An artist thats getting maximum exposure in the recent Sure for women ad, things are looking up for this 17 year old Aussie. Sweet About Me has gained popularity and will surely be a hit of the Summer, as she looks to cement her name at the top along with Kate Nash, Duffy, Amy Winhouse and the likes. Unfortunately, the album disappoints.

To my shock and disbelief, the opening song, ‘Save the Lies’, is a debacle. Roll on the cheesy synths and oh-so-predictable, vocals. She attempts to give the song a funky 70’s style disco ring to it, but fails miserably, even the Fast Food Rockers could do better than this(maybe an overstatement!). Thankfully, the pattern of awful songs isnt repeated in the all of the album, only some of it. The already popular ‘Sweet About Me’, already the flaglining the album, is the best song on the album. Easily constructed and sang, and so relaxing her voice is, it could but you to sleep. Its a shining example of a song that can be both actually good and be on the radio simultaneously, which is no mean feat.<

The tune of upbeat, good music doesnt continue though, ‘Sanctuary’ could have easily been written by anybody fooling around on a Sunday afternoon, although she does try to save it with some clever movements in her voice, but still, this song aint no sanctuary. ‘Einstein’ doesnt help much either, as it sounds like it could have been written 10 years ago, and could have been performed by All Saints. ‘Got No Place’ is a more rigid tune, that combines simple pop chords and an addictive chorus that anyone could tap to. ‘Dont Wanna Go to Bed Now’ drags the album down again, which reminds me of a Girls Aloud song go bad, not wanting to go to bed and selling your sole not to go, dont go together really. There are some nice hooks in the synths in parts, but overall is broken and the song is repetitive. ‘Messy’ brings the album up above bearable again, which is again a very simple and effective song that can have you singing along in minutes.

Theres no denying that Cilmi has some talent there, but with high standards in her genre, she’s not going to get far with this result. Three decent songs, three terrible songs, and the rest is just in an ocean full of extremely non-original tunes. But then again, it seems what some people want. The album was truly disappointing, and a lot more work is needed if she wants to be taken seriously as an artist.

5/10

Sweet About Me video