Finally the album has dropped and all I can say is Cher Lloyd welcome to the party! This album has been crafted to near perfection with all the great quirks and swagger she exuded on the X-Factor UK. Her sound is undeniably good with more of the slick pop meets hip-hop wrapped up in electro-pop that she slayed audiences with all season long on the show. This is one of those rare finds for the elongated audition process we've all come to love as singing competition shows. Cher's album kicks off with "Grow Up" that is a hot number featuring Busta Rhymes who sounds better than I've ever heard him sound before. The album features few others that all get to come along for one of this years best pop rides named Sticks + Stones. The entire album carries huge hits from the beginning to the end with little to no filler to be found. The very Lilly Allen sounding "Beautiful People" allows her to expand her sound further. The track includes Carolina Liar doing a good job of keeping up with Cher's huge talents. The sample of Nena Cherry's "Buffalo Stance" on "Playa Boi" brings that songs catchy melody back to life improving on the original with a cool little dub-step breakdown in the middle.
On the technical side this album is produced to an absolute superlative level. There really is nothing that could be done to improve on the records sound quality. Another of the fantastic tracks is "Superhero" that has so much gregarious fun mixed into it that you should be giddy with gladness after one listen. Probably the only dub-step song I've ever enjoyed to the point of near addiction is "Over The Moon" that isn't completely a dub-step song but it has enough of the style in it to be acceptable in naming it from that genre. Cher continues to drop potential hit song after hit song and this album is easily in the top five of best albums of 2011. I will be listening to Sticks + Stones a lot and for a long time as the music is just so enjoyable that I can't help feeding my addiction to bubblegum pop.
This girl is the future of pop music and her debut album rivals Ke$ha's and Katy Perry's debut as one of the best pop records of 2000's. If the X-Factor UK can find another popster this good (Misha B maybe?) it will be the most credible talent show being aired, even over American Idol which is more famous for finding country stars at this point than genre defining pop stars like Kelly Clarkson. I look forward to seeing Cher take over the world with "Swagger Jagger"!
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