RATING: 7/10
If guilt-free pop is your thing, then Anne-Marie's latest album release Therapy might just be the album for you.
If you live in the UK and listen to the radio...at all, then you'll probably have heard of Anne-Marie. Pop princess of the airwaves has now released her sophomore album Therapy, and it's everything we've come to expect from the singer-songwriter and more.
The first thing to note from Anne-Marie's new project is the number of star-studded collabs we find amongst it. These include previously released smash hits 'Our Song' featuring ex-One Direction star Niall Horan, and 'Don't Play' featuring Digital Farm Animals and YouTuber turned rapper KSI. Both of these tracks were perfectly crafted for radio play, which has made them incredibly successful in their own right, but they fit very well with the flow of the album and with Anne-Marie's style of music-making.
Some artists can make collaborations feel clunky, with a lack of compromise when it comes to personal sound and general tone of the song, but this isn't the case with Anne-Marie. She mashes her own signatures with the sounds of the artists she's featuring, which leads to a silky smooth listening experience on every single collaboration. The most recent single release that came with the album 'Kiss My (Uh Oh)' featuring girl group Little Mix makes it sound like Anne-Marie could just be the new fourth member of the band.
However, Anne-Marie is known for her big personality, which means her solo tracks still shine through and make themselves known with these dazzling features. 'Who I Am' delves into self-confidence and self-love which has become well assimilated with Anne-Marie as an artist. The track features a ridiculously catchy chorus and an electro-style thumping bass which you'll find across a lot of the songs of the album. Later on, in the album 'Beautiful' takes on a similar subject matter asking 'Are we beautiful?' with the answer being - spoiler alert - yes, but does it with a far more low-key instrumental which really allows the lyrical content and Anne-Marie's vocals to breakthrough. It might be a little cringe-y, but it's a nice message portrayed in a fun way, so I'm sure we can forgive her for that.
There's definitely variety on the album, it isn't genre-jumping or ridiculously prominent, but you can see Anne-Marie move through different influences from dance, electro, generic pop, and acoustic. It's different enough to be interesting, but similar enough to be consistent, which really is what you want from a cohesive album like Therapy anyway.
Anne-Marie's Therapy is not at the forefront of music, it's not ground-breaking or brand new, but it is a hell of a lot of fun. A lot of music now tries so hard to be different, that it loses the easy listen and compatibility with the general public that will allow it to rise to chart success. But, Anne Marie has by no means lost this quality, and with it's moreish choruses and attitude-filled messages about love, heartbreak and self-love, Therapy is sure to be a hit.