Shayne Ward - Obsession (2021)

As one of the few solo male X-Factor contestants to make it past a first album, and with a million-selling single under his belt, 2005 winner Shayne Ward is entitled to feel a little aggrieved that his music career appeared to have been undeservedly held in limbo. Indeed, despite both his self-titled debut and follow-up, Breathless, achieving multi-platinum success, Ward has been missing in action since 2007, a rather lengthy time away, considering the fickle nature of the reality TV pop market. But just as he seemed consigned to the same scrapheap as Leon Jackson and Steve Brookstein, he belatedly returns with a brand new album, Obsession. Scanning the track list, it's not particularly evident what took him so long. With just ten tracks, two of which are covers, two of which sample familiar '90s hits, the whole project has an air of the Simon Cowell rushed job of his first post-X-Factor LP. And despite the likes of hotshot producers Max Martin (Britney Spears) and Savan Kotecha (Usher) on board, Obsession isn't too far removed from the slick dance-pop of his previous album. Only two concessions are made to the ubiquitous urban-electro sound that every other male vocalist seems to have succumbed to this year, the rather random synth-based reworking of Nickelback's "Gotta Be Somebody" and the infectious floor-filler "Must Be a Reason Why," which samples Wamdue Project's number one "King of the Castle." It's an admirable move, but as they are the two most convincing tracks, Ward might have been better off following the crowd, particularly considering that the rest of Obsession doesn't exactly show an aversion to imitation. Indeed, several tracks sound like tributes to other X Factor contestants. The clattering rhythms of "Close to Close" echo Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love" and an ill-advised cover of the Tony Rich Project's "Nobody Knows" turns the R&B classic into a Olly Murs-style cod-reggae pastiche, while "Waiting in the Wings" is a clichéd piano-led number that could have been performed by any of its male winners. Elsewhere, Ward tackles '80s-influenced rock power ballads ("Foolish"), bouncy '90s boy band-inspired pop ("Someone Like You," which borrows the melody from Spin Doctors' "Two Princes"), and falsetto-led love songs (the self-penned title track), all very competently, but all very unremarkably too. After a three-year absence, Ward really needed to step up his game to reestablish his pop star credentials. But despite being labeled the U.K. Justin Timberlake early in his career, Obsession's dated sound and consistent mediocrity are more likely to see him dubbed as the U.K. Peter Andre. ~ Jon O'Brien