Overall Rating: 1.5 out of 10
Rixton is a pop rock band from London, England. They are most known for their hit single “Me and My Broken Heart” that has received much radio airplay and has 92,000,000 plays on Spotify. When I first received Rixton’s new album Let the Road I had many questions mostly relating to the title. “Let the Road do what?”is what I had myself thinking. Also, as soon as I saw the album cover I had a gut feeling I was not going to enjoy this record. Maybe Rixton will prove me wrong with their debut album, so I will be doing a track by track review of the record.
Track 1: “Let the Road”: This song is done acapella at first and build to this marching snare and orchestra piece which is quite different for a pop band and is a breath of fresh air. The lyrics are uninspired, talking about empowerment about rising to the top and having all your hard work pay off. So far we are off to an okay start.
Track 2: “Wait On Me”: Well, this went down south pretty fast. This song just sounds like any other Maroon 5 track you hear on the radio. The lyrics are about some guy trying to get a girl and blah blah blah. This song does nothing different and sounds like anything on a pop station right now. Bland, boring, and too much of a Maroon 5 sound alike to stand out of be different.
Track 3: “Appreciated”: Oh great an acoustic song. I appreciate it that they went in a slightly different direction on this song, but I can’t help but feel like these guys are trying too hard to emulate other pop bands on the radio. This is just a straight up Ed Sheeran song that lacks any personality and a mediocre sounding bridge.
Track 4: “Beautiful Excuses”: What makes angel fall in love? What makes a good man turn and run? And how do you know she’s the one? These are some more questions that Rixton asks us in this next track, and I gotta say, if you want a man to turn and run, just play this album.
Track 5: “Me and My Broken Heart”: This is the big single off of this album. When I first heard this song on the radio, I honestly thought it was Maroon 5 (shocker). This song is everything a radio station wants. Lame lyrics, catchy hook, and just a generic pop sound.
Track 6: “Hotel Ceiling”: I guess this is Rixton trying for a ballad? This song takes a very dark turn basically saying that the singer is responsible for this girls death, and then REPLACE her with another girl. WHAT ON EARTH JUST HAPPENED TO THIS SONG!? And the song is called Hotel Ceiling which gives me the impression that the girl in the song had committed suicide… WAY TO GO RIXTON, YOU GUYS ARE A REAL CLASS ACT NOW.
Track 7: “I Like Girls”: Most of the songs on this album are about girls, but this song just makes it blunt and to the point. Thanks for saving me the headache Rixton. Also, bonus points for repeating the song title multiple times throughout the track. If I had a dollar for each time the word girl was said in this song, I think I’d be richer than Bill Gates. Seriously, this song is more repetitive than a Migos mixtape.
Track 8: “Speakerphone”: I would keep this song as far away from a speaker as possible. I’d also hang up the phone..
Track 9: “We All Want The Same Thing”: I actually don’t mind this track, the vocals kinda give me a Justin Timberlake vibe, and has a nice danceable beat. I had my head bopping throughout and would reccomend this song for a party. I think everyone wants the same thing, and that is for Rixton to make more songs like this.
Track 10: “Whole”: And now we go back to the vocal/choral elements of the first track. This is basically the first track except amped up a little with more powerful drums and a soaring choir. The lyrics are terrible and predictable, but I guess I shouldn’t have expected that much from this band.
Overall: This album is all filler with some highlights, if you would even consider them highlights. This is just another run-of-the-mill pop album with bland instrumentals and terrible lyrics. I honestly think these guys are trying to emulate many other pop acts on the radio and don’t have any original sound. Rixton is a band that was probably created in a studio so that Interscope records could make a quick buck, in which they did. This album has no personality and is as shallow as any other pop record.