Outta This World
3/5
Two years after they flunked out of X Factor, and now with a Number One debut album, Brit Awards and a slew of sold-out arena dates to their name, JLS are officially Britain’s second biggest boy band (Take That are at the top of the tree, natch). So what’s the next natural step? Absconding Stateside to team up with R&B’s premiere hit makers in pursuit of a glossy, Pro-Tooled sound that’ll take them to the next level.
Certainly this album boasts a clutch of hits-in-waiting. ‘Superhero’ is easily the album’s pinnacle, a sure-fire single featuring an unexpected ripple of eight-bit bleeps, a verse worthy of Timberlake and a mega beat primed for some killer choreography.
Elsewhere, ‘Eyes Wide Shut’ takes the chart-friendly blueprint of so many tunes of the moment, utilising a mahoosive synthstabbing, trance-lite hook similar to Calvin Harris’s, ‘I’m Not Alone’. It’s a sonic experience echoed by the title track, while ‘Work’ does indeed work, keeping the pace pumping. Wisely, the sludgy R&B numbers are kept to a minimum. It’s a slick, if unsurprising collection. But they’re such nice boys, we’re actually kinda glad they’re around.
