David Guetta
One Love

If we look at the music charts of the early years of the new millennium, we will notice that there was no single defined genre dominating the Top Ten. Rock pieces, romantic ballads, electro-pop, etc., etc., were all overlapping... one could say that this situation was the result of multimedia like the Internet, where maximum freedom allowed rules of marketing and musical genre boundaries to be broken. Everyone was free to listen to what they wanted and to produce the music they preferred, there were no more trends dictating the line of pop, and the media Babel was reaching its peak. However, already in the last years of the zero decade, another subgenre was beginning to reign forcibly on the charts again: electro-house was coming back in fashion. And it was doing so in the worst possible way (according to the undersigned): superficial, banal, commercial to the core! A trend that continues even today, just note how all pop-stars shamelessly try to create that big single that breaks through both in radios and clubs worldwide (Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Rihanna, Enrique Iglesias, and the list could go on for a long time) or see others who devote themselves entirely to that genre (Black Eyed Peas, Kelis...). The leaders of this musical movement(?) are certainly the European DJs, especially the French like Bob Sinclair and Martin Solveig. But it is David Guetta who is the symbol of this trend and the one who more than anyone else has brought it to success.

From his debut album, it was clear how David had based his career on achieving success and the title of Superstar DJ. A decent skill and shrewd timing led him to climb good positions on the charts in the early years. But it's with "One Love" that he achieves his goal thanks to the help of well-known vocalists. The album starts with "When Love Takes Over" which stands out as one of the best tracks of the lot. Practically a more successful version of "Baby When The Light" enriched by Kelly Rowland's voice in great shape and a melody that recalls the most classic House pieces. We then meet his mentor, Chris Willis, in "Gettin' Over": an excellent vocal performance, but the base is too simple and not memorable. Even worse in "Sexy Bitch": an unstructured and simplistic melodic backdrop ruins Akon's voice and makes everything decidedly cacophonous. The House rant "On The Dancefloor" doesn't improve the situation, as useless as it is tedious. Fortunately, sweet Kelly returns, and in "It's The Way You Love Me" she is accompanied by delightful '80s keyboards that give hope. But it's only a parenthesis, because it returns to the Ibizan sound with "Missing You" and patience is already wearing thin. Despite this, two convincing tracks follow with "Choose" and "How Soon Is Now". The former stands out for a very effective build-up and the successful voices of Ne-yo and Kelly Rowland. The latter is characterized by almost ethereal loops in which we manage to hear the extraordinary voice of Julie McKnight. The help of Sebastian Ingrosso is definitely felt in this piece. Unfortunately, we immediately fall back with the Guetta remix of "I Gotta Feeling": repetitive and banal, even this track, and to think that the original was produced by Guetta himself! Definitely a bad fall after the flight of the previous track. We quickly rise again with "One Love" accompanied by Estelle, her melancholic voice makes it certainly one of the best tracks on the album. And we fall again with another rant by Will.I.Am, "I Wanna Go Crazy" seriously risks giving us goosebumps while "Sound Of Letting Go" is a trivial exercise in style. We are now at the end of the album and this inconsistency in the tracks has now irreparably destroyed our brain capacities. As a consolation prize, we have the last two tracks of the album left: "Toyfriend" and "If We Ever". These are tracks where the delicate and sensual voices of Wynter Gordon and Makeba chase each other hand in hand, one with a shamelessly flashy base, and the other on an ethereal and melancholic sound backdrop. Surprisingly, the result is quite convincing.

A decidedly inconsistent work, but that's not what's important. What matters is that with this album David Guetta has made it!! He's managed to climb to the top of the charts and impose a style on the entire music Star System. A style in which anyone who wants to achieve interplanetary success will have to reckon with for the next few years.