Review Summary: Entirely New Summer Hits
Entirely New Blue seems to be a natural progression for Chad Valley. It sees him perfecting his songwriting skills while retaining the catchy melodies of his past outings, all the while distancing himself from his more electronic side.
Most of the album’s songs follow a similar theme of love unrequited, a surprising notion considering the atmosphere and feel of the album is one of summery happiness, only rarely giving off the vibe of being a melancholy record. Seventeen and Labasa in particular are the only two songs to leave you feeling blue. In fact, the album seems to be more of a stab at creating one of the next summer hits, whatever Chad Valley's intentions were. It executes this perfectly in two songs, namely Moon Under Water and Not That Man. Both are extremely suited to this task and hidden gems for any lover of thoroughly enjoyable pop music, featuring extremely catchy melodies and groovy beats whilst not trying too hard and being in your face about its catchiness, a welcome breath of fresh air in today’s pop realm. There are a few minor nitpicks regarding Not That Man building up only to a somewhat disappointing intensity and Moon Under Water perhaps dragging on a bit too long. There isn't too much to be left desired.
To a lesser extent, the first proper song of the album, True, succeeds similarly at being a perfect candidate for the next summer hit. It starts off with a melody that will get stuck in your head faster than you can skip it, its lyrics are, although somewhat generic, easily relatable, its structure is simple and predictable (which doesn't have to be a bad thing). Despite this, it is lacking something, a key component for its success. Perhaps it is enthusiasm or intensity, perhaps something else. It just feels weaker than the other two singles, its chorus and even its verses being too faint to properly sing along to; the delivery is simply not up to par with the rest of the album. Seventeen suffers from the same problems, aside from resembling a filler song. In a way, the album even follows the structure of some of the more successful pop albums with its filler tracks.
However, this album is well worth a listen, if not for being very enjoyable, then at least for its two standout singles, despite them leaving you feeling more happy than blue.
