Thoughts on Trespassing.
Putting this under a cut because it's likely to be long.
It's really difficult for me to express my feelings on this album. I like it. A lot, really. But I feel like it's pretty sub par for as long as we waited for it. So. What does that mean? It's just.... It's pop music. Which whatever. It's what he wanted to do. And I love pop music. I just feel like he's better than this. No, I know he is. But I can't negate his feelings, and this album is how he feels. It realistically took so long to come out because he switched gears halfway through. Kinda want to hear what he threw out. That being said, I'd rather listen to the worst Adam Lambert song than the best Katy Perry song. Alright. Track by track now.
1. Trespassing
It's fun. It's got that twinge of Queen's We Will Rock You in it with that infectious stompclapclap bit. Pharrell is a bit predictable but Adam helped a lot with counteracting that. I'm still of the opinion that Adam's a good songwriter. The guitar is fun too. Quite simple, but it's enough to catch my attention. I like guitar. =)
2. Cuckoo
I didn't initially like the snippet of this, but it's always difficult to judge a song by 30 seconds of it. I want to be annoyed by that synth that is in every fucking pop song out right now, but I just can't. It's being worked the same way The Wombats worked it. Just right, not too much, not too little. Just right.
3. Shady
This shit is flawless. And Sam Sparro in the bridge just does things to me that I can't describe. This fucking bitch. I just want to stand on my desk and dance to this. It sounds a lot like *NSYNC, and I fucking love *NSYNC so of course this would make me insane. In the best fucking way. Look how much it made me curse. I'M FEELING IT SO HARD.
4. Never Close Our Eyes
I think I didn't like this when I first heard it. I'm pretty annoyed that Bruno Mars co-wrote this, but I think this kind of proves that Bruno is a decent songwriter, he's just a shitty singer. Still don't know how he won the Grammy over Adam, but it was a smart move for Adam to work with him after that. I still don't have to like Bruno Mars, but I do love this song. YOU KNOW THAT I WISH THAT THIS NIGHT WOULD NEVER BE OVAAAAAAA. =D
5. Kickin In
This is just fun. Reminds me of my bar hopping days. xD Just going out with friends and not caring about anything but having fun and drinking and dancing. DO YA FEEL IT KICKIN IN. Oh yeah, love the flat out openness of "her friend Eddie." I remember us getting all crazy about Fever ("There he goes, my baby walks so slow..."). This is ten times that. Seriously. Oh, hello again, Pharrell! =)
6. Naked Love
I hate this song. I really do. Honestly. It's everything about pop music that I hate. No imagination, no good music, no impressive vocals. Just. It sounds like Katy Perry should be singing it. I would turn this off if any fucking one else was singing it. Who the fuck wrote this shit? Okay, no one I know. I should see what else they wrote. Anyway, regardless of all that, I sing and dance along to this anyway. It's not because I like it, but those fucking songs have the terrible quality of being disgustingly toxic addictive. OH THEY TRICKED ME. BENNY BLANCO DID THIS TRACK. HE WROTE KATY PERRY SONGS. EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE NOW. UGH. Oh he wrote Moves Like Jagger too?? JFC. I hated that song when it first came out but then all of a sudden I loved it and couldn't get enough of it. What an asshole.
7. Pop That Lock
This is also amazing. Just very carefree and slightly dark, though I'm sure Adam would count this track as part of his light side. The problem with this whole "light/dark side" idea is that most of his songs straddle the line between both. So, the slow songs aren't necessarily dark and the up tempo ones aren't necessarily light. I don't think he can separate his sides - which was I guess the point of Better Than I Know Myself, but I'm getting ahead of myself now. *ahem* I like this song. xD
8. Better Than I Know Myself
This really is the worst song on the album. The WWFM of the album. It's grown on me, though. I was really disappointed when I first heard it, but after seeing the video and seeing the visual interpretation, it helped me appreciate it a bit more. I connected with it better after seeing it. I still like the remixes better, and think that one of them should have actually been the original. It fits perfectly where it is on the album, too.
9. Broken English
This song is gorgeous and really kind of unsettling. To think about being in the position of wanting to tell someone something but knowing they won't understand you. "Now your body language is broken English". Wah. Adam sounds flawless in this song, except the bridge where he starts moaning like he's a ghost in a haunted house. Dunno what that's about. It makes me giggle.
10. Underneath
The simplicity of this track makes me super happy. "Strip away the flesh and bone". Yup. That's whacha did to this song. It sounds very 80s, though. Can imagine someone like Vanessa Williams singing this. Random, I know. It's just sooooo 80s. Like, it'd totally be on a movie soundtrack, being played during one of those intense sex scenes that are meant to be really emotional. Like, think Ghost. xD The emotion behind the song reminds me a lot of Broken Open. Not the music, obviously, but I just remember hearing Adam talk about what Broken Open was about, and it's just really reminiscent of that.
11. Chokehold
I'm pretty sure this is my favorite track on the album. It's actually really dark. It sounds really 80s as well. Another 80s soundtrack song. Like, it'd be the scene where they couple have a really nasty breakup. ~Really nasty. It's the heaviest song on the album, both lyrically and musically. Probably the closest I'll get to having Adam do any rock songs any time soon. I also really always liked songs that just toe the line of inappropriate. Yellow by Coldplay comes to mind: "Your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones, turn into something beautiful, for you, you know I'd bleed myself dry. You know I'd bleed myself dry." This one does the same with the entire subject matter, the tease of insanity and the lyric "And you know, I want your chokehold, bring it on back to me." Really? I have thoughts about this that no one really wants to hear.
12. Outlaws of Love
Loved this song the first time I heard it. Still prefer the first version I heard, and not because it's what I first heard. There's nothing wrong at all with the studio version, but I can't knock the connection of the first listen to that live version. I don't want to talk about it. But I adore this song. This is another 80s soundtrack song though. Like, rolling credits after the couple make it back together after a ton of hardships and crazy dangerous adventures. XD
13. Runnin
HO shit. Adam using his lower register is doing things to me. In mah pants. STOP THAT. I love this fucking song a lot. Why it's a bonus track I don't think I'll understand, but Adam does like to put his best work in bonus tracks. Gawd this is so sexy. It's another part of the dark side, I'm guessing.
14. Take Back
Sounds like Britney Spears. Which I'm okay with. I like Britney. xD I don't have any real opinion on this song. I can take it or leave it. I mean, it's good but it doesn't hit me hard like the others. I guess it's like the Master Plan of the bonus tracks. Like, I like it, but I can do without it. I wouldn't turn it off, but I wouldn't purposely put it on.
15. Nirvana
This is really gorgeous. Like a lullaby. I'm sure that wasn't the point, but that's what it feels like to me. Very comforting and enveloping. It sounds like the feeling you get just when you're about to fall asleep and you feel like you're floating. =)
I guess the point is, Trespassing didn't go the way of This Loud Morning, and that is the biggest relief I could ask for.
It's really difficult for me to express my feelings on this album. I like it. A lot, really. But I feel like it's pretty sub par for as long as we waited for it. So. What does that mean? It's just.... It's pop music. Which whatever. It's what he wanted to do. And I love pop music. I just feel like he's better than this. No, I know he is. But I can't negate his feelings, and this album is how he feels. It realistically took so long to come out because he switched gears halfway through. Kinda want to hear what he threw out. That being said, I'd rather listen to the worst Adam Lambert song than the best Katy Perry song. Alright. Track by track now.
1. Trespassing
It's fun. It's got that twinge of Queen's We Will Rock You in it with that infectious stompclapclap bit. Pharrell is a bit predictable but Adam helped a lot with counteracting that. I'm still of the opinion that Adam's a good songwriter. The guitar is fun too. Quite simple, but it's enough to catch my attention. I like guitar. =)
2. Cuckoo
I didn't initially like the snippet of this, but it's always difficult to judge a song by 30 seconds of it. I want to be annoyed by that synth that is in every fucking pop song out right now, but I just can't. It's being worked the same way The Wombats worked it. Just right, not too much, not too little. Just right.
3. Shady
This shit is flawless. And Sam Sparro in the bridge just does things to me that I can't describe. This fucking bitch. I just want to stand on my desk and dance to this. It sounds a lot like *NSYNC, and I fucking love *NSYNC so of course this would make me insane. In the best fucking way. Look how much it made me curse. I'M FEELING IT SO HARD.
4. Never Close Our Eyes
I think I didn't like this when I first heard it. I'm pretty annoyed that Bruno Mars co-wrote this, but I think this kind of proves that Bruno is a decent songwriter, he's just a shitty singer. Still don't know how he won the Grammy over Adam, but it was a smart move for Adam to work with him after that. I still don't have to like Bruno Mars, but I do love this song. YOU KNOW THAT I WISH THAT THIS NIGHT WOULD NEVER BE OVAAAAAAA. =D
5. Kickin In
This is just fun. Reminds me of my bar hopping days. xD Just going out with friends and not caring about anything but having fun and drinking and dancing. DO YA FEEL IT KICKIN IN. Oh yeah, love the flat out openness of "her friend Eddie." I remember us getting all crazy about Fever ("There he goes, my baby walks so slow..."). This is ten times that. Seriously. Oh, hello again, Pharrell! =)
6. Naked Love
I hate this song. I really do. Honestly. It's everything about pop music that I hate. No imagination, no good music, no impressive vocals. Just. It sounds like Katy Perry should be singing it. I would turn this off if any fucking one else was singing it. Who the fuck wrote this shit? Okay, no one I know. I should see what else they wrote. Anyway, regardless of all that, I sing and dance along to this anyway. It's not because I like it, but those fucking songs have the terrible quality of being disgustingly toxic addictive. OH THEY TRICKED ME. BENNY BLANCO DID THIS TRACK. HE WROTE KATY PERRY SONGS. EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE NOW. UGH. Oh he wrote Moves Like Jagger too?? JFC. I hated that song when it first came out but then all of a sudden I loved it and couldn't get enough of it. What an asshole.
7. Pop That Lock
This is also amazing. Just very carefree and slightly dark, though I'm sure Adam would count this track as part of his light side. The problem with this whole "light/dark side" idea is that most of his songs straddle the line between both. So, the slow songs aren't necessarily dark and the up tempo ones aren't necessarily light. I don't think he can separate his sides - which was I guess the point of Better Than I Know Myself, but I'm getting ahead of myself now. *ahem* I like this song. xD
8. Better Than I Know Myself
This really is the worst song on the album. The WWFM of the album. It's grown on me, though. I was really disappointed when I first heard it, but after seeing the video and seeing the visual interpretation, it helped me appreciate it a bit more. I connected with it better after seeing it. I still like the remixes better, and think that one of them should have actually been the original. It fits perfectly where it is on the album, too.
9. Broken English
This song is gorgeous and really kind of unsettling. To think about being in the position of wanting to tell someone something but knowing they won't understand you. "Now your body language is broken English". Wah. Adam sounds flawless in this song, except the bridge where he starts moaning like he's a ghost in a haunted house. Dunno what that's about. It makes me giggle.
10. Underneath
The simplicity of this track makes me super happy. "Strip away the flesh and bone". Yup. That's whacha did to this song. It sounds very 80s, though. Can imagine someone like Vanessa Williams singing this. Random, I know. It's just sooooo 80s. Like, it'd totally be on a movie soundtrack, being played during one of those intense sex scenes that are meant to be really emotional. Like, think Ghost. xD The emotion behind the song reminds me a lot of Broken Open. Not the music, obviously, but I just remember hearing Adam talk about what Broken Open was about, and it's just really reminiscent of that.
11. Chokehold
I'm pretty sure this is my favorite track on the album. It's actually really dark. It sounds really 80s as well. Another 80s soundtrack song. Like, it'd be the scene where they couple have a really nasty breakup. ~Really nasty. It's the heaviest song on the album, both lyrically and musically. Probably the closest I'll get to having Adam do any rock songs any time soon. I also really always liked songs that just toe the line of inappropriate. Yellow by Coldplay comes to mind: "Your skin, oh yeah your skin and bones, turn into something beautiful, for you, you know I'd bleed myself dry. You know I'd bleed myself dry." This one does the same with the entire subject matter, the tease of insanity and the lyric "And you know, I want your chokehold, bring it on back to me." Really? I have thoughts about this that no one really wants to hear.
12. Outlaws of Love
Loved this song the first time I heard it. Still prefer the first version I heard, and not because it's what I first heard. There's nothing wrong at all with the studio version, but I can't knock the connection of the first listen to that live version. I don't want to talk about it. But I adore this song. This is another 80s soundtrack song though. Like, rolling credits after the couple make it back together after a ton of hardships and crazy dangerous adventures. XD
13. Runnin
HO shit. Adam using his lower register is doing things to me. In mah pants. STOP THAT. I love this fucking song a lot. Why it's a bonus track I don't think I'll understand, but Adam does like to put his best work in bonus tracks. Gawd this is so sexy. It's another part of the dark side, I'm guessing.
14. Take Back
Sounds like Britney Spears. Which I'm okay with. I like Britney. xD I don't have any real opinion on this song. I can take it or leave it. I mean, it's good but it doesn't hit me hard like the others. I guess it's like the Master Plan of the bonus tracks. Like, I like it, but I can do without it. I wouldn't turn it off, but I wouldn't purposely put it on.
15. Nirvana
This is really gorgeous. Like a lullaby. I'm sure that wasn't the point, but that's what it feels like to me. Very comforting and enveloping. It sounds like the feeling you get just when you're about to fall asleep and you feel like you're floating. =)
I guess the point is, Trespassing didn't go the way of This Loud Morning, and that is the biggest relief I could ask for.