Crush On Me - Sir Babygirl: Review
Sir Babygirl
is the pop pseudonym of LGBT pop singer and Father/Daughter records artist Kelsie Hogue. She spent 2018 dropping singles like Haunted House and Heels leading up to the release of Crush On Me her debut album.
Review By Lavender:
LGBT culture and the world of bubblegum pop go hand in hand. I had high hopes for this project to be an unrelenting and unashamed dancy pop powerhouse but it falls short in so many ways, ultimately proving that a great style and attitude aren't enough to make it in the world of bubblegum pop.
Let me start by saying that I truly did believe in the success of this project. young LGBT genre bands have been a wave of creativity but it has been noticably hard for them to stick both landings in regard to establishing themselves on the back of their good music (see PWR BTTM or G.L.O.S.S). So when I watched her music videos and read her interview to discover that Sir Babygirl was a hilarious and creative young person toppling labels and doing what she wanted I had a sinking feeling the music may be lacking. But it's not all bad.
First off I knew going into it that not every song could be a miss since Haunted House lands in the tracklist. It's a cute and fun track that was the single that turned me on to Sir Babygirl's presence in the first place and in this very lackluster project the song sounds even better as a funny and self-aware party pop tune comparing the high life of young people to another haunted house. Unfortunately it's the only full song I like on the project and if it hadn't come across me as a single there is a good chance I wouldn't have had the patience to stick it through. Another moment that I somewhat enjoyed was the opener Heels which has a solid song at its core but suffers from the same problem the single version did. Believe it or not one of the worst refrains on the entire project lands on this track that I really do enjoy otherwise, the absolutely crooned out "I changed my hair" refrain is utterly obnoxious and horrible and completely destroys an otherwise great track. Finally the Crush On Me (Outro) contains my favorite instrumental on the album but the halfway there vocal performance kind of dominates the track and makes it hard to enjoy anything else about it.
The rest of the songs run into a similar formula, either the track is absolutely terrible from a songwriting perspective and it has no business being a completed track, like Flirting With Her which seems completely formless or the Flirting With Her (Reprise) which suffers from similar issues. If not this then the song has a really rough vocal performance throughout that makes it impossible to enjoy it at all which is where I file Everyone Is A Bad Friend which may be the worst song on the record, as well as Pink Lite a pretty decent song that has horrible verses all around. And finally throughout this record even when the songwriting is good and performance is bearable this thing is a constant Panic! At The Disco rip off. From the song progressions and structures, to the vocal performances and almost every hook it can all be drawn like a matching game to tracks from Panic's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Cheerleader is the most obvious example of this and it makes the track a lot harder to like once you see it, not only due to the fact that Panic did a better job of working these songs for what their worth and providing worthwhile lyrics, they also Brendan Urie also is a far more capable vocalist than Kelsie.
Sir Babygirl has an attitude that is hard to resist but when it is funneled into a musical form the outcome has far more misses than hits. The annoying vocals and formless songs across this album make it a huge drag and if not for the Avril Lavigne song it shared this release weekend with, it would probably be an early contender for the worst project I've heard so far this year, though I'm pretty confident that something else will come along. 2/10
Let me start by saying that I truly did believe in the success of this project. young LGBT genre bands have been a wave of creativity but it has been noticably hard for them to stick both landings in regard to establishing themselves on the back of their good music (see PWR BTTM or G.L.O.S.S). So when I watched her music videos and read her interview to discover that Sir Babygirl was a hilarious and creative young person toppling labels and doing what she wanted I had a sinking feeling the music may be lacking. But it's not all bad.
First off I knew going into it that not every song could be a miss since Haunted House lands in the tracklist. It's a cute and fun track that was the single that turned me on to Sir Babygirl's presence in the first place and in this very lackluster project the song sounds even better as a funny and self-aware party pop tune comparing the high life of young people to another haunted house. Unfortunately it's the only full song I like on the project and if it hadn't come across me as a single there is a good chance I wouldn't have had the patience to stick it through. Another moment that I somewhat enjoyed was the opener Heels which has a solid song at its core but suffers from the same problem the single version did. Believe it or not one of the worst refrains on the entire project lands on this track that I really do enjoy otherwise, the absolutely crooned out "I changed my hair" refrain is utterly obnoxious and horrible and completely destroys an otherwise great track. Finally the Crush On Me (Outro) contains my favorite instrumental on the album but the halfway there vocal performance kind of dominates the track and makes it hard to enjoy anything else about it.
The rest of the songs run into a similar formula, either the track is absolutely terrible from a songwriting perspective and it has no business being a completed track, like Flirting With Her which seems completely formless or the Flirting With Her (Reprise) which suffers from similar issues. If not this then the song has a really rough vocal performance throughout that makes it impossible to enjoy it at all which is where I file Everyone Is A Bad Friend which may be the worst song on the record, as well as Pink Lite a pretty decent song that has horrible verses all around. And finally throughout this record even when the songwriting is good and performance is bearable this thing is a constant Panic! At The Disco rip off. From the song progressions and structures, to the vocal performances and almost every hook it can all be drawn like a matching game to tracks from Panic's A Fever You Can't Sweat Out. Cheerleader is the most obvious example of this and it makes the track a lot harder to like once you see it, not only due to the fact that Panic did a better job of working these songs for what their worth and providing worthwhile lyrics, they also Brendan Urie also is a far more capable vocalist than Kelsie.
Sir Babygirl has an attitude that is hard to resist but when it is funneled into a musical form the outcome has far more misses than hits. The annoying vocals and formless songs across this album make it a huge drag and if not for the Avril Lavigne song it shared this release weekend with, it would probably be an early contender for the worst project I've heard so far this year, though I'm pretty confident that something else will come along. 2/10
