For starters, I really don’t know why I decided to review this album. Browsing the internet, I saw that this collection of compositions was being critically panned all over the place. After I acquired the album in a completely legal fashion without the use of The Pirate Bay, I began to listen to this album and realized I should have just trusted the reception I previously witnessed. After a pleasant and acceptable intro, #willpower mainly deteriorates into a lame collection of hit-single attempts and poor song composition that unfortunately overshadows any of the talent found on the record.
The problem with this record has nothing to do with its musical direction. There are plenty of quality pop, hip-hop, and R&B (or however else #Willpower can be labeled) records that have been put out in recent years. I also have no personal bias for or against this kind of music. While only recently listening to more mainstream music, I try my best to keep an open mind and listen to it in an objective way. However, the issues with #willpower stem from its repetitive and lame song writing, and its failure to keep my attention in its 64 minute runtime.
Seriously, the music here sounds like the demo pieces for Top 40s Maker 1st Edition 2007 for the iMac. “Great Times Are Coming” opens up with some completely bastardized (but harmless) version of “Let it Be” or “Don’t Stop Believing”, and it’s a nice change of pace at least, but then it divulges into another bad and poppy EDM song that sounds like rest of the album. The majority of these songs have really lame bro-step buildups that don’t even crescendo into anything that intense. “Scream and Shout” might have just worn on me from being overplayed, but that must be one of the worst songs I have ever heard in a long-ass time. Every time the album picks up the momentum from a pair slightly-less horrendous tracks like “Gettin’ Dumb” and “Geekin’” that have somewhat catchy beats and are actually listenable, the listener is treated to an abomination like “Freshy”, with a really bad feature from Juicy J, who has a really awkward flow while trying to sound hard.
On the topic of the guest spots and the vocal work, it’s a mixed bag that is more on the negative side. A lot of the vocals are a bit too processed which can take away the human element that could have been more prevalent here on #willpower. The variety in terms of guest spots is nice, but it doesn’t really change much of the album’s sound. Nicole Scherzinger’s chorus in “Far Away From Home” is probably one of the worst moments on the album. In the 9th track “Let’s Go” (which apparently plagiarizes from a track called “Rebound” which was written by Arty and Matt Zo) there is one of the lamest verses spit from Chris Brown over a ridiculous beat that sounds like it was made in 10 minutes on a demo version of FL studio by a 13 year-old. Miley Cyrus doesn’t do a bad job on “Fall Down”, but the shoddy song composition and will sounding like his verse was ripped from a Brokencyde album don’t really make it a shining moment as a whole. “#thatPOWER” underuses Bieber, over-processing his vocals in a lame hook that doesn’t command any attention, then divulges into the typical throwaway beats and laughable rapping scattered throughout the album.
Maybe I’m being too harsh while reviewing #willpower. Maybe it is meant as a harmless record to play at clubs and parties. Perhaps it’s not meant to be critically analysed at all. The fact remains that this album manages to be disjointed while still being composed of songs that, as a whole, sound the same or familiar to other Top 40s pieces even with the plethora of guest spots. I can’t really recommend this to anyone.
P.S. I lied about actually buying this ***, I wouldn’t wish this album on my worst enemies.
