Review Summary: Been there, done that, messed around.
Pop music is an ever-changing, shape-shifting, relentless cavalcade of diverse rhythms, beats, and sounds. In this manner, pop music is really no different from any other genre of music in that it is created by harnessing simple musical ideas and expanding them to create a unique composition. Pop may seem shallow to some, coming off as grating and infuriating to most, but, despite it being a lightning rod for controversy and critics opinions, pop music, when done right, pop music is almost always incessantly catchy, inescapable, and timeless. Imagine it this way - in twenty years, a sixteen year old boy or girl will listen to the popular music of today, and be able to, if only for three or four minutes, begin to grasp our current mindset along with some of our societal norms. It is in this way that pop music is timeless; presently serving as an escape from our daily troubles, but, years from now, it will serve as a portal to this specific period of time. Of course, with the internet expanding, social media becoming part of our everyday lives, and a constant stream of information being available for our consumption with a tap of our fingers, finding songs that are ubiquitous in our society that also define a certain time are becoming harder to find because our society’s musical tastes are expanding without limit. People are no longer dependent on the radio to tell them what to listen to; instead, we are free to pursue our own musical interests and go down the metaphorical musical rabbit hole as far as we choose. In the past, a song would become popular because it was what the radio was playing, becoming popular because of its musical merits, cultural significance or emotional statement. Nowadays, a song becomes popular much like a spreading virus – infiltrating our culture by showing up on television, in movies, magazines, advertisements, billboards - sometimes, a song becomes popular because of a complete and utter media blitz for an artist and a specific piece of music. The media blitz will often work (Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” and Sara Bareilles’ “Brave” are two songs that come to mind), but sometimes, a once-popular artist simply becomes part of the woodwork - on top of the world for a short time, but then gone without another sound.
For half a decade, La Roux was looking like one of those pop bands that had disappeared for good after riding a wave of musical success, now dead in the water, never to be heard from again. After all, in five years, the entire landscape of popular music can change dramatically, and many artists who wait that long to try and re-enter the market are often left out in the cold, finding that their once loyal and devoted fan base have moved on to other interests. In 2009, La Roux (which then consisted of singer Elly Jackson and producer Ben Langmaid) released their self-titled debut, and almost instantly became the newest pop heroes on both sides of the Atlantic. Songs like “In For the Kill” and “Bulletproof” found a great deal of success, and their brand of utterly joyous and perfectly produced synth-pop placed them in a genre all their own, presenting themselves as one of the best pop duos around. However, the fame that La Roux received soon after turned out to be anything but a gift. Jackson soon began to suffer from panic attacks due to the extensive touring that followed their first release, becoming unable to sing in her trademark falsetto for some time due to performance anxiety and bouts of muscle tension in her throat. As if Jackson’s health problems were not bad enough, Langmaid exited the duo in February 2012 due to creative differences. As the years passed, pressure for a follow up began to mount on lone member Jackson, and many tries at recording La Roux’s sophomore album with various producers failed to recreate the magic of their first album.
So, whether or not you want to call it a comeback, a resurgence, or just their long awaited sophomore release,
Trouble In Paradise is essentially the make or break moment for Elly Jackson and La Roux. Luckily,
Paradise avoids the common snags of the dreaded sophomore slump, and ends up succeeding on multiple levels, both vocally and musically. Unsurprisingly, the pace of their second release is slower overall than the fast paced disco-infused frenzy of their debut, but despite this drop in tempo,
Trouble in Paradise still manages to retain much of the brilliance of their debut. The album, which only consists of nine tracks, has been immaculately produced and arranged, with the vocal hooks shining through the weaving synth lines and rhythms perfectly, and Jackson’s once frigid but now warm and open voice remains rightly placed at the front of the mix. Songs like “Uptight Downtown,” which musically exudes a combination of David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance” and the funky muted guitars and bass lines of Daft Punk’s “Get Lucky,” opens the album with confidence as Jackson’s soaring vocals overlay the restrained jubilee of guitars and synthesized horns and keyboards. “Kiss and Not Tell” harkens back to their debut with a memorable keyboard line alongside a reggae-tinged beat, while “Sexotheque” slinks its way into your head with its repetitive chorus. However, it is during the slowest moments on the album are where Elly Jackson really shows how her vocal tone has evolved. On “Cruel Sexuality,” Jackson somehow emanates love, loss, lust and regret in her voice, a trait that helps to carry the laid-back mood of the album well as the tracks flow one after another. Like their first release, there are some points where the album drags slightly (especially during the seven-minute “Silent Partner” and the brooding final track “The Feeling”), but these faults are overshadowed by the various sounds that line the framework of all nine compositions, revealing something new to the listener after each and every listen.
Some might say that
Trouble in Paradise is a safe release for La Roux, and this is true. Besides the noticeable change in Elly Jackson’s once cold voice to a more open, warmer and refreshing range, the album offers really nothing groundbreaking or extraordinarily different than their debut, but it still manages to sound fresh and relevant. However, while it might not become a time capsule to a specific time like their debut was, or propel La Roux to new, un-chartered pop success, and even though it may not turn any heads in shock or dismay,
Trouble In Paradise is a wonderfully warm, open and overall great sounding second effort by a pop duo that had long since been forgotten about - ultimately proving to the world that they are not just a one-hit wonder, but that they are an unrelenting force of synth-pop who deserve to remain popular for years to come.
