Case in point, it's been just a year and two days since she dropped her debut album, Speak and she's already unleashed her sophomore album. Talk about quick turnaround. The presses are barely cooling down from all the tabloid rumors of her weight loss, smoking, partying, and (gasp!) her new blonde locks (or is it brunette? She keeps changing so frequently and the rumor mills keep cranking out new pix of her it's hard to keep up) and her she comes with 12 new songs that delve deeper into her growing psychosis.
Lohan's first album was entitled Speak because she felt that's what she needed to do, speak her mind. Her latest goes for a much longer, somewhat confusing title (as it all the rage these days) hinting that she's got even deeper issues to unfurl to her fans. Last time around she lamented about how tough it is to be a young starlet hounded by the paparazzi and trash papers on "Rumors." This time she's revealing the pain and anger that her father has caused her on "Confessions Of A Broken Heart (Daughter To Father)." Being a celebrity must suck to some degree, especially when you have to air family grievances out in public.
Listening to this song, which just happens to be the first single, one is immediately struck by how Lohan has undergone a rather drastic sonic shift. Whereas the bulk of her last album was all studio gloss and imitation Euro pop blitz, here she goes for the heartstring pulling power ballad that will fit in quite well on vintage A/C oriented radio stations (that is if they still exist in the ever-change and extremely bizarre commercial radio climate of the day). "Black Hole" continues the power ballad motif, tossing in some crashing percussion to juice it up a bit. To her credit, Lohan sounds much more mature and confident throughout this outing, but it's still slick, calculated pop.
"I Live For The Day" is an uplifting anthem that showcases Lohan's vocal range and ability to weave an intriguing melody throughout the otherwise overpowering, somewhat generic clash of background noise (searing guitars, cymbal dominated drums, heavy synth washes). Even though this track unfolds in stark contrast to the way the album started, it provides the perfect lead-in to Lohan's cover of the Cheap Trick classic "I Want You To Want Me." While her take on this staple is pretty standard, the lyrics take on an entirely new meaning, almost playing out as a co-dependent revelation on how starlets need the public to love them. The guitar workout at the end kind of destroys it, musically (but then again how the hell could anyone expect to compete with the incomparable Rick Neilson).
Lohan returns to the down tempo power ballad mode on "My Innocence." And while the power ballad is a much maligned pop styling, it's the one best suited for her vocal inclinations and the one that allows her to shine without sounding cheesy or like a generically manufactured pop star. It's actually too bad that Lohan isn't about 15 or 20 years older, then she could get away with doing lite jazz and lounge styled atmsopheria, which she would excel at without a question.
The title track is a pulsing, mock Missing Persons sounding electro laced club number. If you like this sort of thing, then it's pretty decent. The main thing marring it is that it's delivered without a trace of irony, which would have made it that much cooler (think The Darkness, who have mastered re-interpreting the past, making it sound fresh and throwback at the same time).
The tail end of the album pretty much rotates through the various styles Lohan and company have been dishing out: power ballads ("If It's Alright"), straight ahead pop, club-styled bubblegum angst, and mock rock ("Fastlane"), with a few left turns (such as the quasi-Prince-meets Alanis influenced faux funk slink of "If You Were Me") thrown in for good measure. The real drawback here is that Lohan's voice is actually pretty decent, she is able to float and parry, drop from sultry whisper to heartfelt croon at the most opportune moments. Sadly, much of the music from her band is somewhat generic and lackluster, never really giving her anything to stand on other than slick, predictable riffs and rhythms.
As if attempting to appeal to the parents of her fans, Lohan even goes so far as to dip yet again into the classic rock old school and cover Stevie Nicks' "Edge of Seventeen." Again, as with her take on Cheap Trick, the song's lyrics take on a different slant, but she's also a bit out of her range tackling such a staple of rock radio, not to mention trying to follow in Nicks' formidable vocal footsteps. Let's just say that Lohan has balls and leave it at that (to her credit, the chorus refrain of "Just like a one winged dove…" sounds pretty damn good, but the rest of the song…um, yeah). Perhaps the best track on the entire album, musically speaking, is "Who Loves You," a bubbly slice of sultry electro gloss.
In terms of the packaging, Lohan once again goes for that vintage Anne Margaret sex kitten look, though a little more extreme than last time around. One gander at the front cover, where she is scantily clad and showcasing a tattoo on her lower back/upper buttocks and it's no wonder that so many American men harbor visions of perversion. The inside photos continue to fuel the Lolita fantasy lurking in the deepest, darkest reaches of the male psyche. It all goes to show that Lohan is an excellent pupil, having learned from the likes of Margaret, Madonna, and even Britney in how best to sell herself to a sex obsessed public. Image, after all, is everything, is it not?
In the long run, while still far from being an epic moment in current pop history, the bulk of A Little More Personal (RAW) easily ranks a few shades higher than her 2004 debut. Most of this is due to Lohan's obvious focus on her voice and extending her range and styles. Granted some of the styles she has chosen to explore don't really fit with her image or singing style, but still you gotta give it up to the girl for at least experimenting a little.
Definitely Download:
1. "Black Hole"
2. "My Innocence"
3. "Who Loves You"
4. "A Beautiful Life (La Bella Vita)"
