By Alyssa Serrano
Staff Writer
Swedish duo Icona Pop brings the energy with their newest album “Club Romantech,” which is bursting with energy and songs perfect for a night out dancing. The album, released Sept. 1, is the first album they have released in a decade since “THIS IS..ICONA POP,” which included their hit single “I Love It.”
The songs on this album are very suitable for a club; they are fun with high energy, and I could definitely see myself twirling around to them with my friends!
I personally am a big fan of hyper-dance music, so I like this album a lot. However, I do feel that some of it feels a little repetitive. All of the songs have a similar kind of style in my opinion, starting with vocals and then continuing into strong bass. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I would enjoy the songs more if they were mixed up in a playlist with some other artists to switch things up a bit.
That being said, I love the opening song to the album, “Fall in Love.” It feels very nostalgic and reminds me of 2014 dance-pop. It brings a very unique feeling to the album that triggers a lot of good memories for me. This song is a good way to start this album; it starts the energy high, only for that energy to continue throughout the album. It’s probably my favorite of the album, because the combination of the beats and the vocals is very catchy.
Another fun song that stands out is “Make Up Your Mind Babe.” This song brings a similar nostalgic feeling like “Fall in Love,” carrying on the storyline that began with it. “Fall in Love” is about an obsessive whirlwind romance; it’s about feeling out of control while they fell in love.
“Make Up Your Mind Babe” is the realization that the relationship is messy, painful and unhealthy, but still both parties want to hold onto it. From the lyrics, it could very easily be a sad song, but this song is very much still danceable and I personally love it when artists use that juxtaposition between the lyrics and sound of a song.
“Where Do We Go From Here” is another song I enjoy. I really like the synth combined with the beat in this song. It reminds me of the sequence of Alice falling down the rabbit hole in “Alice in Wonderland” — overwhelming but exhilarating.
On the other hand, “Stick Your Tongue Out” is not my cup of tea. I am not a fan of the chorus; there’s something about the repeated “ice cream dreams” and “stick your tongue out” that makes me cringe. The vocals and beat are still really good, but the lyrics throw the song off for me.
I have very mixed emotions regarding the closing song “Spa.” I cannot tell if I like it or not. This song is confusing, almost a sensory overload. I think this song was a good closer considering the album is club and party music and this song is about being done with the club and wanting to relax. It is a very fitting way to end the album, but I cannot enjoy it the way I do with the rest of the album.
Overall, I really did enjoy this album and I will most certainly be both adding some of the songs onto my playlists and the queue during the next day out I have with my friends.
