RCA
2003
Justin Guarini
About This Album
Arriving a discreet amount of time after American Idol winner Kelly Clarkson's chart-topping debut, Thankful, and just before the release of their movie, From Justin to Kelly, Justin Guarini's self-titled album is, at the very least, positioned for almost certain success on a massive scale. Fortunately, though, Justin Guarini has more than just marketing and calculation going for it -- much like Thankful, the album is much better than might be expected, providing a smooth transition from his AmIdol roots into more adventurous musical territory. Of course, "adventurous" is a relative term when it comes to crafting an album that must appeal to as many different types of people as possible. At times, it just means putting a crunchy, slightly urban beat behind his signature American Idol songs like "Unchained Melody" and "Get Here" to give them a bit of an "edge" without straying too far from mainstream pop territory. But considering that RCA could probably sell millions of copies of an album that featured nothing but songs like these, the musical risks that Guarini does take are welcome and work surprisingly well. Most of the album takes its cue from urban and teen pop; indeed, songs like "Be a Heartbreaker," "I Saw Your Face," and "Thinking of You" mix those styles so seamlessly that they suggest what Justin Timberlake's Justified might've sounded like if he'd had a less forward-thinking production team than the Neptunes at the helm.
Track List (try tracks 1,4,10 and 13)

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