Megan Nicole
Escape

Release Date: 2014 | Tracklist

With the in-fluctuation of YouTube and Vine singers making their mark in the industry, with artists like Shawn Mendes opening for major pop extraordinaires like Taylor Swift: many forget who essentially jump-started the trend that has been and continues to soar in the 2010's. The artist who became the catalyst for so many aspiring pop singers to upload covers on social media and YouTube is no other than 21-year old Megan Nicole. Megan Nicole's success has been well-documented, becoming essentially the first true YouTube user to go viral with her renditions/covers of hit songs. An absolute hit with teenagers, Nicole's videos has racked up her nearly 2.5 million subscribers and over 521 million total views since she debuted in 2009. Her vocal talent which captured millions on YouTube would create the attention of record label executives, particularly fellow rapper/record label CEO P. Diddy. In 2012 she would be signed to Bad Boy Records, which would be a short-lived relationship due to the closure of Diddy's label in 2014. While Nicole continues to upload her singing covers online, she's moved forward to creating her own material, with her independently-released debut EP Escape in 2014 being the first set of material she's released. Does it make the bar of which Nicole has set with her terrific Youtube covers? Not even close. Unfortunately for her, Escape fails to garner her any sort of actual seriousness in the industry with an EP that will create more laughs and facepalms than intended.

Make no mistake here, Escape is one major disappointment. It's far worse than your average pop EP or LP, worse than the bombardment of teenage artists (she may be 21, but does she look like one?) releasing material today. Prepare yourself for about 15-18 minutes of poorly done production, vocals that are easily been Auto-Tuned and sound nothing like how she does it on video, and beats that are absolutely typical of a generic teenage pop EP/LP but it even breaks the barrier there for meritocracy and distinction. It's a flat-out disgrace to not just pop music, which has lacked any sort of actual creditability on the mainstream aside from Taylor and Katy, but to the overall music industry in general. You're immediately thrusted into the madness with the single "Electrified", which is filled with '80s-esque synths but it sounds pretty amateurishly-made and the vocals..... the vocals! It doesn't take a rocket-scientist to know that Megan's vocals are 100% Auto-Tune, which is a great shame considering how great she is as a singer. Other tracks like "Courageous" which is trying to act as a Demi Lovato upbeat ballad like "Without The Love" was, attempting to showcase Nicole's vulnerability but with the corny yet trying to be serious lyrical content fail to get the point across. The wanna-be party anthem "Fun" is another example of this, trying to have the feel of a summer anthem and all-around playful track but with the undeniably cheesy, repetitive hook and faulty lyrical quality: it fails to accomplish both, it instead serves as a testament to how mediocre and horrific this EP both feels and sounds.

While pretty much all of Escape is unbearable and just flat-out bad, there's at least one particular moment in the EP that shines that depending on your taste of pop music may still find mediocre or not. The self-titled track, while still intoxicated in obvious Auto-Tune mostly, it differs from the generic vibe and atmosphere that Escape has with a graceful piano playing softly in the background which empowers the track. The lyrical quality is also much better, touching on the subject of quote on quote "escaping" with her lover from all the world's troubles. It definitely hits where basically this whole EP missed, and tracks like "Escape" should've been more prevalent instead of stuff like "Electrified" that assist in killing any sort of creditability or appeal to the record. The formula done on the self-titled track isn't perfect, but it is for sure one that can be later perfected in future material. Maybe the teenagers who blast Demi or R5 on Radio Disney will like this, or the dedicated fans of Nicole, but if you're an overall pop fan who desires distinction and quality you will not find it in Megan's debut EP. In fact, it's pretty much a polar opposite of what you're looking for and if you do in fact listen to this EP and have a similar opinion and reaction, suggest distancing yourself from Escape as far away as possible. It's unfortunate considering she basically jump-started the trend for the teenage generation and those who've followed Nicole's path have achieved higher success than her: reason for that is how they've differed from the usual generic pop male or female singer, but it seems Megan has not found that footing yet. You're better off listening to Megan Nicole's covers on YouTube, which sound and feel so much better than her own material, instead of this travesty that is Escape.

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1.8 poor

Rank: #0 for 2014