Grades:
Overall: C
Music: C-
Vocals: A-
Lyrics: C+
Creativity: C-
Catchiness: B+
Album covers can tell you a lot about a band. If you see lots of dark colors and some sort of epic digitally-generated castle, you know you're gonna be hearing metal. A picture of a guy or a group of guys in cowboy hats means country. A hand-drawn sketch of an animal means indie. But how about a multi-colored butterfly? Well, that means a pop band that's marketing towards young girls. I'm not being sexist. Just honest. And that's the truth.
Because the young high schoolers who liked CIWWAF's debut album are 2 years older, the band aims for older teenagers with their sophomore release. On Rotation, they trade songs like the poorly-titled "Risque" (whose most risque moment was the "dirty" line "and these fingertips are moving faster than these lips") for a slightly more adult moments. "Navigate Me" shows the band has finally lost their virginity - fuck, they even say "navel." We gotta censor this shit. They also grow up a little on "The Lock Down Denial," which asks "if I die inside, would anyone realize?" and the insightful "Practice Makes Perfect." But just shortening your song titles won't do it, guys.
Because then there are the moments that reveal the group for what they really are: just another boy-band. Still obsessed with high school, they play a song called "Loser" and contradict The Beatles by pronouncing "if I had just one chance, I'd buy romance." Don't contradict The Beatles, guys. Just don't. Fortunately, there are one or two redeeming moments on Rotation - "Hollywood," featuring a great horn part, is probably the best song CIWWAF is capable of writing, an ode to the old days of American politics before the partisanship and terrorism of the present age. "Doctor" isn't a half-bad love song, either. But the band hasn't shown any progress from The Same Old Blood Rush...; they've just delayed it for two more years.
For fans of CIWWAF's debut, fans of *NSYNC, nostalgia for high school. Try "Hollywood," "Doctor," and "Practice Makes Perfect."
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I love this review because it is so correct and the only thing that I would change is that you didn't stress how much this one sucks more than the last one, because I loved the last one, but it's true that I was also in the 8th grade and I am a girl, but it was much better than the second one, which I hate to death. Love the writing style, btw, I didn't get bored in the middle, because of the snarkiness of the review.
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