Translation-Black Eyed Peas Album Review:

 

The Black Eyed Peas or no “the” in the title is back with their eighth album two years after their last album which was their first album in almost a decade. Most fans of the band like myself had zero idea they had a new album two years ago let alone they replaced the lead singer in the band Fergie with someone who sounds almost like her(J Rey Soul). They had made an announcement over social media they were no longer a band a few years back or even longer so everyone forgot about them, hence no idea that a new album was out plus no official word she left the band. Supposedly that album is their going back to their straight up hip-hop-rap roots when they were a trio as a sequel to their second album “Bridging the gap” pre Fergie-pop. This album “Translation” either shouldn’t have been made or been made as an EP with 8-10 song max.

            They decided to jump on the “Reggaeton” craze that has been happening recently and there is much “Spanglish” or saying random Spanish words that seem spoken just to make it Spanish. It has also been described as “Afrobeat, Latin vibe and dance music which it is as you can listen to it at a night club and dance the night away without knowing who was performing or if it all was one long song or songs that all sound the same. It also has ten featured artists out of the fifteen songs, which is way too many for them as they would have one maybe three per album in the past.

            There a few catchy songs like their singles “Ritmo( Bad Boys for life)" which was in the latest “Bad Boys Movie”, “Feel the Beat”, “Mamacita” plus other songs like “Girl Like me”, “No Manana” and “I Woke up”. Then there are two crap songs that should have never been made where one says the F word all the time. The two tracks that do stand out are “Celebrate” as it is reminiscent of their old sound like (“I gotta a feeling” or “Let’s get it started’)  and the one that speaks to how the world is hurting now with what’s going on in current times in “News today” as it reminds you of “Where is the love”.

            It is not like this is album is horrible but if you’re a fan of them you know how good they are blending many genres into one sound over an entire album. This is all the same thing throughout it doesn’t blend Pop, Rock, Rap and Hip-Hop together whatsoever which is makes them so good. It only has the electronica-dance-fake music that they are famous for but that doesn’t mean it should be the only thing on the album.Will.I.AM is a professional songwriter-music maker for many artists not just him, the band or Fergie so you can trust to put a whole album together but once he gets committed to something he finishes all the way through. This time thought he went in the wrong direction here as this is album is lost in “Translation”.