Album review: Danity Kane - Welcome to the dollhouse

Album review: Danity Kane - Welcome to the dollhouse | Random J Pop

After being put through hell and back with their debut, getting caught up in break up and pregnancy scandals and then re-starring in the reality TV show that made them all stars, the Danity Kane girls are back with their sophomore album. Welcome to the dollhouse.

Right off of the bat Danity Kane roll out the club numbers. "Bad girl" is hotness from the word go. The song has Danja on production duties doing what he does best: club ready bangers with ridiculous synth lines and beat switches. The production on this song is insanely tight and cements Danja is no fluke when it comes to the beat making. The song features Missy Elliott who doesn't miss a beat and raps about the same old shit she always does: being a freak and wanting a dude to drill her. Then comes the lead single "Damaged", which for me is just okay. It's nothing amazing and definitely falls short in comparison to some of the other tracks on the album. "Pretty boy" is another Danja production featuring his signature synth lines and euro pop vibe. The song is pretty throwaway despite its fun factor and quirky lyrics courtesy of The Clutch. Something about this feels unfinished. When this song first leaked I thought Danja would re-work it and make the mix tighter, but he didn't. Despite how loud and frenetic the song is, it doesn't bang that hard, which goes to show that whilst Danja runs circles around Timbaland when it comes to the synths, he can't touch him when it comes to the drums. "Strip tease" is the hottest club track on the album hands down - sounding like something straight off of Nelly Furtado's Loose. Once again Danja brings the heat and tries his hand at working a beat with a trademark of his mentor: beatboxing. This would make a killer single and I'd imagine this would sound real nice in the clubs. The girls sound great on this track, jumping in and out of verses, finishing off one anothers' lines, ad-libbing in all the right places and harmonizing breathlessly to great effect.

After a string of club bangers the album begins to wind down a bit with "Sucka for love" which comes courtesy of Bryan Michael-Cox, who works the synth heavy foundations set by Danja but with a stronger Euro pop influence. This song would make a decent European single as it has a very Pet shop boys feel about it. "Extasy" fuses electro pop with snap funk and it's complete trash that goes nowhere. This song should've been deleted off of the album along with the follow up track "2 of you". The song sounds like an alternative version of PCD's "Wait a minute". Complete garbage. Then comes "Lights out", a sexy throwback 80's number that's just okay. Nothing special, but a passable song. Then winding things right down is "Poetry": the albums' first serious song and ballad. With its haunting piano and ethereal synths wavering as the girls sing their hearts out, the song is fire. It treads a very alternative, light rock vibe which makes the song all the more interesting and a nice break from the mould of synth heavy club stompers. However, more could've been done with it. The song builds up to nothing and then fades out. Some orchestrated strings and stronger guitars after the bridge would've made a solid song even greater. None the less it's a great song that cements that the Danity Kane girls have 'it'. "Is anybody listening" acts a nice album closer and stinks of Aaliyah (in a good way). I couldn't help but be reminded of Timbaland, Aaliyah and songwriter Sean 'Static' Garrett as I listened to the song, as it definitely channels all 3 of them back when.

Whilst the production on the album is tight and the beats are all hot, the lyrics on the majority of the songs are pretty shit. They all include witty one liners and verses here and there, but on the whole aren't anything substantial. "Bad girl" takes the biscuit with its ♪ Look at my eyes covered in Maybelline ♪ line. I bet Aubrey wrote that shit, because home girl always look like somebody grabbed the back of her head and dragged her along a Sephora counter. Only on "Poetry" and "Is anybody listening" does the songwriting really draw you in and stray from the whole 'I'm a vamp, put it up, I'm-a put it down fo' a n***a' setup.

Danja's production and Jim Beanz vocal arrangements stick out on this album due to their imprints being all over it. The two of them give Danity Kane a sound that's edgy, yet playful and will get spins on pop radio. Danja's productions aren't all that varied and some will be sick to death of hearing synths and bass lines they've been hearing over the radio for the past 2 years, but his productions are solid. The girls' harmonies are tight and each of them sound great and get their moment to shine. The main problem with the album is that it lacks any real variety. It's almost as though the producers were given a template and they all had to stick to it. Every song has some form of techno synth running through it, evoking a really dark overtone and by the sixth track everything feels like it's bleeding into one sound. A bit more variety would've helped things, because I found myself getting bored half way through the album.

Welcome to the dollhouse is a decent album. Much stronger than their debut. Despite the sound feeling quite samey, it's at least cohesive and flows well. The whole playful dolls theme works nicely because it feels less contrived than their debut which felt forced in an attempt to make Danity Kane out to be these finger snappin' chicks who will go upside a bitches head. It woulda been great for this album to have been a success for the girls, because it has the makings of a multi-platinum seller. But they're signed to Bad boy, so...

RATING: 7 / 10

Album highlights:
■ Bad girl
■ Strip tease ★ J's fave
■ Sucka for love
■ Lights out
■ Poetry
■ Is anybody listening

Comments

  1. wow,i cant belive i read all that..

    i agree and disagree,damaged is a hott song "do you got a first aidkit handy" is just the making of that song, love the energy ofthe song its great, preety boy is hot as well..i loved 20fyou that a hot one aswell. i agree with everything else

    nice reveiw.ild give it a 7/10 too

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  2. *lol* I do write alot. I'll try to keep it down, but I appreciate you reading it all. ;)

    "Damaged" just doesn't do anything for me. I can listen to it, but when I do I just feel like it's lacking. It could always grow on me. I still love the Danity Kane girls though and I love their new album overall. I've been playing "Bad girl" and "Strip tease" to DEATH. :D

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