Just A Little Bit
The fourth single release from the album starts off proceedings, with the emphasis being firmly on the bass guitar. The song received only moderate success, stalling outside of the UK Top 40, peaking at Number 65. This is surprising when you actually hear the track. The lyric is about giving more than Just A Little Bit in a relationship in order to make it work and has applications to all sorts of situations, meaning that you can't help but connect with it. It is one of the stronger tracks on the album and a good choice for pole position.
Real Girl
The title track and first full-on solo single release from the album (after the release of the George Michael duet), 'Real Girl' contains excerpts from 'It Ain't Over 'Til It's Over' by Lenny Kravitz. The lyric is about having no regrets, not wanting to change anything and being true to youself. This was Mutya's biggest success and peaked at Number 2 in UK charts. The guitars over the pre-chorus are a particular favourite.
Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control) with Groove Armada
The third single release has a completely different vibe to the previous tracks, given the collaboration with the excellent Groove Armada. The sound is dance and Mutya sounds great. She starts off the song with a spoken vocal saying that, seventeen months on from the break up of her relationship, she feels fine, believing her ex to be the one suffering. There she is, driving in her car, Prince on the stereo; she pulls up at a right light and sees said ex with his new girlfriend. Although she sings that this is a 'Sure fire way to ruin my day', she recognises that she 'Can't go back now' and must 'Look ahead now'. This is a real pleaser, that received rave reviews and landed in the Top 10 in New Zealand as well as UK. Even if you don't listen to the rest of the album, listen to this. Song 4 Mutya (Out Of Control) also features on the Groove Armada album 'Soundboy Rock'.
Breakdown Motel
A low hummed vocal introduces us to this slower paced, heavy on the percussion track. Low strings also accompany the slow vocal about being made to stay at Breakdown Motel, whilst her partner goes off to do whatever he wants. In the song, Mutya has hit rock bottom, she has been forced to check in to Breakdown Motel having been 'knocked out' by her partner. She realises, however, that he should not have put her in this position and promises that she will 'come round' from the knockout and stand back on her feet. An interesting track that deserves the few listens that it takes to be appreciated.
Strung Out
The piano provides the slow introduction to 'Strung Out' and, with a slow drum beat is the only musical accompaniment until Verse Two when the pace of the drums picks up and the backing vocals come in. The piano does not speed up ever though and stops the sound from moving from sombre to positive. The Mid Eight provides the moral of the song: 'Don't live your life in vein'. It's hard to be sure whether Mutya is singing about her time in the Sugababes and the reason behind her departure, or about another failed relationship. The lyric starts by saying that when they started out it was fun, nothing heavy, they were chasing dreams and flying high. This euphoria later turns to tragedy when Mutya sings about her words not getting through, begging for God's help whilst there is still something left to save, about being in pain every day and how everything is now gone. The Mid Eight continues to say 'Strung out, flowers on the grave, The angels are calling out your name, It's all gone, ashes in the rain'. I like this.
It's Not Easy
The high hat introduces this song to Mutya's unborn child. The pace is quicker than the last couple of tracks and the first verse is a multitude of questions that Mutya asks herself about the child that she can feel in her skin, deep within. The title recognises that becoming a parent will not be easy as she will have to be right all the time. From all of the songs that deal with a similar subject matter, there is only one parent to child song that I like: The brilliant 'To Zion' by Lauryn Hill. 'It's Not Easy' could easily have been left off 'Real Girl' without being missed.
Suffer For Love
The glockenspeil is the instrument of choice, along with strings, for the introduction to 'Suffer For Love'. This is a mid-paced song whose title can be misleading with regards to the lyric. In this song it is not Mutya who is suffering. She has ended a relationship for which she has given everything and asks why should she have continued in it when it just ain't happening and Suffer For Love. She wants to be happy, wants to be laughing and will keep on trying and although it does hurt when a relationship ends, she has faith in Cupid and will keep taking chances.
Not Your Baby
The style of this track is like nothing on the album so far. The pace is fast and the instrumentation is bold and brassy. This reflects the lyric about not being willing to be a notch on somebody's bedpost. She is in a club being checked out by somebody that is obviously with another girl. She tells him that, unless he has something to say to her, to stop staring and turn back to his girlfriend as she is not the kind of girl to go along with what he wants. Mutya does make it very clear, however, that she has everything that the man in question could want and then some to make sure that he is firmly in his place. One to have the ladies dancing around their handbags, this one.
Wonderful
The piano starts off this song and is the main protagonist throughout, although the violin also features along with some soft percussion. The verses are low, the pre-choruses emotive and the choruses simply beautiful. Mutya doesn't want to go through life alone and is willing to go 'Whichever way the wind blows cos I know there's something out there Wonderful'. The Middle Eight showcases the power in Mutya's voice and leaves no doubt for the listener as to her ability to come out of the Sugababes and make it as a solo artist. This is another great track, that winds up with trademark Mutya in her London accent stating, 'That's where it ends, innit', should there have been any doubt.
B Boy Baby
The final single release from the album and a song that, on paper should have reached higher than the Number 73 position in which it found itself. The song is a derivative of 'Be My Baby' written by Philip Spector, Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry, which features on the soundtrack to 'Dirty Dancing': The classic Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey movie. Amy Winehouse even steps up for backing vocals and has the perfect voice for this sound. Mutya's additional fast vocal sings about all of the good things about her man and how he is her 'Rainy day sunshine' and 'Heat in the cold of winter'. Another good track.
This Is Not (Real Love) with George Michael
The first single release from the album, which also features on George Michael's Greatest Hits package: 'Twenty Five'. The song reached Number 15 in UK and is a ballad that comes in at just under six minutes. The snare drum regiments this song about a couple that have been deceiving everybody that everythings fine between them and that they enjoy 'Real Love'. The combination of Buena and Michael is great, the track is believable and they styles fuse perfectly. Scratching punctuates the orchestral verses and I like this song.
Paperbag
The introduction sounds like it could have come from New Amerykah Part One (4th World War) by Erykah Badu but soon gives way to a smooth reggae beat. Throughout the relationship that has just ended, Mutya put together a collection of momentos in a paperbag. She has concert tickets, gift cards and photos and can't believe that everything that is left of the relationship fits inside the Paperbag that she must now get rid of. She finds throwing this away difficult since the cards and letters and so on reflect all of their love and all of their dreams. Throwing away the Paperbag will mean letting go of all of that but keeping it will mean that she will 'Go under' not being able to move on. I like this song a lot.
My Song
The last song on the album is another one of my favourites. It has a slow, smooth beat and is a narrative from Buena regarding a taxi journey that she takes to get away from it all. She dedicates this to anyone that the world has come crashing down on, anyone that has suffers in silence and anyone that doesn't want to deal with real life no more. She advises you to take it anyway you want to, accepts that this may not be much but it is her song. The taxi driver tells Mutya that he will take her as far as she pays for when she tells him that until she is in a different time zone, she will not be far enough away, but he offers her some free advice about having faith and how she will not find the answer to her problems running away in his taxi. It's a simple song and a great end to a solid debut album.
Coming out of a group and releasing a solo album is always going to be difficult, there are always pressures, comparisons and speculations about the reason behind the split that can detract from the music. Mutya was always one of the stonger members of the band, with one of the best voices and an individual style that interests me in her as an artist. Her first album is diverse, with power ballads, reggae, rock influences, rhythm and blues, dance and pop. There really is something on 'Real Girl' for everybody. As a collection, it works well with only one, possibly two, songs that don't appeal as much as the others. It comes recommended and you have to admire Mutya for her no nonsense lyrics, style and behaviour. Having made the decision to leave the Sugbabes, she states in her album notes that, 'I hope this as my 1st album does well and gives me the step forward to my future. If it doesn't then I know I've tried. We all have to start somewhere and mine's just beginning'. After a strong start, the album limped home and resulted in Mutya being dropped by her label. She is working on a second album at the moment given her increased profile following several musical collaborations and an appearance on Celebrity Big Brother in UK. She is also rumoured to be working with Keisha Buchanan on her solo debut and trying to get the three original Sugababes: Siobhan Donaghy, Keisha Buchanan and herself back in the studio to take on the latest version of the band that features no original members: Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. I would prefer to see Mutya concentrate on new solo material and, given that a lot of the lyrics on this album are about letting sleeping dogs lie, hopefully this will be the case.
Mutya Buena's Official Website: www.mutyamusic.com
No comments:
Post a Comment