Vanessa Hudgens - Identified Review
Posted by Patrick Robinson on 07.25.2008
Vanessa Hudgens second album, harmless pop music for the kids.
Some of you may know me as “the hip-hop guy” and those that do know me are probably wondering what I’m doing listening to a Vanessa Hudgens CD. Well, the short answer is that my baby cousin asked me to listen to it, the longer answer is that I’ll usually listen to ANYTHING at least once. So that’s my disclaimer out of the way.
Vanessa Hudgens. You may know from her appearances in movies such as Thunderbirds, or more than likely, the High School Musical series. OR you may know her because of the photo scandal that erupted late last year. Either way, it turns out this is actually her second album, the first, V was released back in 2006. Amazingly, despite the fact that the High School Musical franchise is a money making giant, her first album didn’t sell too well initially debuting at number 24 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, selling 34,000 copies in its first week.
With Identified following a similar path of below average sales, despite the widespread coverage she has been receiving, is the scandal turning off all the young buyers, or is there something horribly irritating about the music?
Tracks
1. Last Night
2. Identified
3. First Bad Habit
4. Hook It Up Ft. Rock Mafia
5. Don’t Ask Why
6. Sneakernight
7. Amazed Ft. Lil Mama
8. Don’t Leave
9. Paper Cut
10. Party On The Moon
11. Did It Ever Cross Your Mind?
12. Gone With The Wind
13. Set It Off*
14. Committed*
15. Vulnerable*
*Japanes edition bonus tracks
Vanessa Hudgens has a surprisingly mature sounding voice at times, especially given she’s not even 20 yet. Whilst she’s no Mariah (and really who could be), this actually lends her a degree of sincerity on some of the tracks such as “Don’t Ask Why”, “Don’t Leave” and on the bonus track, “Vulnerable”.
The best track on the album, the piano-backed “Paper Cut”, whilst featuring a somewhat strange opening line to the hook, ”Your love hurts like a paper cut, so sweet” exemplifies the fact that Hudgens is trying to show maturity in her singing. The metaphor used in the hook, apart from the first line mentioned, is actually quite well done too.
It’s hard to write about these albums in a lyrical sense like I’m used to, as most of today’s pop singers don’t write their own material, or co-write a lot of it. From the article featured on Wikipedia (take that with a grain of salt), it looks like she didn’t really write any of the tracks present on the album. The focus is therefore placed instead, on her vocal abilities first and foremost, and the production chosen to back the tracks.
Having said that, there are some really bizarre tracks that use an auto tune affect. For those that might not know what I’m talking about, think T-Pain and Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop”. “Amazed” and “Party On The Moon” are two such tracks and are probably the worst, because they don’t really seem comfortable, and even a bit ridiculous.
The album then divides itself between the serious ballads previously mentioned, and some dance tracks, with the former working more often than not, and the latter ranging between average and good. “Hook It Up” has an almost Gwen Stefani vibe to it, “Set It Off” also has quite a bouncy feel to it, due to the synth driven beat, much like the lead single, “Sneakernight”, a harmless track that surprisingly didn’t manage to get past number 88 on the Billboard singles chart.
You’re then finally left with some tracks which manage to blur the line between a relationship driven track and a dance track. The first two tracks, “Last Night” and “Identified” manage to do so quite well, the former certainly due to the production which has a throwback feel to it.
In terms of negatives, well while there isn’t anything outright terrible, there’s not much which is outstanding or memorable. The production is good, but very much carbon copied of 90% of the production being used in the rest of the pop world, meaning nothing really stands out. Hudgens also needs to stay far, FAR away from the auto tune affect as it wrecks her perfectly acceptable vocal abilities.
The 411: The album does exactly what it sets out to do – make inoffensive pop music that’s both danceable and emotional at the same time. For any parents reading this, you won’t have to worry about covering your child’s ears as there’s nothing which could be found remotely suggestive in that sense, quite a nice change from the early days of Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears no? All in all, it’s a fairly good pop album and if you’re into this kind of pop, you should definitely give it a listen.
