Don't Look Down
Interscope Records
Release date: July 5, 2013
By Shawal Ras
Follow @shawalras
After being in the industry for so long, I've been waiting patiently for Skylar Grey's full studio album. She has written songs for Eminem, Rihanna, Dr. Dre, P. Diddy and so many more, so, of course, I expected a lot for this full length LP.
Don't Look Down, however, falls a little flat for my taste. Sure, the first single 'Final Warning' got this whole eerie feel to it when she sang "someone's gonna get hurt, na na na na na na" and it kinda creeps me out a wee bit. So, I expected THAT for the whole album, but after my first listen, the album is, urmm, kinda OK for me.
Other than 'Final Warning', there are few more tracks that stand out among the rest: 'Wear Me Out', 'Religion', 'Shit, Man!' and 'Tower (Don't Look Down)'. Although these tracks sound really good (and I really love 'em), but they didn't connect with most of the materials in the album. The questions I'm asking myself while listening to this LP: what's the core theme? What's the issue presented here? What is she trying to tell us? What?
Plus, demo track, such as 'Love the Way You Lie, Part III' shouldn't be in this record. I know it's her original song and composition, but there's no need to re-release that three year old track, y'know (fact: she already released it in her previous EP, The Buried Sessions).
Hmm, I don't know how to end my review, but I'll quote from NOW Magazine's review of the album which seems to capture what I'm trying to say about Grey's work: "given Grey's connection to music's biggest headline-makers, it's ironic that her own output isn't all that memorable."
There ya go!
Rating: 3 out of 5 stars.
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