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Product details
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Track Listings
| 1. Heart Skips A Beat |
| 2. Oh My Goodness |
| 3. Dance With Me Tonight |
| 4. I've Tried Everything |
| 5. This Song Is About You |
| 6. In Case You Didn't Know |
| 7. Tell The World |
| 8. I'm OK |
| 9. Just Smile |
| 10. On My Cloud |
| 11. I Don't Love You Too |
| 12. Anywhere Else |
| 13. I Need You Now |
Product Description
Review
Yet Murs has become the go-to punch bag for pop snobbery, invoking bile across press and forums alike; evidently, the cheeky-chappy shtick and heart-on-sleeve Essex Boy anthems aren’t for everyone. Such a reaction might prompt many a popstar to downplay themselves and aim for low-key credibility. No such plan of action here; his second album sees Murs stand firm in his knowing cornball charm, all topped off with a broad, cheesy grin.
Of the album’s two singles thus far, the doo-wop leanings of Dance With Me Tonight provides a more accurate clue as to what to expect, rather than the contagious, dub-lite shuffle of Heart Skips a Beat. It’s all finger-clicking and parps of brass and nods to Motown. It’s easy to imagine a boardroom full of suits looking at a Bruno Mars-related pie chart and deciding to shift proceedings thataway, but in its execution it’s hugely British. It’s a style Murs can pull off convincingly, as evidenced on the jovial bounce of Oh My Goodness or I Don’t Love You Too.
There are the occasional steps elsewhere: a lone snifter of ska from his debut hangs around on the title-track, while the quality dips slightly entering ballad territory. This Song Is About You could, ironically, have been recorded by anyone.
Perhaps the whole thing could do with a metaphor or two, and it has its share of inevitabilities, but there’s a real sense of joy in what Murs does. Where, by comparison, Matt Cardle looks embarrassed by his every move, or Joe McElderry soullessly croons whichever standard he’s handed, Murs is entirely invested in every note he sings, and clearly loves every moment.
In Case You Didn’t Know doesn’t surprise, but it certainly fulfils. And, admirably, it doesn’t try to be anything it’s not – rather, it revels in its approachable, unashamed pop goodness, swatting away the incoming jets of venom without a care. It’s hard to question an attitude so upbeat. Hell, those pop snobs could probably afford to be a little bit more like Olly Murs themselves.
--Al Fox
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Customer Reviews
A lot can happen in a year though, no less because of Olly now splitting his time between being a popstar and also a (wittily good) co-host of ITV2's sister show 'The Xtra Factor' with Caroline Flack at the weekends. And somehow, in amongst all the tours and other things he's done in 2011, he's found time to bring us his long awaited second album, the cheekily titled 'In Case You Didn't Know', and it's an album which, I am pleased to say, doesn't sound rushed as most second albums do bar the rare few that don't, and stands him in very good stead to be the first male solo act from a reality show to become as credible and go on for as long as Will Young has.
Whilst the first album took heed from the reggae/ska-pop feel of Madness and Lily Allen - such as on 'Please Don't Let Me Go' and 'Thinking Of Me' - Olly's said that the album takes him back more to the soulful sounds he was renowned for during his time on 'The X Factor' when we first saw him perform the Stevie Wonder classic 'Superstition'. Thus the results of this album are not only utterly winning, but don't take away from the happy, cheeky, uplifting feel to his songs and his lyrics (all of the songs here bar his 2nd number 1 from August, 'Heart Skips A Beat' were co-written by him) that make this universally enjoyable.
'Oh My Goodness' and current single 'Dance With Me Tonight' shuffle into the territories of Smokey and the Miracles-esque Motown and quirky 50's jive rock respectively, whilst 'I've Tried Everything' and 'I'm OK' are skiffly ventures into indie-pop that remind you of first album-era Jack Peñate, all whilst Olly sings with an undercut of melancholia about walking up Primrose Hill and chasing a sweetheart up the stairs of a double decker bus. Indeed, it's the contrast of the perky vs the glum that makes this album such a pleasure to listen to. But Olly shows another trick to his pack, on the album's two ballads 'This Song Is About You' and the closing number 'I Need You Now', as they really stretch and show off the white boy soul qualities in his voice, which has grown in depth since the last album.
Olly should be very proud of 'In Case You Didn't Know' - for once, along with Nicola Roberts' "Cinderella's Eyes", a British pop act has made an album this year that sounds so uniquely British and absolutely nailed it in the process. I wouldn't mind betting he'll be looking down the barrel of a quadruple platinum album by the time next summer rolls around.
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