Swinging’ With My Eyes Closed: I like the hook on this track, but something feels kind of off about Shania’s voice on the verses. It kind of feels a bit robotic, like a weird autotune-ish filter was added to her voice that just made her sound worse. It’s not a bad track overall, but it’s not an amazing start to the album.
Home Now: Definitely sounds a little more like the Shania we know and love on the verse of this one, and I like the instrumental here. Not particularly crazy about the hook, but overall, not a bad song.
Light of My Life: Shania’s performance on this one is just boring! And it pains me to say that, because I love Shania, but while this starts promisingly with a cool instrumental, Shania just can’t help but sound really bored throughout this track. This album is not off to a great start.
Poor Me: Man, someone’s been listening to some Chainsmokers, because this sounds A LOT like “Don’t Let Me Down.” It actually comes somewhat close to being blatant. And unfortunately, I’m not crazy about the hook on this one, and while the song as a whole isn’t terrible, it’s nothing too great either.
Who’s Gonna Be Your Girl?: With this track, it feels like Shania is kind of at a fork in the road where she can’t decide if she wants to stick to the old stuff that put her on the map or try to modernize her stuff to keep up with the times. As a result, the song isn’t bad, and I like the instrumental, but unfortunately, it’s just pretty unexciting. I was so hoping this album would start off better, this makes me kinda sad.
More Fun: On this track, it feels like Shania is kind of stepping out of her comfort zone and trying to do something that sounds a little different, but once again, it feels a bit half-hearted. There’s no energy on this track, and while the instrumental is not bad, it just doesn’t fit for Shania. Yikes, this isn’t looking great.
I’m Alright: While this track doesn’t sound too bad, and the hook is pretty decent, I’m not crazy about the filter/effect that they are putting on Shania’s voice on this one. It just makes her sound a bit too robotic and not as exciting as before. Definitely not a bad track, but nothing amazing either.
Let’s Kiss and Make Up: This one actually feels like Shania is trying to modernize her music, but unfortunately, despite a catchy instrumental, Shania’s performance fails to really provide any excitement. This new autotune-y sound kinda takes away from what made her old songs so amazing. Halfway through the album, I’m not impressed, and that’s making me sad. Hopefully, the rest of the album can salvage this.
Where Do You Think You’re Going: While I like the slower speed and the nice piano track on this one, I again feel like the weird autotune-like vocal filter really takes away from the prettiness of Shania’s voice, and it makes this a little harder for me to listen to.
Roll Me on the River: While this has a cool sound to it, I felt like this one was, again, a bit boring, and again, Shania sounded a bit too robotic on this one. The disappointment is real with this album so far.
We Got Something They Don’t: I really like the instrumental and groovy bass-line on this track, and the hook is pretty solid, too. This one is honestly pretty fun. I’m not sure I’ll be going back to this song much after the review (largely because I kind of want to blank this album out of my mind), but I’ll admit, I do like this song, especially after the long streak of tracks that were, to put it nicely, not good.
Because of You: The lighter acoustic guitar sound on this track is quite nice, and I actually like Shania’s vocals on this one. This one is pretty nice overall, and while I wouldn’t say it’s one of my favorites, I think this one has some room to grow on me in the future.
You Can’t Buy Love: Very lively song with a solid beat and a pretty good hook as well! This is another track I’d describe as “fun.” Again, not sure if I’ll revisit this one a lot, but I do think it’s a good song and, slowly, the album is redeeming itself (though it might be a bit too late).
Life’s About to Get Good: A pleasantly old-school Shania song with a really upbeat sound, a good beat, an enjoyable hook, and some really enjoyable lyrics! Another good song!
Soldier: A light, pretty sweet song with a great piano track and some nice vocals from Shania overall. Not one of my personal favorites on this album, but this one is pretty enjoyable overall.
All in All: I like the instrumental on this one a lot! And while Shania’s vocals have that annoying autotune-esque sound to them, I think this song is pleasantly old-school sounding, and I think the hook is pretty good. A nice solid end to this album.
Overall, while things started to get better towards the end, I’ve gotta say I was very disappointed by this album. Shania’s voice (possibly thanks to the autotune-like effect) sounded a bit more robotic and boring on this one, and I think that being that she’s been out of this whole music thing for 15 years, Shania reached a crossroads where she had to decide between sticking to the guns that made her so successful in the past or modernize her songs for the sake of staying relevant. As a result, the album just feels like it doesn’t know what it wants to be, and unfortunately, her overall sound was lacking a bit throughout this album. And while the final six tracks were much better than the first ten, I don’t feel like they did well enough to save the album from being such a giant disappointment. I still love Shania, and I really wanted this to be great, but I guess not every album can be a hit.
I’m sad now.
Favorite tracks: We Got Something They Don't, You Can't Buy Love, Life's About to Get Good
Least favorite track: Light of My Life
Rating: Bad
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