We almost have to commend Sabrina Carpenter for trying. Almost.
The 15 year-old Disney Channel star’s Tuesday release, “Eyes Wide Open,” is a poor excuse for a pop album.
“Eyes Wide Open” reminisces of early Taylor Swift and backburner Colbie Caillat. Its hopeful tone throughout becomes annoying and the songs are clearly products of someone else’s hands.
The debut album sounds like Hollywood Records masterminds Brian Malouf, (Michael Jackson, Madonna) and Matt Squire (Ariana Grande, Good Charlotte, Kesha) slipped blonde hair, blue-eyed Carpenter onto the album solely to generate young fans. Not even fans of her television show “Girl Meets World” will listen to this album.
The 12-track compilation is rooted by light drums, poppy guitars and unoriginal vocals. We’ve heard Carpenter do better.
Her cover of Adele’s “Set Fire to the Rain” has rung in more than 5 million views on YouTube due to its precious charm and well-sung melody. If Carpenter went the route of soul instead of already-done pop on “Eyes Wide Open,” the record might’ve held more fire.
But instead, listeners are given an already-been-chewed, spat out actress-turned-popstar gag.
In the title track, Carpenter sings about keeping her eyes open and that she’s about to “make her way.” At least she acknowledges in the song that she has no clue what she is doing with lyrics like “This dream burns inside of me/And I can’t just let it go/There’s still so much that I don’t know.”
Leading fan-favorite “We’ll Be the Stars” is the sing-along takeaway, and was released in February. Its catchy hooks, short verses and fun premise set an anthem for mall-bound teenyboppers everywhere in the backseat of their mom’s car.
“Two Young Hearts” adds to the track list of monotonous pop numbers, preaching the excitement of young love. Besides the cute lyric and beat-driven melody, the tune drowns ears with drawn out, useless notes.
“Seamless” is the skip-over track that listeners need to hear. It’s the closest thing to her Etta James, Sam Smith and Adele covers that sheds a light on Carpenter’s ability to take a risk. Having been one of the few songs that Carpenter assisted in writing, “Seamless” should spark the young singer’s interest in taking the ballad trail if her people allow her to do a second album.
“Eyes Wide Open” concludes with the ironic “White Flag,” whose title indicates surrender, yet the song is about hope. “Drown my dreams in a coffee cup” Carpenter croons. “Palms out, wanna beg for luck/But I’m too proud, never giving up.”
At least listeners will know after taking a peak at “Eyes Wide Open” that Carpenter is still figuring out where she belongs in the music world, but that doesn’t excuse this useless array of sound-the-same pop songs. It’s just another album to forget.
For music’s sake, Carpenter should stick to Disney.