I promise I will someday get around to finishing my 2008 list, but right now I feel like it’s better to stop tormenting myself with that (it’s almost February!) and discuss the more pressing matter of Ladyhawke. Yes, her self-titled album was released in September, but in my defense it’s just in WUOG’s rotation now.

Ladyhawke, not to be confused with Ladyhawk who also put out an album last year, is a solo electropop artist from New Zealand. She was born with Asperger’s Syndrome, and from what I’ve read she doesn’t have the best stage presense. Her 80s synthy style did not immediately strike me as anything special, as it was so ridiculously overdone in the past year, and was better done by M83, Cut Copy, and the like. About half of the album was pleasant, though, particularly the single “Paris Is Burning.”

Catchy as that track is, what struck me most about Ladyhawke was just how poor some of the songs are. “Crazy World” sounds like it belongs on the Disney Channel, and is accordingly the worst song I’ve heard outside of Top 40 radio or my sisters’ bedrooms in quite a long time. I genuinely do like her songs such as “Paris is Burning” and “Magic” — the latter makes an enticing intro to the album, and the former is hopelessly fun; however, the songwriting is so atrociously inconsistent that I don’t feel as though I could recommend the album. The 80s motif is far overdone in tracks like “Morning Dreams”; Paula Abdul was much more respected for her dancing than her singing. There is absolutely no need to rehash her sound two decades past her prime.

Electropop is probably not a genre to be taken particularly seriously, but Ladyhawke’s trite and derivative songs destroy the listenability of an otherwise potentially good album.