Album review: M. Pokora - MP3

French R&B crooner Matt Pokora's third album is glossed  in the post "Maneater" sound that everybody has been on since Nelly Furtado exploded onto the scene with it. Really brash drums, a few synths here and there, a nasty bass line and a very ethereal, Euro-pop vibe. Whilst this makes for some really cool and crossover style records, it begins to wear thin when you've got an album that works this sound into the ground, and this is the problem with MP3.

The album kicks off with the lead single "Dangerous" which is pretty much stomp, clap, synth line until end. This sets the tone for the whole entire album. Songs which just feel like they're incredibly lacking and all towing the same line. Timbaland contributes several songs to the album, but his songs don't stick out because the sound he popularised is the template for the entire album, so everything ends up sounding the same. It's like Timbaland shouts 'Oh!!' and 'Rickit-rickit!' on every one of his productions just to make it clear which songs he produced, because it'd be hard to pick his songs out otherwise. I wish I could say Timbaland's contributions are all solid, but they aren't. They are pretty rubbish on the whole. Him being tied to this album will give Matt Pokora more worldwide appeal and a North American audience, but nothing more. Timbaland has definitely done better.

Despite the lack of punch, this album does feature some good songs. "Tokyo girl" is a pretty hot jam which comes courtesy of Ryan Leslie from Cassie "Me & U" and "Long way 2 go" fame. The chorus makes zero sense, but the beat is hot and Matt sounds decent on it. "Quitte à me jouer" is a cool song because it's sung entirely in French and Matt's singing voice sounds better in French than it does in English. The beat is a blatant rip off of Timbaland's signature style, but the song is cool and sticks out because of it's lingual shift. The best song on this album without a doubt is "No me without U". The one instance of Timbaland delivering. The song takes on a very 80s vibe, sounding like a bouncier and funkier version of Bobby Valentino's "Anonymous". This song would make a killer single and would've served as a better lead single than "Dangerous". If Matt Pokora and his label have sense they'll release "No me without U" as a worldwide single. It has the potential to be a big hit on both sides of the Atlantic.

MP3 is just okay. It features a couple of hot songs, but they would've been hot in the hands of any other artist because Matt doesn't bring anything particular to any of the songs. Not even singign in French. The best way to sum by MP3 is that it's the album full of B-side material that Justin Timberlake didn't record. I can't stand Justin Timberlake, but he would've laced many of the songs on MP3 better than M. Pokora did.

RATING: 3 / 10

Album highlights:
■ No me without U ★ J's fave
■ Tokyo girl
■ Climax