The best pop records just make you smile, feel good, and get your body moving from the first note to the last beat. Aqua's 1997 debut album, "Aquarium," was one such album. Despite the silly lyrics and cheesy euro-dance music - or perhaps because of them - "Aquarium" was like happiness distilled into soundwaves. Breaking onto the international scene with the ridiculously catchy "Barbie Girl," they unfortunately wound up being relegated to the dreaded "one-hit wonder" status in the US. Nevermind that "Lollipop" charted at #23 here, "Turn Back Time" (included in the film "Sliding Doors") made #18 on the Billboard Mainstream top 40 chart, and the album itself peaked at #7; most Americans only saw them as the "Barbie Girl" band.
Their case was not helped by the scatter-shot sophomore album, "Aquarius," which veered to far into Disney soundtrack-esque "kiddie pop" in an attempt to cater to the widest audience possible. Although successful overseas, the album bombed stateside and shortly after the band disintegrated. Many years later they reunited and recorded a handful of new tracks for a greatest hits compilation (including the infectious "Back to the 80's") and played some shows.
Luckily, they are completely back now with a brand new album, thankfully one that doesn't begin with "Aquariu"! Supposedly, the band set out to record the world's best pop album, and I have to say they have definitely come very close! "Megalomania" starts off on a surprisingly grown-up note with the thoughtful, yet still danceable, "Playmate to Jesus," with it's optimistic lyrics "everywhere I go I pray, for yoo-NEE-versal love!" The party gets kicked into high gear with "Dirty Little Pop Song," which sounds extremely current but yet has the Aqua trademark sound and lyrics that are actually more clever than you might give them credit for on first listen. And Lene shows that she can do Kylie just as well as Kylie can ("Spinnin' in your head").
"Kill Myself" is sort of a departure for the band, being a little more serious sounding and musically a little more complex yet very beautiful. Possibly my favorite song on the album.
This is followed by the extremely strong "Like a Robot," which sees Aqua adding a new word to their lexicon, but I won't spoil the surprise. I can see drag queens lip syncing this one.
From here there are some passable dance-party anthems like "Viva Las Vegas" and the first single "How R U Doin," and another very high point "Sucker for a Superstar" and a couple sort-of low points with "No Party Patrol" and "Be My Savior Tonight," both of which are fine but just don't quite match the heights of the rest of the songs. The album ends with another great ditty with a title that says it all: "If the World Didn't Suck (We Would All Fall Off)."
All in all, I was completely blown away by this album, not really expecting too much out of it. Aqua do know what they're doing when it comes to catchy hooks and big, electronic beats, so I shouldn't have doubted them, but this could end up being one of AURAL-O's favorite albums of 2011! It certainly has stuck in our CD player since we got it!
Rating: OOOOO (five out of five O's)
