Whatever - Hot Chelle Rae
User Score
4.0 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 14 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 14
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 14
  3. Negative: 7 out of 14

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  1. OhRly
    Aug 18, 2012
    0
    Another pop/rock band that talks about the same stuff over and over again. Please, GIVE US MORE BANDS THAT MAKE MASTERPIECES LIKE 13 AND KID A. I'm getting real sick of this type of music. Let's hope they change later on, o that this was just to get the public's attention.
  2. monster-pow
    Jun 24, 2012
    7
    Whatever, an album packed with monster hooks and soaring vocals (that get annoying at some point) turns out to be a pretty smart pop album. With insanely catchy, but nonsensical, lyrics this album is great for any house party. This album showcases pure pop beautifully. This album is an example of how pop should sound. Although, the production is a little repetitive. Every song is similar. The same vocals are used throughout too. Ryan Follese doesn't really take the time to play around with his voice to make it sound just a little different in each song. Everything is too similar. But overall, this album turns out to be a hell of an entertaining listen.
    HIGHLIGHTS: Beautiful Freaks, Radio, Tonight Tonight    … Expand
  3. EPIXMAN15
    Dec 6, 2011
    0
    Mediocre and bland, lyrics that make no sense overly annoying vocals and untalented musicians, and just straight up lame. this really reminds me of the Jonas brothers except way lamer and winy stuff.
  4. Lukemaster
    Dec 8, 2011
    10
    Ryan Follese,Jamie Follese,Ian Keaggy and Nash Overstreet are talented musicians that are no strangers to music.They each come from music-loving households and have all been long-time friends,with some brotherly between lead singer Ryan and drummer Jamie.From the get-go they've been trying to discover a sound that they'll all love to create and that'll work with them.Their first album "Lovesick Electro" bordered more on rock music but the sound presented in "Whatever" leans more towards pop,just as they wanted.They wanted to create a record that you'd love to listen to on a particularly good day or cheer you up on a bad one.You can hear the perfect harmony between instruments and voice come together to create some of the catchiest pop songs you'll hear all year.It'll take the most hardcore cynic to not hum along to tracks like "Tonight Tonight" and "Beautiful Freaks"(my personal favorite).At the end of the day Hot Chelle Rae knows very well that they've created typical,simple pop music which uses as little chords as possible and is all about that catchy hit-making chorus,and they couldn't be happier with themselves.You won't find an incredible amount of originality here,instead what you'll find is incredibly fun pop music,with the occasional more serious song,pumped full of energy emanating from each band member as you realize that they absolutely love what they're doing.Well if they have all this talent then why not use it to create music that actually has longevity to it you may ask?I think their answer would go something like this,It's not like life is full of serious life-defining moments that occur on a regular basis.Sometimes life is about skipping a day at work or school,getting in your car with some freinds,turning up that radio and just yelling "Whatever" !… Expand
  5. Ben-Bopper
    Jan 5, 2012
    9
    According to lead singer Ryan Follesé, for him, "It's been a really, really messed up week / 7 days of torture, 7 days of bitter." And so begins the radio-friendly adventure Whatever from the Nashville quartet Hot Chelle Rae. Whatever has songs like the title track, "I Like It Like That" (a duet with "You're a Jerk" group New Boyz), the catchy hit "Tonight Tonight", which stand out, actually. It's not a critical acclaim thing, but Whatever sounds like retro bubblegum pop that remains catchy in listener's brains. In simple words, Whatever is a charming follow-up from a nice Nashville band.… Expand
  6. octothorpes
    Jan 25, 2012
    10
    All the songs on this album are very catchy. Ryan Follese has such an amazing voice. Stand out tracks include "I Like It Like That" "Why Don't You Love Me" and "Tonight Tonight."
  7. HMW
    Mar 7, 2012
    9
    Tonight Tonight, Honestly, Whatever, I Like It Like That, and Why don't You Love me are so good, if you didn't listen to his CD yet, I would recommend you get it now! It will keep you upbeat all day long.
  8. Mab_987
    Aug 15, 2012
    4
    At first (having only heard Tonight Tonight) I thought that Hot Chelle Rae was just a bunch of talentless wannabes posing as a rock band. However, I just heard their 2009 debut album Lovesick Electric & it's actually pretty good, and I discovered that they're not talentless, and were pretty genuine at one point. It's a solid power-pop album that might get some replays out of me in the future. Whatever on the other hand is for the most part a crappy bubblegum-pop blatant sellout of an album. Even on first listen there were only 8/13 songs I didn't absolutely despise, 2 of them being bonus tracks. I must admit that the worst songs on the album come sporadically, mainly appearing at the beginning and near the end. The rest is just mediocre filler with a few exceptions that I'll get into later. Most of the lyrics are either meaningless or just lazily obnoxious in the most annoying way possible. The melodies might be catchy sometimes but usually they have nothing to say, which makes it a waste of a potentially good melody. I almost liked Honestly as a guilty pleasure until I realized just how douchey the lyrics are. Beautiful Freaks is a lazily constructed & pandering "celebrating individuality" song that tries & fails to double as a concert anthem. Downtown Girl has basically the opposite meaning of Queen of the Scene from Lovesick Electric. Whereas QotS was a sardonic look at & criticism of arrogant & entitled girls, DG celebrates it. Why Don't You Love Me sounds good as a power ballad until you realize how needy & whiny the lyrics sound. The title track tries way too hard to relate to its now-target audience of "rebellious" teenage girls. This album sounds so safe, politically correct and "meant for the masses" that it sounds like it was made for Glee, and a member of which happens to be the brother of one of the band members. I doubt that's a coincidence. There's not much emotion, sincerity or artistic integrity to be found here, all of which were present throughout almost all of Lovesick Electric. Now, onto the few positive things I have to say: Keep You with Me could've had less overproduction & blatant autotune (at least in the chorus) but it's a decent ballad in the basic melody & lyrics. Wish it could've been stripped down a little but it gets a passing grade from me. Luckily I did find an acoustic version on YouTube that I prefer over this one. I highly recommend looking it up. Forever Unstoppable actually has a fairly good message, melody & lyrics, and does kinda remind me of Lovesick Electric, despite its very minor cliche tendencies and slight overproduction. Probably my favorite on the standard edition. The Only One is also a highlight, and features some of the most emotional singing on the album. On the deluxe edition, Come Back to California sounds fairly sincere despite the slightly clumsy lyrics (and also in a way because of that) and it's got a nice endearing quality that I can't help but enjoy. It also contains this album's only guitar solo, which is very notable despite its relatively short length. Finally, I Wish has a very good melody but it's slightly held back by its somewhat empty & cliche "breakup" lyrics. Still I like it. Funny how 2 of my favorites here weren't even on the deluxe edition. Kinda reminds me to a lesser extent of when I heard Maroon 5's mediocre sellout album Overexposed & the best track on it was a phenomenal 7-minute blues cover of a Prince song that was left on the deluxe edition. Overall, this is a very mediocre followup by a band that showed a lot of potential on their debut but in the end sold their souls for the almighty dollar. Hopefully they'll snap out of it on their next album but who knows how far away that's gonna be? Favorite tracks: Keep You With Me, Forever Unstoppable, The Only One, Come Back to California, I Wish. Least favorites: I Like It Like That, Tonight Tonight, Whatever, Radio, Downtown Girl, Beautiful Freaks.… Expand
  9. axelkoch
    Oct 20, 2012
    4
    A terrific album! But sadly in both ways, positive and negative. The first three songs and title-giving 'Whatever' actually are eminent party pop songs! 'Honestly' is one of the best break-up-songs ever! ;D But the other songs are terrible! From the horrible dubstep in 'Beautiful Freaks' to the dreadful feel-good-song 'Forever Unstoppable'. My ears hurt sometime and I really don't freaking unterstand how they can make such good and such bad songs into one single album. My suggestion: Listen to the four songs I mentioned and don't touch the rest - it's very bad.… Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
62 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 1 out of 5
  1. Billboard.com
    Nov 29, 2011
    80
    You can hear the result of all those showbiz connections in the radio-ready economy of high-sheen hook bombs.
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  2. Los Angeles Times
    Nov 29, 2011
    25
    You have to ask if the tween sector of the 1% just found their house band.
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  3. Absolute Punk (Staff reviews)
    Nov 28, 2011
    55
    Although Hot Chelle Rae obviously aren't doing anything new here either, they've mastered the art of cheese pop and took a much more "natural" new route in sound compared to Lovesick Electric.
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