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Love Drunk, the second studio album by pop-punk band Boys Like Girls, is one of the most highly-anticipated CDs of the year for young alternative music fans. But does it live up to the hype?
Since the release of the band’s self-titled album in 2006, BLG has enjoyed tremendous success among pre-teens as well as teens. The Boston area band consists of Martin Johnson on vocals and rhythm guitar, John Keefe on drums, bassist Bryan Donahue, and Paul DiGiovanni on lead guitar.
Compared to the songs on their self-titled album, just about every chorus on Love Drunk is more pop than punk. They seem to be trying to beat the success of their huge hit, “The Great Escape,” the song that defined BLG. As a result, Love Drunk is basically the same material, but with even more of a commercial flair.
The opening cut, “Heart, Heart Heartbreak,” is catchy and fun. The second song, the first single, “Love Drunk,” teases with a strong intro, but the tempo abruptly changes, and the song goes downhill from there. In fact, “Love Drunk” is representative of the entire album—too poppy and unoriginal, with trite lyrics: boy falls in love, boy gets hurt, boy is jealous…blah, blah, blah. None of these eleven cuts capture the emotion of love that past songs like “Hero/Heroine,” “Dance Hall Drug,” or “Heels Over Head” have. That’s at least what I expected from the duet with Taylor Swift, “Two Is Better Than One,” but, unfortunately, I was disappointed again.
The album also relies on synthesized beats (again, way to poppy), in contrast to their earlier work, which mainly consisted of vocals, guitars and drums.
In fact, I wonder how they’re going to manage all those electronics on their upcoming Love Drunk tour. I’ll soon find out, as I plan on going. Though I wasn’t impressed with Love Drunk, I’m still desperately looking forward to seeing the four supporting acts: the fun Cobra Starship, the dark but fresh VersaEmerge, The Maine, and A Rocket to the Moon.
Except for the opener, none of the cuts on Love Drunk really stand out. Maybe pre-teen girls will enjoy the songs on this clean, romantic album, but I’ve already gotten tired of them.
