British noughties pop group Blue have returned with their seventh studio album, 'Reflections', but the comeback effort struggles to recapture the magic of their early 2000s heyday. The four-piece, now in their forties, attempt to tap into modern pop's powerful wave of nostalgia, yet the result often feels like a dated and awkward tribute to their own past and other evergreen boybands.
A Forced Party Atmosphere
The album's penultimate track, 'Souls of the Underground', sets the tone with the lyric "Blue's in the house / Oh it's party time!". This declaration feels more like a hopeful incantation than a genuine invitation. The band seems keen to transport listeners back to a specific era of Met bar table service, where women sip "a little prosecco" and men enjoy a "nice cold beer". Musically, the album offers a clunkier, less polished version of their signature blend of pop, hip-hop, and R&B. It evokes memories of their 2002 hit 'Fly By II', but executed with a fraction of the original's slick confidence.
Missing the Blue Spark
While the strategy of leveraging nostalgia is sound in today's musical climate, 'Reflections' fails to highlight what originally made Blue stand out. Instead, for much of its 13-track runtime, the album settles into a mid-tempo groove that lacks energy. The dreary ballad 'Candlelight Fades' is singled out as a particular low point, described unflatteringly as reminiscent of "Westlife on a bad day". Other tracks, like the windswept 'One Last Time' and 'The Day the Earth Stood Still', are performed with gusto but ultimately channel the sound of Take That's 'Patience' era more than Blue's own back catalogue.
Lyrical Missteps and a Plea for the Past
Even the album's more promising moments are undermined. The epic-scale opener 'The Vow' is let down by clunky, "very un-Barlow" lyrics such as "You're a sweet child of mine / You're like a grape to my vine". The album closes on an acoustic note with 'Find That Feeling', which makes multiple references to the band's history and pleads for a chance to return to the beginning, "to be young and to be foolish". This final sentiment inadvertently highlights the album's core issue: 'Reflections' spends so much time looking backwards that it forgets to bring anything fresh or compelling to the present, making listeners wish the band had embraced the 'foolish' creative spirit a little more boldly.
