Songs About A Girl Vol. 1: Cupid's Last Arrow, the new "mixtape" from twenty year old Inglewood native Paris, sounds right on today's pop music landscape; firmly entrenching himself into the modern day creation of the rapper/balladeer. The album presents Paris as a solid producer and gifted vocalist more than comfortable singing or spinning tales of heartbreak in rhyme.
Vol. 1 delves into the intricacies of the various stages of love ranging from the vulnerable "The Great Depression," "Chasing After You," the swaggerific "Push," "If You Want To," to the reflective "Songs About A Girl" with its Prince-like drum snare. Throughout the album the production is immaculate with each element, from lead and background vocal melodies to the menagerie of synth runs and bold drum patterns, getting their proper place in a mix that allows for Paris' various skills to take center-stage. Listeners who aren't music heads won't know what any of that means, but the album will sound like what they hear on the radio and that is indicative of the professional effort they are hearing.
Being Paris' introduction to 'pop world' one can understand the desire to showcase every song he worked hard to produce, but at twenty songs the album's "soul" gets stretched a bit. Listeners connect or peel away with or walk away from artists within the first three songs; so at twenty songs, even though a quality effort, Vol. 1 runs dangerously close to overstaying its welcome. This album is not the old school, gospel-blues tinged, classic type albums of Marvin, Stevie or Al that mom and pop spun on any occasion. Vol. 1 is slick, bold and produced for dancing; it's for the club, for Top 40 radio, for its time. Instant gratification rules the early new millennium. Leave music heads wanting more not less. But more of what?
Ultimately, Paris has given the music world a solid debut album that makes him an obvious peer of Drake, Kanye's 808's and Heartbreaks w/out the auto tune, Kid Cudi, Usher amongst others. He belongs, but the question is who is he really? Vol. 1 sounded a lot like what is on the radio. That's great for career ambition. That's great for earning a living. Artistically, it causes me wonder what makes Paris not just fit-in with, but stand out from his peers. Based on his debut effort we should get a next time that will let him answer that question.
