Album Review: Nick Carter – All American
2 min read
He’s a 90s boy band hunk (but still owning that heartthrob badge of honour) and this all American product of pop still knows how make the catchiest of tunes with the bounciest of beats. Backstreet Boy Nick Carter’s latest offering, All American, is an 11-track collection of infectious songs that don’t take themselves too seriously.
Kicking off the party is 90s throwback 19 In 99, an infectious bop that’ll send you back in time, bursting with summer feel. Keeping the heat are tracks California and Second Wind, both are much breezier with calmer beats but invoke a dreamy sense of summer. Carter croons, “everything is fine in my golden state of mind” throughout California while serenading, “don’t let your heart bleed out, just let the sunlight in” over an underlying rhythmic beat that really instils an air of silver lining, giving these tracks some real substance. Dialling the attitude back up, combining rock riffs and a clapped beat is the drunken party classic, Tijuana. Compared to the rest of the album the track has a real edge to it, but is consistent in boasting a catchy chorus. Carter sings, “I left my girl in Tijuana and now I’m never gonna find her” / “last thing I remember we were throwing back tequila” while the music launches into a flurry of rock sound to up the groove.
Rounding out the album, the all American and the complete Canadian, Avril Lavinge come together to form the perfect pop duet, Get Over Me – and it’s is everything you didn’t know you needed in a song. The pair are a 00s dream with a 2015 attitude spouting feisty lyrics you’ll be singing for hours, take chorus hook, “now I got a stage 5 clinger, tried to put a ring on my finger”.
While some of his lyrics will leave you scratching your head, like the bodily celebrations of Swet, Cherry Pie and title track All American, his inviting rhythms remind you how fun a true pop album can be.
