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Here he frames her Valley Girl sneer with electro-glam arrangements that make brushing one's teeth ''with a bottle of Jack'' sound like an awesome way to kill the morning-after blues.
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Arguments of purpose and meaning aside, Animal is an infectiously good dance-pop album, and by all meaningful estimations, a towering triumph
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Ke$ha's tipsy lilt allows her to effortlessly shift from half-singing to half-talking, a technique that makes her vocals carom like shiny pinballs against the crazy beats and sound effects that make up these tracks. She never gets bogged down or sounds like she's trying too hard.
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Animal is a clear subversion of pop norms amid a sea of synth stabbing and whisky guzzling, a kick in the groin on a dark dance floor.
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Animal teems with choruses that stick with the listener for days, from the blissful "Your Love Is My Drug" to the catty "Backstabber." Equally prevalent, however, are heavily processed vocals, which make it hard to tell whether the California cutie can actually sing.
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Each song will become the soundtrack for Mean Girls soccer moms and pre-teen pre-sluts everywhere.
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It's repulsive, obnoxious and ridiculously catchy--thanks to songwriter-producers Dr. Luke and Max Martin, who envelop Ke$ha's bratty raps in percolating beats and buzzing bass lines.
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Snooty taste makers and parents should avoid Animal at all costs, but with so many fun, “TiK ToK”-type tracks, the album has plenty for both brats and the bratty at heart.
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Q MagazineClearly aiming for som eof the Lady Gaga's action, debut album Animal contains more of the same surging synth-pop and invitations to party. [Mar 2010, p.110]
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Beneath the patina of skeezy Freshers’-Week-LOLZ lyrics (“got a water-bottle of whiskey in my handbag”) lies a talent.
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It's effective, not good. More tellingly, it's catchy in spite of Ke$ha, not because of her.
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An occasionally fun, occasionally catchy pop record that will log a few hits, move a few units and ultimately be forgotten once this particular pop trend goes the way of Crunk, Snap Music, the Power Ballad and all the other castoffs in the ever-expanding pop graveyard.
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That said, there are plenty of catchy moments. Beat-wise, Boots & Boys--a song about what brings her joy--is incredibly well constructed. If only the insipid lyrics were left off completely.
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Overall Animal is a dumb album. Where it tries to be empowering and fun it comes off sounding like a spoilt brat singing the American Pie script through auto-tune.
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She comes over as an amalgam of Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Britney, which, judging by the multimillion sales of single Tik Tok, is just what the market wants.
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It’s hard to remember the last time an album so flat and vacuous generated such a buzz.
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Just about the only thing Ke$ha makes convincing on Animal is that the current crop of party girls are every bit as soulless as they let on.
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UncutThe 23-year-old Valley girl's sonically lurid and brash, (supposedly) autobiographical debut may boast production heavyweights like Benny Blancoi, but her witless, cranked-to-11 stridency recalls Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne rather than Pink or Britney. [May 2010, p.94]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 188 out of 319
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Mixed: 41 out of 319
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Negative: 90 out of 319
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ManuelKJan 18, 2010
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Apr 11, 2013
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May 24, 2011