 Nida Arab, by no stretch of the imagination, can be called an untalented singer. She is actually quite good. She can sing well and the compositions on her debut album Pop Star, are all aimed at being super-easy-listening. What is it then, which makes one hesitate when giving her, well, top marks?
Entering the music scene in 2008, Nida had caused some ripples based on the fact that she is young, sounds good, looks good and is a woman. Her style even then had been on the husky side of pop and the genre clearly suited Nida’s voice and style. Nida Arab comes across as a performer because never once in her videos or onstage performances will you see her look nervous or unsure. She knows she has what it takes to go right down to the end of the road and beyond, and one can see that knowledge projected through her onscreen façade.
Despite all the plusses, her debut album sorely disappoints. One thing counting against Pop Star could be the fact that more often than not, while they are hummable, the compositions on her debut album are so trite and kitsch they turn one off from the very first track, because who really wants to listen to little rap sequences on a synthetic techno song that opens the album?
Yet that is exactly how ‘Pop Star’, the first track on the album is. It starts off with techno beats one would expect to hear on one of those random Punjabi songs that become popular for a minute, as a joke. And while it is clear Nida probably wanted to make the song come off as full of attitude and spunk, all one wants to do is shake her and ask her if she realizes the leaps and bounds the music industry has been making in recent years.
Female acts like Katy Perry and Lady Gaga are in a whole different category but perhaps someone like Leona Lewis is someone Nida could look to as inspiration. Granted, one is not a Leona fan but she has put some pretty decent, well-produced songs out there.
On the home front, there are Zeb and Haniya, and if Nida thinks they are too serious, then perhaps she could look back to her self-proclaimed idol, Nazia Hasan’s history. Nazia was melodic and she had Biddu work tunes for her that were pretty bubblegum, but appropriate for the ‘80s disco era. Annoyingly buzzy techno-ish sounds do not a promising debut album make. And there are actually some very in-tune singers, with a clear idea of what they want to sound like but make the grave mistake of working with producers who will not enhance their best qualities but kind of end up drowning all that is commendable about the singer in a sea of instruments and effects and snazzy sounds.
One did not start out listening to Nida’s first effort determined to trash her - but the kind of promise she had shown is kind of lost in the superficial glamour that seems to have gone into making an album that will do reasonably well, spur on a few videos that show off Nida’s youthful looks, and then fizzle out.
‘Aa Bhi Jao’, the second song on the album echoes of ballads that have been sung before, and remixed by someone like Lifehouse. Which basically means the tune is not very original, but Nida’s vocals on it are pretty good, a reminder that Nida Arab has a lot of singing skill.
The third track on the album ‘Bolo Na’ is what had initially caught one’s attention. Both the song and the video had projected Nida as someone who is confident in her ability to sing, confident enough to try and break into a mostly male-dominated industry and do her thing. Nida had set the bar high within the easy pop genre for herself, ‘Bolo Na’ being her first single and video, and fell short of it herself too. One is not suggesting that all 11 tracks on the album should have been chart-breaking stuff, just that they should be listenable. Is that too much to ask from someone who is in the music business?
The theme of the album is mostly romantic. Actually one of love lost and love struggling, so maybe it will strike a chord with a lot of the young and heartbroken. The songs have been arranged by Sameer Ahmed and Taimur Mirza and Nida thanks them profusely on the inleaf of the CD.
Which brings us to the best song on the album - Nida’s cover of ‘Dum Dum Di Di’. Another reminder that if she has a good tune to play with, Nida can and will sound fabulous.
Last but not least - a fact many of our music players big and small tend to ignore - album art. Why Nida’s album cover is a bright, bright pink is beyond understanding. If the idea was to push her image as girly, pop songstress, one is sure there were other paths, design-wise that could have been taken.
Had Nida Arab been a talent-less pretty face, one would not be disappointed to this degree - but when someone who has the goods doesn’t deliver the effect is much more tragic than it would have been otherwise.
*****Get it NOW!
****Just get it
***Maybe maybe not
**Just download
the best song
*Forget that this was made |
