The pop-rock group from Nashville, Hot Chelle Rae, who made their presence known in 2009 with their debut album,” Lovesick Electric,” availed themselves of all their friends in high places and released their sophomore album on November 29, 2011. Singer Ryan Follese and drummer Jamie Follese are the sons of country songwriter Keith Follese, while guitarist Nash Overstreet’s older brother, Chord, stars on “Glee” so they had the support many young singers don’t and thus their “Whatever” album should have been a smash. But, to the disappointment of all those who worked on their album and to the disappointment of their fresh fans, it wasn’t.
The fact is that the young band had a rough start in their music career and it wasn’t until their early 2011 pure pop smash, “Tonight Tonight,” that helped their popularity skyrocket. Going double platinum since, the track is featured on Whatever, and epitomizes with faultless precision what the rest of the album has to offer: sluggish lyrics, humdrum electronically produced vocals, and an undesirable musicality. However, for those whose purpose in life is to decadently party all night long while their parents are on vacation, to live promiscuously like a suburban kid who never grows up and always longs for the forbidden fruit, this album is outstanding, perfectly fitting their needs as house-party bangers. It’s resembles Miley Cyrus’ “Party in the U.S.A.” but Whatever is definitely obsequious from their point of view. Besides, the album seems to be entirely about hook-ups, about lies and girls who are regarded as “California dimes”.
More importantly, the boys from Hot Chelle Rae didn’t do it all by themselves, they got some help from already acknowledged singers, such as Demi Lovato who left her print on a midtempo power ballad - “Why Don’t You Love Me“. If you think it’s the same stuff you’ve heard in Lovato and Joe Jonas’ duet from “Camp Rock” you’re so wrong. Besides, they got an assist from Los Angeles teen-rap also-rans New Boyz too, who turn up in as openers for “I Like It Like That” and from Bei Maejor in “Whatever” and “Radio”. All the eleven tracks are harmless for the 9-to-14-year-olds, “Downtown Girl” and “Beautiful Freak” are quite danceable, while “The Only One” and “Why Don’t You Love Me” make you get into a more dreamy mood. At a first glance, the title may say all about the album, but the tracks are not entirely about this ‘whatever’ attitude. For instance, “Keep You With Me” is about being with someone in spirit even when they are far away, “Why Don’t You Love Me” is a dream song where Ryan is in love with just a friend, “The Only One” is about finding the love of your life for eternity.
No one knows for sure if Whatever will be a musical success, not even the critics, but it will definitely be a wildly popular success because it appeals to the masses of suburb boys and girls who like to party hard, have a frivolous lifestyle and sing the same lyrics over and over again, a way of living that doesn’t go well with the image of Hot Chelle Rae. After all, the four band members with cute hair are mostly in their mid-twenties and no longer live as they sing.