roheblius's Full Review: Welcome to the Dollhouse * by Danity Kane
I was talking to someone the other day about Danity Kane and when I told this person that Danity Kane was releasing another album, he was surprised. He figured Danity Kane was a fad, simply a here today, gone tomorrow like phenomenon. But nope, not with Diddy at the helm. Sure, he kicked Dream to the curb, but I don't think they went platinum. Danity Kane's rookie joint did and thanks to MTV's Making The Band, they could get close again.
(They went number one first week and their sales were nearly the same as their first album. That says something.)
Welcome To The Dollhouse shouldn't be as likable of a record as it is. The girls, Aubrey, Aundrea, Dawn, D. Woods, and Shannon are fairly cohesive as a unit, but other than Dawn and Aundrea, none of their vocals are very recognizable or standout. Their music is much like a popcorn movie. It sounds great, is hooky and catchy, but it's not going to stick to your ribs. Actually, that's the formula for their first album as well.
But Welcome To The Dollhouse is a better record than the first. Even though they are going to live off how the songs from this album play in the clubs, the beats are better and overall, the production is tighter, with their voices sounding crystal clear. And they are still using a fun style of marketing to get the word out. Not only did they record much of the album in front of an MTV audience, but they utilized their MySpace page to keep their name out, and their website to give fans a chance to choose the first single. Damaged won and it's a good choice. Though I'm not a huge fan of the bleeding heart analogy when trying to make a broken heart seem worse, it's a safe and effective first single. And you can't hate the "How you gonna fix it, fix it, fix it?" line in the hook. Diddy adds some words of advice at the end, but he uses the serious voice that he used during the No Way Out album to describe losing his old friend Biggie Smalls. He shouldn't use the same voice to tell girls how to get over a guy.
I had a song in my head one afternoon and it was one of those times where I didn't even know what it was until I really tried to think about it. It was Sucka For Love. I guess I'm a sucka for a song about love, about love, about love. It's three minutes of fun and a perfect little pop song. Key To My Heart is also very short and it gets to the point. It's dreamy and needs a good 16 from Snoop Dog to be perfect, but no Snoop is to be found. I'm not sure any song needs that these days, but for some reason, this one does.
Danja produces three songs including Bad Girl which I'd expect to be a single. It's complete with all the bells and whistles, including a cameo by Missy Elliot which tries desperately to take the song down a notch, but other than spelling her name M-I-S-S-E (Miss-E, get it?) she's not that noticeable. He also produces Pretty Boy which sounds like a Stevie B. song if you took his music from the 80s and told Timbaland to recreate it. It was in discussion to be the first single, but there's way too much stuff going on here. It's almost like Danja took two beats that he created and mashed them together. His last joint is the saucy Striptease, which features writing from all five girls. Take a song where the basis is that the girls drop their clothes, and they get writing credit. I guess that's logical.
Rick Ross is the second and last rapper to guest on this album as he does work on Ecstasy. I'm not sure what his verse has to do with the rest of the song, but at least he didn't spell his name wrong. It's very much a hip hop flavored song produced by The Runners. DK's get a little vocoder help, which I find lame, but hey, everyone's doing it. But it's a very creative song and completely works. Yes, even with the Ross cameo.
(I found out that one of The Runners is named Jermaine "Mayne" Jackson, and no matter how hard I tried, there was no way I could tie him to Michael's bigger brother who seemingly has a bus load of kids with three different women, including his brother Randy's ex-baby momma. Unfortunately, "Mayne" Jackson's real name isn't Jermajesty, or he'd really be kin to the King of Pop.)
With a track list that is 90% for the clubs, songs start to sound alike. But there are two ballads, one that is a little too dramatic for it's own good and one that's the closest thing on their album to Ride For You, which for my money, was the best song on their first album. Poetry is produced and written by both Diddy and Mario Winans, and the king of nobitchassness and his running buddy lace the song with dramatic bangs on the piano and more drumming than any ballad should be allowed to have. They could make a killer video out of this song. The second ballad, which I enjoy more because it's simplicity, is also a Diddy and Winans production and song writing effort.
Lights Out, with it's Outkast The Whole World styled beat is silly. With lyrics like, "Turn off my lights and see if you wanna get into my dark side," I'm not sure if they're talking about their Darth Vader Halloween costume or their drawers. 2 Of You is worse with Aubrey's wannabe Gwen Stefani/Fergie rap in the middle where she talks about her juicy humps. Notice she didn't mention her fantastic singing voice?
The album ends with Ain't Going which is the new Bad Boy posse cut. The fellas from Day26 and Donnie J help out the gals and it's really more of a demo for what the Day26 album is going to sound like than anything else.
Surprisingly, even after several listens, Danity Kane's second album isn't getting on my nerves and I think it might even have legs. If we had quarter or half stars to use to rate albums, I'd have used one of them. As it is, it might even go platinum again.
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