Calvin Harris - Motion
Release date: 31 October 2014
Length: 55:46
Finally, my first review! Today, I’m not reviewing Taylor Swift’s newest masterpiece
1989, but probably another person will ;). What I will be reviewing for you is Motion, the fourth studio album of Calvin Harris, that will, officially, be released on October 31.
The Singles:
Under Control (with Alesso, ft. Hurts - 2013)
Summer (2014)
Blame (ft. John Newman - 2014)
Outside (hopefully soon?)
The album consists of 15 tracks, within a few songs we’ve already heard of: “Summer”, “Under Control”, “Blame”, “Outside”, “Slow Acid” and “Open Wide”. Not only Calvin Harris is part of this album, but also a few cool other artists like Ellie Goulding, Gwen Stefani and All About She. I have high hopes for the Gwen Stefani-assisted song, “Together”, so I hope it won’t disappoint me! I’m just looking forward to hear this whole album of one of my favorite DJs. So let’s start.
1. FaithFirst thought: OMG Calvin’s vocals!!! Although I love Calvin’s vocals and it’s not a bad song, this song is not that special, but I good track to open the album. Let’s listen to what’s next. 7.0/10
2. Under Control (with Alesso, ft. Hurts)About a year ago, I’ve heard this song for the first time, as it was the lead single of the album. It’s a collaboration with Swedish DJ Alesso and Theo Hutchcraft of Hurts provides the vocals. Excellent track. 9.3/10
3. Blame (ft. John Newman)The third single of the album. John Newman singing on an EDM track never disappoints. I loved
Feel the Love and
Not Giving In. Such a great voice! The production is great too, although it reminds it kind of reminds me of I Need Your Love from 18 Months. 9,3/10
4. Love Now (ft. All About She)All About She, a musical trio from London, is featured on this track. I loved listening to it and it totally didn’t disappoint me. I was especially blown away by the violin-ish instrumental part in the (pre-)chorus. 8,0/10
5. Slow AcidThe first fully instrumental song on this album.
Slow Acid is, like the title already told us, a slow acid house track. Although I’m regularly not really into acid house, this doesn’t disappoint me at all. 6,0/10
6. Outside (ft. Ellie Goulding)This is just amazing! Ellie Goulding is probably my favorite female artist and I’m a big fan of hers and I’m glad they did a collab again, after the smash that is
I Need Your Love (featured on Calvin’s previous album 18 Months). Ellie’s vocals fit the song perfectly and the instrumental doesn’t disappoint me either. I’m especially blown away by the chorus. I’ll rate this a 10,0/10.
7. It Was You (with Firebeatz)This is a collaboration between Calvin Harris and Dutch producing duo Firebeatz. I didn’t expect too much of this. It isn’t real bad: the vocals are pretty good, but the build-up and the drop of this song are not really my style. 5,0/10
8. SummerThe second single (it was released after
Under Control and before
Blame) of the album and probably his biggest hit to date and again a song with Calvin Harris himself singing on it to become a hit. His vocals are perfect on this! 10,0/10
9. Overdrive (with Ummet Ozcan)Turkish-Dutch DJ Ummet Ozcan is featured on this track. You may know Ummet for
Revolution or
Raise Your Hands. Like track 7, it’s not really my style. I’m not really into the club tracks, usually. So, I’m looking forward to the next song… 5,0/10
10. Ecstacy (ft. Hurts)Another track with Hurts (also featured on track 2
Under Control), but this time there’s no Alesso out there. Unlike
Under Control, this is a quieter, slower and more sensitive song. This beautiful, touching song is a big contrast with the previous nine songs. 9,0/10
11. Pray to God (ft. Haim)The three sisters of American band and
Sound of 2013 winner HAIM is featured on this pretty song. The instrumental of the chorus, and also the vocals are very enjoyable. This is actually much better than I’d exepect. 8,0/10
12. Open Wide (ft. Big Sean)Remember
C.U.B.A from the
Blame EP? Well, this is actually that song, but then with the vocals of American rapper Big Sean on it. They must’ve thought: “Another instrumental song on the album, no, that’s too much!”. The song starts with
“Oh, God…”. Yeah, that was actually my reaction, too. I really enjoyed the parts where Sean wasn’t rapping on (or whatever he thinks he’s doing). I thought this would be like the
Drinking From the Bottle of Motion, but this is actually worse (vocally). Oh, God… 4,0/10
13. Together (ft. Gwen Stefani)Oh YES! I’ve been looking forward to this since Calvin revealed the tracklist. This song features the No Doubt frontwoman Gwen Stefani, who have just made a comback to music with the song
Baby Don’t Lie. Together opens immediately with Gwen singing. It’s almost flawless! I also enjoyed the instrumentals in the chorus. 9,0/10
14. Burnin’ (with R3hab)R3hab, one of the producers of
Ready For The Weekend, a song that slays my playlist at the moment, is featured on the penultimate song on this album. Oh noes, the party is almost over! The intro of the song sounded interesting, but after the ‘drop’ it wasn’t really great in my opinon. The fans of club tracks shall disagree. It wasn’t the whole song being a bad thing, though. 5,5/10
15. Dollar Signs (ft. Tinashe)The last song on the album features American singer-songwriter Tinashe. who may or may not be known for her song
2 On. I enjoyed Tinashe’s verses and especially the instrumental part of the chorus, I thought it was a bit funny, don’t know why though.
"All you see is Dollar Signs". You will, with selling this album, Calvin Harris. 7,5/10
Altogether:My favorites:
Outside, Blame, Summer, Together, Under Control, Ecstasy.
My least favorites:
Open Wide, It Was You, Overdrive.
I love all of the songs with vocals on it, but I'm not really a person who's into the 'club tracks', if you know what I mean. Without these tracks, the album rate could've been higher.
Rate: 7,6/10(
BUY this album on iTunes)
