On May 20th, 2008, fans of Jesse McCartney eagerly snapped up his latest album, ‘Departure’. In the former Radio Disney star’s most recent music offering, he noticeably departs from the style displayed in previous albums, such as ‘Right Where You Want Me’ (2006) and ‘Beautiful Soul’ (2004). In his previous albums, the twenty-one year-old singer sang with a slightly childlike voice, accompanied by the sounds of guitars, pianos, et cetera, and recorded hits like ‘She’s No You’, ‘Because You Live’ and ‘Just So You Know’, tackling topics that were, well, mostly about girls.
‘Departure’ marks the arrival of new instruments and technological sounds, with McCartney still hitting some of the high notes, but with a slightly more rap-like feel to his songs than before, smelling strongly of Justin Timberlake.
His (McCartney’s) songs are still about girls, though. Songs like ‘How Do You Sleep’, ‘Leavin’’ and ‘It’s Over’ are my personal favourites. However, ‘Rock You’, a duet with Sean Garrett, is slightly off with its insistent tune and rather irritating vocals, proving that maybe McCartney isn’t suited to the rap/rock-like genre. While the bonus track, McCartney’s rendition of Leona Lewis’s ‘Bleeding Love’, is a different take from Lewis’s original version, but still reasonably enjoyable.
On the whole, ‘Departure’ is a good album for those who enjoy pop (and of course, Jesse McCartney’s music) and don’t mind trying to get used to his new style- which, trust me, isn’t hard. The songs flow into one another in easy segues. Watching ‘Departure’ take flight, I can only bid farewell to the kid image that Jesse McCartney has, finally, officially shed.
Jesse McCartney discography taken from http://www.starpulse.com/Actors/McCartney,_Jesse/Discography/album/P474504/R1363561/
‘Departure’ picture taken from http://images.google.com/images?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2008-24,GGLG:en&q=departure%20jesse%20mccartney%20cd&um=1&sa=N&tab=wi
