Yahoo! Music Album Review

Released on 17/04/06
Label: SonyBMG

It's just as well that Shayne Ward's debut album comes with a huge close-up of his conventionally attractive face on the front because, if you were to do a "Pepsi Challenge" with this and the next Westlife studio album, you'd be hard pushed to tell them apart. Simon Cowell presumably has at his fingertips an endless selection of inoffensive off-the-peg pop ballads designed to suit pretty much any white males under 30. (For the older age bracket, he recommends wall-to-wall cover versions, with varying levels of success - what worked for Robson & Jerome sounded the death knell for poor Steve Brookstein.)

For the winner of "The X-Factor", Cowell had an even neater trick - an autobiographical-sounding song that could be performed by Shayne, siblings Journey South or singing bin man Andy Abrahams; "You know where I've come from / You know my story / You know why I'm standing here, tonight," go the opening lines of "That's My Goal". In winner Shayne's case, his sad story would become tabloid gold - for all the wrong reasons. The offspring of a troubled Manchester family of convicted criminals, victory has offered him a "Prison Break"-style escape plan. Is this album the blueprint he needs?

Well, for starters, all the talk of Shayne being the British Justin Timberlake has - perhaps wisely - been ignored. Instead, there's wall-to-wall balladry; tame, Euro-centric stuff with, variously, an Ace Of Base thump ("No Promises"), insanely emphatic delivery ("All My Life"), R'n'B-lite arrangements ("You're Not Alone") and the odd bit of Spanish guitar widdling (the Enrique-esque "I Cry"). The lyrical gist is 'nothing is impossible' (literally on the "Unchained Melody"-like "Stand By Me") and overcoming adversity, with a nod to the voters who got Shayne his break: "Take a step back / And see the little people / They're the ones / That make the big people big" ("What About Me").

There's no 'change a word, take a third' co-writing going on; Shayne just does his job and sings, extremely well. Acquitting himself on every track, even with the Brian McKnight cover "Back At One", he hits all the high notes, has largely overcome his odd phrasing on "The X-Factor" and sounds as accomplished as any shiny new US import. If current form continues, if he remains humble and avoids Brookstein's ego implosion, if the rumoured campaign comes to fruition and if the tabloids go easy on him, then it's hard to think what could stand in his way. Cowell may finally have found his perfect pop star.

    by Emma Morgan