Hotel Paper - Michelle Branch
Metascore
57 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 10 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 10
  2. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. 75
    Boasts road-toughened guitars and a welcome accusatory edge. [Aug 2003, p.116]
  2. So, it's not exactly a musical revolution in the making, but it'll sure be easier to tell her apart from Vanessa Carlton from now on.
  3. Sadly for such weighty themes of trust, betrayal, loneliness, living out of a suitcase and long distance relationships, the lack of true darkness amongst the sweetness and light is a little frustrating.
  4. 60
    Too often... Branch expresses loneliness or betrayal or yearning without the precision or detail that would make her sentiments memorable. [#17, p.132]
  5. The album doesn't have the detail of character that made Michelle Branch so appealing the first time out.
  6. If not as catchy (or stroppy) as Avril Lavigne, she is never less than efficient. [Aug 2003, p.102]
  7. Hotel Paper treads the line between rushed brilliance and rushed dross.
  8. The inescapable girlishness in her voice heightens the unlived-in quality of hackneyed, loverlorn ballads like "Desperately," the least desperate-sounding song of 2003. [Jun 27/Jul 4 2003, p.136]
  9. In the course of the album, it's hard not to notice that all the songs sound the same, and for that matter, they all sound the same as that Avril Lavigne song about the damn cold night, even if Michelle technically got there before Avril.
  10. Most of the songs just lumber along at the same plodding, deliberate pace, boasting very few of the fun hooks that made her previous album so annoyingly likeable.
User Score

Universal acclaim- based on 35 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 27
  2. Negative: 1 out of 27
  1. A really good album.."One of These Days" really got to me and I loved the rest of the album...I lost it but plan to buy a new copy and listen to it often Full Review »
  2. MichaelB
    5
    Mediocre as a follow up and not hugely impressive or different from her debut. Im a fan; but i was dissapointed. Especially with other young contemporaries developing so fast Full Review »
  3. KatV
    10
    It's so awesome!! I listen to it obsessively every day still!!