Review Summary: What was Birdman really smoking when he decided to sign this Bieber copycat?
The music industry no longer needs another Justin Bieber, or somebody trying to be or look like him. In fact, the industry probably doesn't want to see the likes of someone like him ever again. The Canadian pop singer has become a major factor in destroying the authenticity of pop music, with wacky and ridiculously generic tracks like "Baby" snatching over half a billion hits on YouTube or his off-the-job issues with getting arrested for DUI and whatnot. His ridiculous and annoying fanbase called "the Biebs" filled with over-obessed teenage girls can be another big reason why you probably hate him with a burning passion. Unfortunately for music and for America, tons of guys trying to be the next JB are popping around the music industry like a bunch of flies swarming into town. If it isn't country sensation Hunter Hayes doing it, it's this 18-year old kid named Austin Mahone trying to be the second coming of JB with his similar looks and charm, along with another frustrating and dull fanbase known as "Mahomies" which like all the JB copycats coming around these days is occupied with over-obessed, screaming teenage girls. With "The Secret" tour ready to start in the Summer of 2014, Mahone dropped his second EP to the delight of his fans which just happens to be named "The Secret". Not surprisingly his first set of material is extremely weak, generic, and so unoriginal that it makes you wonder what Birdman was smoking when he signed Mahone to Cash Money.
"The Secret" starts out with "Till' I Find You", which sounds like Mahone ripped pages off the books of boy bands like Backstreet Boys for one. In fact, in the 6-track extended play it sounds like Austin was channeling in the sounds of boy bands that came before he did, especially with BSB and *NSYNC. The unoriginal sounds he does put out on this EP is appalling, trying to ride out the '90s boy-band trend that died out after 2001 in which doesn't work out for him at all. "Next To You" is in the same boat, with sounds eerily similar to the pop trends from two decades prior which again ends up backfiring on him. The title track commits the biggest crime of them all, channeling in the sounds of BSB songs like "Everybody (Backstreet's Back" and "Larger Than Life" which clearly shows the unoriginality of material that Mahone decided to put out to the masses. "Can't Fight This Love" just like the first track decides to rip a page out from another boy-band, this time with *NSYNC. It sounds like something taken from their debut album in the late '90s, which clearly displays the lack of original ideas that Austin has put out with this EP.
"The Secret" isn't entirely bad, Mahone does shy away from the all-too-familiar sounds of '90s boy-band music a little bit and delivers a more modern sound which fits with him very well. The electro-pop track "Mmm Yeah" is definitely a highlight, with fantastic production and even some elements of hip-hop and Latin music incorporated into the EDM track. Pitbull even decides to lend a hand in the song, putting out a pretty slick feature that rivals with Austin's vocal sets. It is easily the most modern-sounding piece of material in the entire EP, and it is delivered right. When Mahone releases his debut album later in 2014, he should certainly put out material like that if he wants to stand out among the best in pop music. The EP ends with the pop-ballad track "All I Ever Need", the only ballad on the entire EP and exposes a more vulnerable side of Mahone. A love letter essentially to his "Mahomies", he puts out another different kind of sound and throws in very good vocals to say the least. This is the kind of material that easily showcases the vast potential Mahone has with his vocals and tone, sadly you see this rarely in the EP.
While "The Secret" does have a couple moments of originality and consistency, it falls right off the cliff and easily one of the worst pop releases of the year. The mass in-fluctuation of unoriginality that is pretty prevalent throughout the entire EP plagues it entirely, with sounds too similar to boy-bands like Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC. The lack of consistency in the majority of the EP also comes out as a major flaw, with that lacking the EP sinks massively. His vocals are easily on-point, which will likely be the reason anybody will pay attention to this copycat of Justin Bieber. If he wants to redeem himself from this failure of an extended play, Mahone needs to experiment more with different beats and sounds or even try to find his own, which if he can and it works then things will start coming out good for him. As for "The Secret", there really isn't any "secrets" as the majority of his sounds showcases, and how a guy like Birdman thinks this is good enough to sign into a label like Cash Money is pretty hilarious and absolutely pathetic.
