It's not make-or-break time yet for Liberty X, but they evidently feel they still have something to prove to those who still cast them as reality TV popstars. How else can you explain the intro of their second album, which features a boxing-style introduction with the group being introduced coming out of the "red corner weighing over a million records"?
After the pre-fight preamble, the opening one-two of 'Jumpin' and 'Being Nobody' gets the album off to a whirlwind start, with the latter's effortless leveraging of bootleg fashion still making it one of the best singles of this year.
However, the fine start is soon dulled. 'Everybody Cries', the first in a sequence of production line ballads, quickly makes you forget the excitement of the previous tracks. It's followed by 'Whatcha Doin' Tonight', which represents the other side of the album, where the band try to do the funky, big production number that Christina and Justin have carried off so well. 'The Poet', meanwhile, is a cringeworthy attempt to get all sensual, as the girls cuss the boys for trying to get jiggy via a plagiarised poem. Then the ballads return and the skip button becomes more like a panic button.
'Let Go' returns to safer pop territory, with a nagging bass line and a chorus that shakes the album out of the torpor of the previous couple of tracks. But just when the worst appears to be over, the earnest vocals and sighs return on 'Forever', this time accompanied by a lone acoustic guitar.
'Close Your Eyes' ushers the beats back, but thanks to some natty effects, it just squeezes itself away from being formulaic. 'I Just Wanna' also has a spunkier edge, as the girls and boys' vocals spar against each other. But then it's back down to earth courtesy of the earnest but generic 'soulful' plods of 'Take Me Home' and 'Story Of My Life'. 'Maybe' is your typical weepy, piano-led ballad that could have been sung by any pop poppet from Gary Barlow to Will Young, while the final track's title, 'Where Do We Go (From Here)', may prove to be particularly prescient.
At 16 tracks, the album is easily four tracks too long and at times feels like it's been programmed by a focus group, with the current styles de jour being ticked off one by one. But rather than capturing the zeitgeist, many tracks just end up sounding completely overcooked. It's a fine line between Being Somebody and Being Nobody and on this evidence Liberty X may struggle to avoid returning to being the latter.
