There are some people who just emit youthfulness. Whenever you’re around them, you automatically feel that type of bright, joyful energy that emanates from the top of their head to the tip of their toes. It can be such a freeing, necessary feeling, especially for those of us who tend to be wound a little too tight, but there can be times when it’s a bit much. I find that I’m always a fan of people who live their life to the fullest, but know how to reel it in when the time is right.
If there’s one thing that Kaci Battaglia’s long awaited (by me) second album is, it’s youthful. However, while her first album came out when she was barely in her teens, don’t confuse youthful with innocent, inexperienced, or weak. Take first single Crazy Possessive, a Womanizer sound-a-like that adds a little viciousness and snark into the equation. Though slightly digitally enhanced (she doesn’t need it), Battaglia’s sheer commitment to this campy warning to a woman trying to steal her man is impressive. It hits harder than Spears’s song and the vulgar chorus is rightfully a mix of anger, defiance, and a little bit of craziness. Hearing a song blaming the “other woman” is a bit tired, but it’s a blast of muscular electro-pop that is made for a good speaker system. Bionic-Atomic is everything that Christina Aguilera’s album of a similar moniker should have been. Bring It On doesn’t take itself too seriously and it does her every bit of good on this semi-intro, semi-song. Whereas Aguilera’s sound was too diluted to really be effective as an electronic/dance song, Battaglia’s carefree anthem of self-confidence is straight forward and the type of glittery dance music backlit by glowsticks that is charming in its self-awareness. It also helps that it’s mindblowingly catchy and one of a series of feel good songs on the record. Bring It On would not be out of place on a Pat Benatar record; of course, there’s a dance edge to it, but with heavy guitars and a noticeable predatory growl about the vocal, it’s what happens when Pat Benatar meets early The Killers. The added rap from Battaglia is a little unnecessary but not entirely offensive, while the slithering hook and solid production add to the track’s effectiveness. It’s a different texture than the rest of the album, something that makes it stand out that much more.
Seeing You Tonight isn’t a bad song, per se, but it doesn’t belong on the record. Probably my biggest musical pet peeve is an uptempo album with one ballad thrown in. It messes with the continuity of the album and brings things to a halt when they’re just getting started. Battaglia has a very pretty voice and hearing it without some of the production she fights through on the rest of the album is a positive experience (the melody feels more “classic”, but Seeing just idles. I would love to hear her explore her more “sensitive side” on the next album, but if you’ve got songs about go-go dancers and tools, you might as well go full throttle, at least in terms of tempo. Speaking of Tool, it’s another Spears-ish cut that highlights a beer pong playing, overly flirty totally overvalued ordinary loser (get it?). For an album so concerned with living it up, possessing a track that pretty much condemns a guy who parties too much is a bit of a head scratcher, but its chant-a-long hook and sleek bassline more than make up for that fact, producing a pretty delicious bit of ear candy in the process. I would have liked her vocals to be less Britney-ish, but I attribute that to the type of music she’s decided to go with rather than her abilities. When I first saw the tracklist for this album, there was one title that really stood out to me. Captain Save a Ho is a track that I wish I didn’t like, but I can’t help but turn the volume up whenever it comes on. It’s bound to be a polarizing track, though, due to the rather frank lyrics and the weighty production. It’s not as extreme as you might think, though, as the track isn’t flashy, showy, or campy in the way that other tracks on the record are (it’s surprisingly straight-laced). In that way, it gives me mixed feelings; it’s not as bombastic as it probably should be, but if Bring It On were an album of eleven really over the top tracks, it might be too harsh to fully enjoy.
Bring It On is a hot mess of an album and I love every second of it. I know it probably diminishes whatever credibility I’ve built on this site in recent months to recommend an album about go-go dancers and partyaholics, but Kaci Battaglia has crafted a good time of an album. This won’t stick with you for days or inspire pensive journal entries, but Bring It On is a sonic boom of blustery synths, big melodies, and impressively candid lyrics that reveal a personality under the sheen. This is the album that leans toward the current dance trend in order to generate some radio play, but it’s not an album of Lady GaGa rip-offs or warmed over David Guetta retreads that have been rejected by every pop star from here to Christina Aguilera. Bring It On offers up a fun bit of escapism in a world with countless problems and a music industry that takes itself too seriously; what’s wrong with that?
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