Record Label: Universal Motown
Genre: Pop
Band Link: link
Buy on Amazon.com link

Ooo-eee! I just love it when teen actors go pop! This guy has an apparently popular Nickelodeon show, and I’m sure there’s that instant marketability. So they stick his face in all the Teen Beat magazines and this thing sells like hotcakes.

Here’s the biggest shame of all. Under all of the overproduction, this kid isn’t that bad of a singer, and the piano pop reminds me slightly of Randy Newman and Harry Nilsson. Of course, none of the target audience would make that connection. Instead we have some generic mid-tempo pop music. I almost feel like this guy should have fallen from fame (I mean, if he’s actually all that popular) and done this on his own. It probably would have been a whole lot simpler, more minimal, and much better. Most of the fabricated pop singers these days are just playing over synths and such, and Bell is actually going for a retro sound, especially an early 70s AM radio approach. It’s too bad that under all the layering and production, it just sounds the same as everything else out there.

Bottom Line: The least offensive album I’ve ever heard. If I were a 14 year old girl, I would want Drake to hold my hand. Half-base, baby!
Notable Tracks: Do What You Want, Makes Me Happy, Fool The World
Overall Rating: