Review Summary: Standing out/finding identity.
Mainstream rock could use a bit of spunk. I don’t mean we need another dirty-minded drunkard like Chad Kroeger from Nickelback. I mean pop rock has gotten soft. What the genre needs is someone with punch, fire, gusto, and cheekiness. It needs the next Avril Lavigne or Kelly Clarkson, the kind of single artist that has angst, but applies it cleverly and cutely, within the boundaries of mainstream appeal. I suppose Lily Allen is the closest artist to do that in the pop scene, but that leaves us with the need for it in the pop scene. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce you to Fefe Dobson, the cure for mainstream sadness.
That’s right, the Canadian musical artist, Fefe Dobson, is back with a vengeance. Despite her bumps with record labels and a lengthy wait for her next album, Joy turned out just fine. So fine, in fact, that it has already made her famous (especially in Canada). Her songs are dominating the radio and also the television, with her music appearing in restaurants, advertisements, and even television shows themselves (she personally appeared on an episode of Hellcats with her song ‘Stuttering’). Her musical journey has been an interesting one to say the least, so it is thrilling to find out that the entire journey was not in vain.
Joy is a greatly varied album just as her debut album was. In this LP you will hear anything from pop rock to classic rock, indie rock, synthpop, and other variations. You’d think that such an assortment of styles would simply fall and crash like poor old Humpy Dumpty, but Joy is somehow perfectly cohesive for the entire length of the album. It really has nothing to with her producers (although they certainly helped), it is all thanks to Fefe finally finding her true self. Her musical influences still influence her (obviously), but for the first time, they are not dictating her. For once, she is pulling the strings, and that is definitely a good thing. So when she sings songs such as ‘Thanks for Nothing’, ‘You
Bitch’, and ‘I’m a Lady’ one can’t help but feel a bit of joy as one realizes Fefe’s breakthrough. The songs are scathing, showing the new Fefe, in full form, playing rock and roll, her true talent.
Fefe is a talented girl, and Joy is a true indicator of that fact. In ‘Stuttering’, she belts out impressively high notes with no real effort at all, because the girl can sing. She even does it again in the infectious number, ‘Watch Me Move’, with more guitar than you typically hear in radio pop. Simply put, Fefe’s vocal performance in Joy is stunning, powerful, and magnetizing. If heard on the radio or elsewhere, her voice is completely distractingly unique. The sheer naked notes she hits with her aggressive assertion is tempting. Joy, in the end, may not exactly exude joy, but it does not matter, for the sheer power in Fefe’s performance is exceedingly memorable. There are not enough artists like Fefe Dobson.
