Review: “Turn It Up” by Pixie Lott (CD, 2009)

Today’s Pop Rescue is the debut 2009 album Turn It Up by British singer-songwriter Pixie Lott. Is this album a magical listen, or is it more of a please Mama, Don’t play it? Read on…

Pixie Lott - Turn It Up (2009) album — Pixie Lott – Turn It Up (2009) album.

This 12 track CD opens with the ‘uh oh, uh oh’ catchy intro of lead single Mama Do, and it gave Pixie a huge #1 hit. There’s a vocal style and sound straight off that makes me think of Amy Winehouse and her Back To Black album. Still, Pixie manages to grab the lyrics wonderfully and throw some perfect pixie power to the vocals with seemingly great ease. It’s a gentle mid-tempo song, flanked in an almost 60’s style and a-wash with warm vocal harmonies.

A vinyl crackle leads us into next song Cry Me Out which continues on the somewhat vintage sound. Again, the vocals are stylistically Winehouse, but Pixie once again soars up for the higher notes in the chorus where Winehouse might have given a raspy performance. Occasionally these higher vocals feel like they hang around a little too long. Timpani rumble in the background to add some more weight as the string section joins in. The track stood as the album’s third single but failed to repeat the success of the previous two – giving her a #12 hit.

Then it’s Band Aid. No, thankfully nothing to do with the charity single. Instead we’ve got some acoustic guitar and cheap synth strings. Soon, a cluttered percussive beat drops in before a bass arrives and it evolves into a breathy moderate tempo R&B-pop song.

That suddenly switches into the titular track Turn It Up. A soft fuzzy synth sits beneath a simple beat as Pixie sings like a Sugababe. This track stood as this edition of the album’s fifth single (an expanded edition was released in 2010, which gave it one more single). It’s quite a gentle little song, momentarily getting a rousing shouty male vocal set of ‘hey, hey, hey’ in response to Pixie’s vocals. This track gave her a #11 hit, and it’s quite a nice little catchy song.

Second single Boys And Girls once again gives me Sugababe vibes in its vocal style, but also in the playfulness of the bursting funkiness of it – particularly with it’s little brass riffs. Quite rightly, the track hit the #1 spot in the UK chart.

After that is Gravity which opens with a really nice little affected vocal intro as if gravity is slowing the vocals. Then it shifts over to a piano and drama synth strings track, underscored with a simple beat. Here Pixie manages to make light work of the vocals, as chime bars, guitar, and acoustic guitar swell around her. Gravity took its toll on this fairly mellow track though, sinking it to #20 in the UK chart.

Piano and big beats usher us in for My Love. Acoustic guitars join in to help the chorus saunter along with some warmth, but this really could have been anyone singing this track.

Next up is Jack, which bizarrely begins with the Jack Be Nimble, Jack Be Quick nursery rhyme for zero reasons that I can detect. Next up is Jack and Jill…. this track is just bizarre and should never have been committed to file.

That’s followed by some lovely acoustic guitar in the emotively sung ballad, Nothing Compares. Pixie shows off some of her soft, high vocals here, and the song allows her to shine well as a beat shuffles beneath her voice. The song evolves nicely to introduce further instruments, giving her some big vocals in the mid section alongside drums, albeit briefly before then flitting between the heavier and softer sound. It works well.

Here We Go Again is next, fading in gently with a nice sounding synth and guitar. Suddenly a beat takes a hard stance with some rockier vocals and electric guitars. It’s quite a fun little song.

Then it’s an almost dreamy sounding song in the form of The Way The World Works. The underlying song sounds almost like it was a nice simple 70’s ballad. Then the chorus comes along and it changes, bringing in vocal harmonies, brass and strings. It’s a warm little mid-tempo song.

The album closes with Hold Me In Your Arms (no, not the Rick Astley song), but quite a nice little bright and punchy song. Here, Pixie puts in some really nice crisp lyrics over a hard beat and lovely set of vocal harmonies and bass. The focus here is on the wonderfulness of Pixie’s voice, and she sounds absolutely perfect here.

Pixie Lott’s lead single ‘Mama Do’ (2009).

Verdict

Over all, this album is a really nice collection of tracks, which Pixie performs spectacularly.

The singles Mama Do, Cry Me Out, and Boys And Girls lead the way here in the best tracks, with some really nice musical sounds and vocal styles. There are several stylistic similarities in the songs to Amy Winehouse and the Sugababes, and perhaps even the 1940’s era of Christina Aguilera, but Pixie manages to take each song into Pixieland and make enough of it her own with the soft warm voice.

Jack is definitely the weakest point here and I just can’t work out why the hell it was added to this album, and I found myself cringing throughout the track. There are a few songs here that feel a bit run-of-the-mill and could have been recorded by anyone rather than feeling like they’re a clear match for Pixie’s vocals, but it’s only Jack that jars.

There’s definitely enough Pixie dust here to make it sparkle nicely.