Spice Girls - Spice

Label: Virgin
Genre: Pop
Year: 1996
Recommended By: Lauren Weidner

SPICE UP YOUR LIFE! Wait, that is from the follow up album. The debut of the Spice Girls brought girl power across the world. Weirdly, when listening to the album there wasn't all that much girl power happening. I guess at the time Women having a say in a relationship was revolutionary.

There are some creepy songs on the record too. The song "2 become 1" is some next level R. Kelly weirdness. It's weird. "Love Thing" takes a line from the sisters act in White Christmas. It's a rather sexual album, I'm surprised it was such a hit in my elementary school sock hops. I'm waiting for them to release a Spice Women album. It needs to happen.

Timeflies - The Scotch Tape

Label: Self-Released
Genre: Pop, Electronic
Year: 2011
Recommended by: Chrissy Walker

This doesn't seem to be directed towards me as a consumer. It seems like it would be the future of how Boy Bands will sound.

The Scotch Tape is most impressive in the release. It was a self-released album that was only released digitally and was successful. Without no support besides a YouTube channel and word of mouth Timeflies was incredibly successful.

I knew nothing about them besides the fact that my friends were very big fans of the band. I still don't like Timeflies, but they are successful and I am not. They have an audience that loves them and will continue to be successful, but I don't think they will ever become a huge pop hit. There success will pave the way for acts I do appreciate. For that they deserve kudos.

George Michael - Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1

Label: Columbia
Genre: Pop
Year: 1990
Recommended by: Marta Conlon

Man, 1990s pop is a thing. Each song is a poppy anthem. I was waiting for a song like "Wake Me Up" or "Faith", but they were kind of all just bummers. 

When people complain about pop music today, I will point them to this album to show them that pop music is pretty much always not the greatest. It's about being catchy and repeatable. Maybe Volume 2 has all the great hits.

ABBA - The Album

Label: Polar
Genre: Pop
Year: 1977
Recommended by: Blair Sherry

ABBA is a band that dominated and dictated the Pop music scene of the 1970s. This is their fifth studio album. You wonder why they would name their fifth release The Album. That's a silly question, because they released ABBA: The Movie at the same time.

Get your branding and marketing straight people. ABBA is a pop group that makes sugary sweet pop music that goes in clean and is easily digestible. It's ABBA and it's better than Mamma Mia.

Ariana Grande - My Everything

Label: Republic
Genre: Pop
Year: 2014
Recommended by: Chris Heck

This is bubblegum pop. This is where pop is today. The EDM beats and a joyful woman singing on top of it. If you want it to hit a little harder you ask a popular rapper to come and drop a strong verse to make it sound much better.

There are a few songs that are enjoyable. The rest is a very sugary snack that feels like a Halloween's binge fest at the end of the record. However, I some how love the song "Bang Bang", its probably just the simple yet perfect chorus. 

Ed Sheeran - x (multiply)

Label: Asylum
Year: 2014
Genre: Pop
Recommending Person: Jeanne Haut

Anyone who's album cover is a giant X and in print wants it to be "x" and pronounced multiply is a bit up their own ass. A person who does this and releases a straight out and out pop album is an insane person. As I have come to assume about the British Justin Timberlake.

Ed Sheeran doesn't use Timberlake so much as a muse as he does as a crutch and a copy. The music is good, but it's Timberlake's music that is covered by Sheeran. Pharrell produced "Sing" that Sheeran admits is him trying to have JT's sound, is probably the best song on the album. It is not the lone track that just sounds like FutureSex/LoveSongs. Maybe that title is where Sheeran pulled the ridiculous name. 

I don't hate the album. It's a pop album and delivers on catchy hits and is not irritating in anyway. I think I just have a distaste for Ed Sheeran from last year while watching a movie a day AMC would play "I See Fire" on a practical repeat. From that moment on Sheeran's angelic voice seems nothing more than grating.

Demi Lovato - Demi

Label: Hollywood
Year: 2013
Genre: Pop
Recommending Person: Chrissy Walker

Demi Lovato is huge. She has two very successful albums previously and this record was her trying to deviate a bit from the formula that worked previously, AKA "The Taylor Swift".

I really only like one song on the entire record, the intro track Heart Attack. It was the first single and I think the only song that tryies to be an out and out pop song and still uses Lovato's powerful vocals. The rest of the songs just seem like knock offs from other pop songs that have already been released.

I Really Don't Care sounds like I Love It by Icona Pop, Neon Lights is very similar to Starships by Nicki Minaj, and Made in the USA sounds like Beyonce's Halo. (Something That We're Not sounds like Ke$ha, Firestarter is basically a Rihanna song, Two Pieces sounds straight ripped from 1989, Shouldn't Come Back sounds like Kelly Clarkson)

The only thing that seems separate from other entities are the Singer-songwriter type Piano pieces with In Case and Warrior.  

I get it, it's pop so many popular songs are going to ape one another at any certain time, but I wish Demi Lovato would go with a singular voice or feel, Taylor Swift as much as I didn't love the Album was a consistent feel the entire album, Demi seems more concerned with making a "Sorry for the Wait" pop version.

This has basically been the only exposure to Lovato, she seems very talented but confused artistically on what she wishes to accomplish. Or she needs a different producer, or pick one.

Elvis - Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite

Label: RCA Victor
Year: 1973
Genre: Pop
Recommending Person: Jeanne Sherry

What a groovy album cover! So Nixon went to China and it was covered live. So obviously Elvis's manager was able to come up with a scheme to make boat loads of cash.

He promoted it saying that over 1 billion viewers would watch Elvis worldwide at the same time, despite the fact it wasn't aired live in many countries because of the time changes and in the US it wasn't shown because it would have been competing against the Super Bowl.

They still claim that in January they got over a Billion viewers even though the total populations of where it was shown totaled 1.3 Billion.  Whatever, not a big deal promoters lie, the concert is good!

Elvis covering the Beatles, James Taylor, and Frank Sinatra is pretty fantastic. His backing band was fantastic all the way through and it was just a fun album, although there did seem to be a few songs that Elvis was taking off, but I would have to watch the concert to really tell it wasn't just a stylistic choice by the King. What's that YouTube?

The 20/20 Experience (1 of 2) - Justin Timberlake

Label: RCA
Year: 2013
Genre: Pop
Recommending Person: Chrissy Walker

Besides the song Strawberry Bubblegum this album isn't bad. It's not my favorite, but the songs at least are trying to do something. I wish they limited that attempt to less than 7 minutes a song or you know try more things in a single song, there was a lot of checking the time remaining on the track while I was listening. Also, JT you have a nice singing voice. Stop resorting to Falsetto all the time. It's not necessary.

Michael Jackson - Thriller

Label: Epic
Year: 1982
Genre: Pop
Recommending Person: Jeanne Haut

The best track on the record is PYT. This is an issue. Michael Jackson has issues when dealing with anything to do with young things. 

Every song is great. It deserved to sell as many albums as it did. The question is how should we consume art by people that should be met with disdain. Also, what is the cut off of morality if we should no longer enjoy the works of terrible people? Kanye West seems to be a crazy egomaniac, but we have no reason to believe he ever perpetrated rape. We have that reason for Michael Jackson and R. Kelly.

I'm not sure, maybe I should just separate the performers from people. I just know that we shouldn't watch Cosby Show re-runs.

Taylor Swift - 1989

Year: 2014
Label: Big Machine
Genre: Pop
Recommending Person: Sarah Sherry, and many other through word of mouth.

2014 was the year of Taylor Swift. This album was praised by critics and loved by the masses. Each individual song is enjoyable on it's own and is wonderfully produced. It feels to me that the artist herself had not made much of a change, but it's just produced in a much more slick fashion. I'm sure there will be more singles from this record, but I didn't love it. It felt like when one of your friends is obsessed with one guy and won't shut up about that one person and there is no real relationship to speak of. I feel like if the Album was reordered it could have told a more coherent story, but it was just thrown together in a concert order to calm down and then pump up a crowd.