Review: Paula, Robin Thicke’s Desparate Attempt to Show He Is Capable of Love
Robin Thicke is back with his second album, and it is a confusing mediocre effort to reconcile with his wife. If I were his wife, this album would not convince me to go back to Mr Thicke. He definitely attempted to come up with a different style for himself on this album, maybe hoping to be sweet but there little success.
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Paula starts with two songs that could have been left off the album. With poor lyrics and a weird ’90s Justin Timberlake feel, these songs are not really worth listening to. Thicke tends to sing emotional lyrics as if he went into a studio and read the lyrics off his iPhone. The best song of the album is probably the third track Still Madly Crazy – Thicke sings well in this song, and you can even hear some sincere emotion. He made a good call and didn’t appear in the video, which allows the sweetness of the song to come alive.
The rest of the album has a faux-retro vibe that is somewhere between blues and soft rock. The tracks call for soulful singing, but Thicke falls short, and it leaves a lot to be desired. The style is enjoyable, but the lacklustre vocals really take away from the songs. Instrumentally, I could actually dance along to a few of the songs but I can’t get over how repetitive each song is. I know it’s pop music, but a few of the songs seem to repeat the same 3-4 words for 4 or 5 minutes.
All in all, the album is somewhere between a pathetic attempt to get back with his wife Paula, and Thicke failing to be soulful. I almost feel bad for the guy, but not quite. I give the album a C+ because the music behind the vocals is actually pretty good.
Paula was released on July 1
