Idol Chatter & Voice Views

Anoop Desai
“All Is Fair”

1. My Name
2. Senses
3. Lost and Found
4. All is Fair (Crazy Love)
5. Everyday
6. Single
7. Not Like This
8. Goodbye

Anoop Desai’s post-Idol debut album starts out promisingly enough, with the dance-beat driven single “My Name.”

In a recent interview, Anoop said he and season six Idol contestant Brandon Rogers wrote “My Name” like any other song, then added Bollywood effects that made the tune “pop.”

Anoop might have been well served by applying more of that treatment to a couple of the other seven tracks. Because they don’t pop.

In fact, the CD title “All Is Fair” is inadvertently appropriate.

There’s nothing musically offensive here, though “Lost and Found” comes close. There also aren’t many songs I’d want to listen to repeatedly.

Another season six Idol, Chris Richardson, has co-writing credits on “Senses” and “Lost and Found.”

Meanwhile, Rogers helped write at least three tracks on the CD, the single, “Senses” and “Not Like This.”

The latter combines some kick, a catchy chorus and a smooth vocal to make it the best of the rest. Anoop ends the CD with “Goodbye.”

Perhaps not for long. He’s already talking about writing music for a second CD that might come out in the fall.

That news will thrill his fans. My reaction: A shrug of the shoulders unless there’s a bigger mix of the pop he delivers on “My Name.”

Grade: C.

Free listen: Head to Anoop’s MySpace to hear “My Name,” “Senses,” “All Is Fair” and “Lost and Found.”

Download worthy: “My Name,” “Not Like This”