Album Review

Olly Murs – Olly Murs

• 19th Nov 2010

You can’t help but smile when thinking of Olly Murs, known to many as that cheeky chappy from X Factor that lost out to Joe McElderry but, most certainly remembered for being the one who the boys envied and the girls adored. Even when under the media circus during the show, Olly always provided a superb performance of nothing but upbeat dazzle and charm whilst keeping his feet firmly on the ground. Most would of presumed he’d just fade into the woodwork after losing out but, after co-writing the majority of the tracks on his debut album alongside Trevor Horn and Squeeze’s Chris Difford, him losing may have been a major blessing in disguise.

On first listen the album is inoffensive and comes across as being an album that could cater to all. Olly sounds like a young Robbie Williams (minus the rehab stint!) with a healthy dose of pure sugary pop. You can hear the reggae/ska influences he has obviously introduced into various tracks such as ‘Thinking Of Me’, but not forgetting tracks where he pours his heart out with his lyrics, especially second single ‘Please Don’t Let Me Go’.

Many of the tracks can be seen to be written from Olly’s inner most thoughts, making it a personal experience for all that listen. There are some tracks which aren’t as easy on the ears and they tend to be the ballads unfortunately. They just don’t seem to go anywhere. Maybe it’s because Murs is viewed as such a lad he’s almost been placed in one type of musical genre box and ballads don’t quite fit.

The album is good but I do feel something is missing, maybe it’s one that grows with time but maybe a few too many fillers have slipped in. It’s certainly still a pop album and definitely provides that mischievous appeal we fell in love with Olly when watching the X Factor last year. The good tracks do show influences of music that gives that upbeat feeling regardless of how heartfelt the lyrics are.

I really do hope we see more from Mr Murs over the next year…. not just because most girls think he’s gorgeous and would like to marry him, but because he has a lot of potential do amazingly.