songs can’t even be put in the same family. I was sorely disappointed. “Stephen” seemed rather boring and dry compared to Ke$ha’s other songs, and honestly, the lyrics were pretty disturbing. She may very well qualify as a stalker.

When I came across “Party At a Rich Dude’s House,” (gee, I wonder where she was when inspiration struck) I was tiring quickly of the mechanical music that seemed to be without emotion. It sounded to me as if it could have been written on a fast food napkin in five minutes. Everything on the album started to hopelessly mix together into a mess of predictable lyrics and synthesized background noise.

Songs like “Hungover” and “Animal” offer some salvation to the album. They’re both unique and more raw. The tempo slows down and listeners get a chance to hear Ke$ha’s real voice and feel the impact of lyrics that are about more than just partying.

I‘d like to say that “D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R.” shocked me with how creepy and repetitive the words are, but in all honesty I wasn’t surprised that it was thrown in with the other songs. It seemed to me that the songwriters got lazy halfway through and just stopped trying.

I had high hopes for Ke$ha, but I was disappointed in her debut CD. Although I still have a tendency to turn up “TiK ToK” when it comes on the radio, I think I’ll leave it at that. Sometimes less is more.

Image from www.tumblr.net.