Isn’t it painful when you have high expectations for an album, and when it arrives, it just doesn’t live up? That’s the case with Real Girl, the debut solo album from Mutya Buena. While there are some good songs here—great ones in fact—only a handful really stand out, while others, which are good songs, just don’t suit Mutya’s voice. It’s as if she decided that rather than determining her strengths up front, she’d try on a bunch of different styles and let the public decide what works best, inevitably leading to some that should have stayed in the editing room.
First a little bit about Mutya. She began her career in the limelight 7 years ago as one-third of the hugely successful girl group Sugababes. In late 2005, following their fourth (and biggest) #1 hit, “Push the Button,” Mutya announced she was leaving the band to pursue a solo career. This was greeted with some excitement in the pop music world, with pop music aficionados noting that Mutya had the band’s most distinctive voice and would surely continue to bask in pop greatness. It could have spelled doom from the group, who replaced Mutya and have since scored two top 10 hits and a #1 collaboration with Girls Aloud. Mutya gave us a taste of what would come when she appeared on George Michael’s “This Is Not Real Love” last year.
That brings me to Real Girl, starting with what's great, really really great. There are two hands down fantastic pop songs on this album. The first is the lead single and title track. “Real Girl” is a completely appealing upbeat ‘70s via ‘90s slice of feel-good pop, the 90s coming courtesy of its liberal sampling of Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over,” itself a ‘70s-flavored number. Mutya sounds fantastic here and it’s too bad this wasn’t a #1 single (it was overpowered by Rihanna’s “Umbrella”).
The other real standout is “Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control),” a high-powered Groove Armada collaboration that sounds like a Prince-produced time capsule from the ‘80s. The upbeat song has a great ‘80s dance vibe and tells a cute story of Mutya about to fly off the handle when her ex shows up with another girl (“Don’t panic panic, Mutya don’t get erratic”). This will make a great summer single this year, a good second shot of Mutya getting her first solo #1.
Had the rest of the album been populated with songs like this I would have rated it much higher, but sadly that wasn’t the case. While there are few other decent tracks, too much is bogged down in soulful balladry that doesn’t fit with Mutya’s assertive but not particularly powerful voice. The Guardian wrote in its review that Mutya would like to be compared to Mary J. Blige but will settle for Jamelia, which is totally true, and too bad she didn’t include more Jamelia-like songs.
Piano ballad “Wonderful” is a case in point. This is a good song, but it doesn’t feel right with Mutya. First off, it’s way too conventional sounding, like something David Foster would have produced in the early ‘90s. And then I cringe when she hits some of the stronger notes, because she just doesn’t have the right control from this kind of singing. “Strung Out” has a similar problem. This is a cool song, a dark piano ballad, but Mutya doesn’t have the voice to carry it off. “Suffer for Love,” er, suffers a different problem. The song has a good sound like a late ‘80s Prince ballad, and Mutya sounds better here, but it gets too repetitive.
Messy “Paperbag” is probably my least favorite track. “This Is Not Real Love” gets mangled by an unnecessary remix that adds beat-rich percussion to the slinky original George Michael duet. First track “Just a Little Bit” is a somewhat enjoyable soul throwback, but nothing special. “It’s Not Easy” is an upbeat attempt at the sort of trip-pop that populates the filler of Sugababes albums.
Then there’s “B Boy Baby,” which I’m not sure what to make of. Start with the Ronettes “Be My Baby” but twist its title into something illogical. Name check Nike. Throw in Amy Winehouse, but bury her vocals under Mutya’s so you wouldn’t even know she was there unless you’d read the liner notes. Very odd indeed.
Despite all that disappoints me here, there are three more tracks that I like. “Breakdown Motel” is the one ballad that Mutya manages to sound great on. It again has a certain dark Prince vibe to it. Sassy “Not Your Baby” sounds like it could be a cut from the grand third album from the aforementioned Jamelia. And mid-tempo “My Song” closes the album on a poignant soulful note.
I give this album a fairly good rating only because of “Real Girl” and “Song 4 Mutya” which are so good they really do redeem the mistakes here and prove that Mutya may still be something great as a soloist. It’s too bad the rest of album was so mediocre.
Best: Real Girl, Song 4 Mutya, Not Your Baby, Breakdown Motel, My Song
First a little bit about Mutya. She began her career in the limelight 7 years ago as one-third of the hugely successful girl group Sugababes. In late 2005, following their fourth (and biggest) #1 hit, “Push the Button,” Mutya announced she was leaving the band to pursue a solo career. This was greeted with some excitement in the pop music world, with pop music aficionados noting that Mutya had the band’s most distinctive voice and would surely continue to bask in pop greatness. It could have spelled doom from the group, who replaced Mutya and have since scored two top 10 hits and a #1 collaboration with Girls Aloud. Mutya gave us a taste of what would come when she appeared on George Michael’s “This Is Not Real Love” last year.
That brings me to Real Girl, starting with what's great, really really great. There are two hands down fantastic pop songs on this album. The first is the lead single and title track. “Real Girl” is a completely appealing upbeat ‘70s via ‘90s slice of feel-good pop, the 90s coming courtesy of its liberal sampling of Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ‘til It’s Over,” itself a ‘70s-flavored number. Mutya sounds fantastic here and it’s too bad this wasn’t a #1 single (it was overpowered by Rihanna’s “Umbrella”).
The other real standout is “Song 4 Mutya (Out of Control),” a high-powered Groove Armada collaboration that sounds like a Prince-produced time capsule from the ‘80s. The upbeat song has a great ‘80s dance vibe and tells a cute story of Mutya about to fly off the handle when her ex shows up with another girl (“Don’t panic panic, Mutya don’t get erratic”). This will make a great summer single this year, a good second shot of Mutya getting her first solo #1.
Had the rest of the album been populated with songs like this I would have rated it much higher, but sadly that wasn’t the case. While there are few other decent tracks, too much is bogged down in soulful balladry that doesn’t fit with Mutya’s assertive but not particularly powerful voice. The Guardian wrote in its review that Mutya would like to be compared to Mary J. Blige but will settle for Jamelia, which is totally true, and too bad she didn’t include more Jamelia-like songs.
Piano ballad “Wonderful” is a case in point. This is a good song, but it doesn’t feel right with Mutya. First off, it’s way too conventional sounding, like something David Foster would have produced in the early ‘90s. And then I cringe when she hits some of the stronger notes, because she just doesn’t have the right control from this kind of singing. “Strung Out” has a similar problem. This is a cool song, a dark piano ballad, but Mutya doesn’t have the voice to carry it off. “Suffer for Love,” er, suffers a different problem. The song has a good sound like a late ‘80s Prince ballad, and Mutya sounds better here, but it gets too repetitive.
Messy “Paperbag” is probably my least favorite track. “This Is Not Real Love” gets mangled by an unnecessary remix that adds beat-rich percussion to the slinky original George Michael duet. First track “Just a Little Bit” is a somewhat enjoyable soul throwback, but nothing special. “It’s Not Easy” is an upbeat attempt at the sort of trip-pop that populates the filler of Sugababes albums.
Then there’s “B Boy Baby,” which I’m not sure what to make of. Start with the Ronettes “Be My Baby” but twist its title into something illogical. Name check Nike. Throw in Amy Winehouse, but bury her vocals under Mutya’s so you wouldn’t even know she was there unless you’d read the liner notes. Very odd indeed.
Despite all that disappoints me here, there are three more tracks that I like. “Breakdown Motel” is the one ballad that Mutya manages to sound great on. It again has a certain dark Prince vibe to it. Sassy “Not Your Baby” sounds like it could be a cut from the grand third album from the aforementioned Jamelia. And mid-tempo “My Song” closes the album on a poignant soulful note.
I give this album a fairly good rating only because of “Real Girl” and “Song 4 Mutya” which are so good they really do redeem the mistakes here and prove that Mutya may still be something great as a soloist. It’s too bad the rest of album was so mediocre.
Best: Real Girl, Song 4 Mutya, Not Your Baby, Breakdown Motel, My Song
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