Bad Boy artist Donnie Klang released his debut album 'Just A Rolling Stone' last week hoping to follow in the footsteps of his Making The Band family Danity Kane and Day26. But unfortunately for him, Donnie didn't quite meet their success as this week, his album Just A Rolling Stone entered at no 19 on the Hot 200 after selling a lackluster 22,000 copies. Still, Donnie has much to look forward to as he'll be supporting the legendary Janet Jackson on her current 'Rock Witchu Tour' which kicked off this week in Vancouver.The leading single 'Take You There' screams Justin Timberlake as it instantly has a 'Sexyback' feel especially with the rectro beat but the lyrics are cheesier than a triple Big Mac burger. Lyrics like "If you want to go far, let me take you to the stars" can't get any cornier. Or so I thought. I think they were hoping this direction would take him to JT popularity of some sort or propell him to recieve those all-important comparisons. If anything, it only magnified how much of a poorly carbon copy he truly is. Sadly, Diddy's rap is probably the highlight of the song and lawd knows that Diddy is not a good rapper by any means emphasising the song's wackness to the fullest.
'Dr Love' is reminiscent of a Backstreet Boys cut which lacks any sort of lyrical substance. In an attempt to woo the unfortunate female patient of his desires he tells her to "lay down on a stretcher" as he has the cure for lovesickness and after surgery he promises she'll be begging for more. Begging for a getaway more like. Maybe he was having fun or knows it is one of those songs you just don't take seriously. But if he wants to be taken seriously as an artist, he's going to have to do much better than this. 'Hurt That Body' is quite the club banger with it's futuristic skittering pounding production. It's catchy and definetely engaged my ear as did the Ryan Leslie produced 'Pretty Girls Cry' warning off chicks not to get serious because he's no good.
Another album highlight would be the light-edged 'The Rain', which somewhat coerces Donnie to put in extra work in the vocal dept which he does a decent job of. The Danja-produced 'Hollywood Girl' is pretty enthusiastic and spunky-driven which I feel could have been Donnie's niche style. Placed with a slight autotune on the vocals, Hollywood Girl stresses a girl's fascination with the Hollywood lifestyle. Another worthy track lies in 'Pick It Up' in which Donnie pleadges to pick up the pieces of a girl's broken heart. The track sounds like a pre-made beat off Garageband and is very Usher-ish. Possibly the most R&B-sounding cut on the album but a nice track nonetheless with its mellowed out futuristic beat. 'Not A Love Song' and 'Which One' are your typical upbeat housey-dance grooves whereas 'Love In Stereo' will have you reaching for the skip button. The song is bland, uninterseting and pure filler material. The album switches up with the pop-guitar ballad 'Catch My Breath' but it's songs like 'You're My Idol' that show just how vocally limited he really is.
Having said all this, Donnie Klang is not at all bad looking and has every bit of marketability factor about him which is very important in this industry. There were few standouts on the album but potentially, he's a given. However, Diddy seems like he didn't know how to go about marketing him, which is probably what let him down to begin with. Justin Timberlake and Chris Brown both have the right 'heart throb' appeal and correct packaging despite their limited vocal prowess but at least they know who they are as artists. Donnie just seems really contrived to me and there's not much authenticity about him or his music. He just comes across as a hardcore manufactured product who was given a set of songs to sing without asking any questions. As to what type of artist he is still remains totally ambigious but maybe all that will change with the second album and better management.
Rating: 2.8/5
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