Skye Sweetnam
Sound Soldier

Skye Sweetnam, few remember her ("Tangled Up In Me", with its catchy chorus, was a hit in 2004), yet her first album was a unique powerhouse, full of diverse songs without risking pop ("Number 1" was a riot-girl bullet in pure Hole style, "Billy S." two minutes of youthful revolution, "Fallen Through" and "Smoke And Mirrors" two ballads that even managed to move, and the Blondie cover "Heart Of Glass" was vicious and faithful to the original). That's why Skye Sweetnam is, perhaps, the only punk-pop girl of recent years worth saving: she wrote her own lyrics and they were fierce, rich in ambiguities and even ambiguously erotic (the album was called "Noise From The Basement"... mmmmh....) and the music was truly memorable, certainly not unique and singular, but powerful and fierce.

And now, this "Sound Soldier", again gone unnoticed, reveals a rather shocking turning point: that of the popstar.

I'm disillusioned within the first two seconds of the first track: the feminist soul of the early lyrics has completely vanished for a line of "pure musical creativity":"Music/Yeah, Music Is MY Boyfriend" the girl whispers languidly, making one even miss "Hypocrite" (the worst song of her debut album): Timbaland-style dance rhythms, plastic dance and diva-like voice... where the hell did the debut guitars go and the soul they evoked in the lyrics, always teetering between desperation and human relationships, like love, which suddenly end for no reason. I'm crying when "Human" arrives, unfortunately the first single, a disaster in terms of form and content: a tacky dance piece without head or tail, with Bollywood-like oriental twists. "Boy Hunter" is as embarrassing as few: compared to her, Hilary Duff seems like Madonna. "Ghosts" is already more peculiar: a surfing rhythm and Skye returns to hit in a piece however successful, not even on par with the b-sides of "Noise From The Basement". Horrible "My Favourite Tune" which mimics the useless Ashlee Simpson, "Scary Love" dares to ballad and if it initially works, at the chorus it loses all its initial charm in a chorus of incomprehensible uselessness. "Let's Get Moving Into Action", with a carabettico rhythm is a piece that would only be worthy of the "corrida", "Cartoons" is the carbon copy of Britney Spears' "Toxic" and, like the original, it turns out to be a horrendous piece of false sensuality. "Ultra" is so bad it doesn't deserve comment, just like that horror of "Kiss A Girl" and the useless finale of "Bab DOll Gone Wrong".

When you get to the end you consider that the only positive side is that the songs are short, with tears in your eyes for such torture: probably Skye turned to pop to boost the sales of the unappreciated first album, but she must know that for a pop album to succeed it must be carefree yes, but also a bit crazy, without flattening into trends. Then it's also true that a lot of horrible pop music is given away like bread, but my dear Skye, even if you are suited for punk-pop, I remember that the electronic pop of the b-side "Tidal Wave" was nonetheless very successful: powerful and fierce like few other songs, so if you want to make other changes, I know you can give us good music. So what are you waiting for? Withdraw this forgettable album from the market and make another one, telling those idiots who provided you with lyrics and music to go to hell and go back to writing your own songs. Thank you.