Album Review #5: Frankie Grande
Frankie Grande: Hotel Rock Bottom [Explicit]
Frankie Grande dropped his first album the other day entitled: Hotel Rock Bottom.
I’m going to be brutally honest - Just because you have over 2 million followers, a mega star half sister (Ariana Grande), and have appeared on Big Brother, doesn’t mean you necessarily need to record an album.
That being said, let’s dive into this a bit:
From start to finish, it’s heavy electronic disco dance, pop music. This album has fifteen tracks clocking in at about forty minutes and is HEAVILY synthesized. For the first five tracks, I couldn’t tell if Frankie could actually sing or if he was singing with a vocoder because there really was a consistent melody in the first five songs.
”Hotel Rock Bottom” (track six), “Revive” (track twelve) “Oasis” (track thirteen) “Music or the Noise” (track fourteen) “2U” (track fifteen) are the only tracks where we actually hear him sing without any of the extra electronic pyrotechnics. Frankie has a nice, simple tenor voice and it gets the job done. Curious to know what he sounds like in the Broadway/Off Broadway setting since he’s appeared on those stages in the past.
I’m not going to lie - I picked up my cat, Bubba, and danced around the room with him while listening to “Oasis” - So it is fun to listen to.
The album explores Frankie’s journey to sobriety, but the synthesizers are a constant distraction that I cannot really grasp the lyrics or hear his story. However, I commend Frankie on becoming sober! Bravissimo!!!! (Welcome to the Sober Club, Frankie! We’re a fun group of honest people)
If you’re looking for a fast paced, quick listen with synthesized dance music - this album is for you!
Listening to this album reminded me of my younger self when my friends and I would hit up the local gay bar in Baltimore and dance until last call. Memories :-)
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