A Pleasant Surprise from a Generally Avoided Genre

I had never heard of the band Hot Chelle Rae before about a month ago, but now it’s a name I can’t ignore or get enough of.  One day there was a song stuck in my head. It was a pop song, very catchy (It was the song “I like it like that”). So, I decided to look up the name of the group who sang it.  That was a total bust, because it was a group that I had never heard before. I thought nothing more of it until a little while later there was another one of those songs that are all over the place (“Tonight, Tonight”), and I being the curious person that I am, had to look up who sang it. Low and behold it was the same band that sang the “I like it like that,” and since then I had had a friend show me another song that turns out to be by the same people: Hot Chelle Rae. So I decided to look up even more songs by this band. Now, I am not by nature one to listen to pop music (I much prefer hard rock), but I felt myself compelled by how unusually good the songs were. So, I look up the songs and it turns out that I had already heard a good portion of them. I couldn’t tell you where I had heard them before but I found myself singing the words to a few songs that I didn’t even know I knew.  I generally could listen to any common song and tell you what it is called, and who sings it, but it appears that this one had somehow slipped under my radar. So I decide to buy their first album lovesick electric and I’ll admit, I liked it… a lot. 

The lead singer has quite the soft voice, sort of soothing. Though if the lead voice is that soft I think I would have preferred the backup vocals to be a bit harsher instead of the soft boyish vocals that they were, but that’s just me. There is a nice driving rhythm to the drums and guitar throughout the album. The whole thing starts out with a moderately paced song “Say (half passed nine)” and then branches out in other directions from there.  For instance that second song on the album is called “I like to dance,” and it certainly makes me want to get up and move.  The whole thing is driving rhythm and a back and forth pitch that makes it almost irresistible to at least bob your head with the beat, if not to make you jump up and down. This is common throughout the album there are a lot of pieces that are just down right fun to listen to. I wouldn’t normally say that pop is a good thing, but really it is quite a game changer.  

                On some parts of the album there are some slow ballad type songs. The guitar goes acoustic; the drums are few and far between and tend to be more percussive.  The lyrics get a bit more emotional (duh) and the vocals have a lot more soul poured into them, not in a totally sappy way though. I mean, yes it’s sappy, but not in an “oh my god I love you so much” way, but in more of a “wow, I actually care about this topic” way.  Now I will say that the Achilles heel of this album would have to be the lyrics. I don’t think that there is a single song on this album that isn’t about a girl. I don’t know what I expected from a group made entirely of guys.  Well, I guess I’m just too used to rock bands with more meaningful lyrics about life and such because the lyrics on this album seem to be incredibly surface level. As a bit of a warning I would also say that I could really live without the song “Alright.” It’s a bit repetitive, and the vocals get a bit pitchy. Just saying.

 I particularly like the song “Last one standing” though. Out of the two obvious ballads’ it mixes the slow vocal’s that are fraught with pleading with a few faster paced bits that make a truly enjoyable contrast. There is also a part at the end of the song where the guitar echoes the notes of the vocal’s and anthropomorphizes the guitar into becoming a voice on its own and accents the meaning of the words by making your brain fill in the words itself. This is the last song on the album and it ends with a bit of crooning and some very well placed string instrumentals that lead to a very satisfying end to a satisfying album.