Songs About Girls

by

will.i.am

Edit

Will.i.am AKA William Adams known for most people as the brain and frontman behind Black Eyed Peas and also their producer. After several commercially successful albums with the band Stacy "Fergie" Ferguson went solo last year and released the album The Dutchess that so far gave her three #1 hits and one #2. Not bad at all. With Fergie's massive success it was natural that also Will.i.am would go solo, however this is actually his third album. But I doubt alot of people heard his previous two albums that were released before Black Eyed Peas had their big break and never got alot of promotion amyway. "Songs About Girls" will be diffrent cause by now he's a well know man amd he also proved his versability as a producer by making hits for Nas, Common, Macy Gray, Nicole Scherzinger and he's currently working with Michael Jackson's new album aswell. "Songs About Girls" is exactly what it is, a Semi-autobiographical concept album about girls. Some songs are more serious and deal with the good and bad times of his 7 year relationship that ended sometime ago. Other songs are funny, less serious and deal about girls in general while some songs are as corny as they can with commercial appeal and deal with female bodyparts. But they are all about women. Will.i.am produces 2/3 of the album by himself while Polow Da Don and Fernando Garibay do the rest. The overall sound is very retro-ish late 70'-early 80's Influenced but with modern tecnique ofcourse. While most other superproducers have an orgy of guests on their albums, the only one here is Snoop Dogg. Let's take a look at the songs and see if he manage to make this album more worthwile then his first two.

It starts slow with a more serious song called "Over" about the failure of his longtime relationship. For those of you only fammiliar with BEP will be surprised. "Heartbreaker" another midtempo with disco beats continues where the first one ended with a confession of breaking his girlfriends heart. Perhaps not hit material but neither of the two are bad and "Heartbreaker" is a grower. Music lovers probably heard the first single "I Got It From My Mama", it's commercial with great beats but the lyrics are so corny that you just want to plug your ears. Will ask hot girls where they got their body's from and they reply "I Got It From My Mama". Later Will garantees that if their Mama is ugly they gonna be ugly like their mama. Question: What if their daddy was handsome?. One of the standouts is "She's A Star" with great hook and sound. I guess it's about his dreamwoman. "Get Your Money" is about the good hearted stripper that just strips for a living....and then Will's apparent fascinating for her. A pretty commercial song but it isn't bad at all, especially it's lethal electro sample beat. The worst song one the album is "The Donque Song" is just corny and annoying. Donque is reffering to a the female bodypart that strippers should shake. Snoop doesn't say much but this song is unbearable with or without him. Next up is the instrumental (or more or less) "Impatient" that sound like a disco song from 1977.

"One More Chance" is just as serious as the first two songs anout getting another chance in the relationship. It's amazing that this is the same guy that just sang about female bodyparts. Or maybe his split personality was the reason why it didn't work out?. Either way, this song is good. "Invisible" is more seriousness, this is a stripped down song where the lyrics are more in focus then the beats. Another good song. "Fantastic" samples Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", must have been the 250th person that does that. However, this is another song of his girl where he says that she shouldn't worry about him cause he's doing fantastic. Will changed his mind on "Fly Girl" where he regrets not marrying his girl and not trying harder to work things about, he also says he turned down others cause he was still in love with his ex. Let's hope she listen to this one and they can get back together or something. Next up is an interlude called "Dynamic" but it's just a bit over 1 minute. "Ain't It Pretty" is a great love song about a hot girl you just wanna stare at, probably my favorite production here. "Make It Funky" a funky uptempo indeed, not too clever lyrics and serves as mosly a feel good song. The closer "SOS (Mother Nature) isn't actually about a woman but mother nature. It's a political song about the problems of the world. It's one of the best with smart lyrics. More of this on his next album I hope.

Overall, the best albums are the one's you didn't have high thoughts of before you listened through them and they blew your expectations out of proportion. This album is one of those. I know that Will.i.am was a gifted producer and most of the songs with or without the use of samples are very good but I didn't know he was able to write so many strong serious lyrics. There are loads of great songs here that you wouldn't think the Black Eyes Peas leader could write. The only problem I have are a few corny songs like "The Donque Song" that feels like they were mostly done to get radio airplay and doesn't do the album any justice, considering that it will be the second single aswell. But regardless of a few missteps Will still makes a very good album that will surprise alot of people. 1. It's a concept album where all songs are about the same things (girls) 2. the sound is mostly cohesive 3. Will.i.am is the sole star here without too many lukewarm guests appearences. 4. he proves he's more then just a sound (great lyrics aswell). While Timbaland, Pharell and Swizz Beatz didn't deliver on their solo albums because of some of the reasons mentioned above,. Will.i.am does and he makes one of the best pop albums of the year.

I'll just get this out of the way real quick. I'm a fan of the Black Eyed Peas. Sure, I know this admission will get me slammed by purists, backpackers, and other types of elitists, so that's to be expected (just read the tags for this album for further proof). If you approach this album expecting anything more than the shallow, sugary, pop tunes that the Black Eyed Peas front man has recently become famous for, especially after seeing the title of the album then, not only are you a fool, but you're also going to be let down. Despite what some will tell you, there are some good songs to be found on this disc. There are club ready songs like "The Donque Song" that, despite corny rhymes, has a beat that doesn't quit and has "single" written all over it (Snoop's verse wasn't bad either). "One More Chance" is dope while "Make It Funky" also serves the same party starting purpose and "Ain't It Pretty" just vibes well. "Impatient" is probably my favorite track on the album because there are no words...it's just a nice, breezy instrumental. Will shoulders the bulk of the production duties with Polow Da Don and Fernando Garibay both doing two tracks and Paper-Boy co-producing one.

There are a few songs on this album that, despite the light content, are just mind numbingly bad. Songs like "Fly Girl", "She's A Star", and "Get Your Money" will have you reaching for the skip button with lightning speed. The biggest turn off to me, actually, would be the first single. I honestly think "I Got It From My Mama" should've never seen the light of day, but I do understand the need for conspicuous use of a pop star (in this case, Nicole Scherzinger) for the first single. Outside of those bumps in the road, I'd say that the rest of the CD is pretty good.

Songs About Girls is an album about just that. It's a light, fun LP that should get a party or two jumpin'. Anyone looking for some good, clean pop rap should at the very least give this album some consideration. It's not the best you've heard from the B.E.P. camp, but it's suitable if you're not looking for an artist to change your world view. Sure, it's cotton candy background music, but at least this background music will make you move.

Standout Tracks: Invisible, S.O.S (Mother Nature), One More Chance, Heartbreaker, Impatient, Ain't It Pretty, and Make It Funky