About six months after the release of her first album, Suzie McNeil’s power pop singles “Believe” and “Hung Up” made their impact on the Canadian Hot 100. “Believe” was a massive anthem of inspiration and a true display of McNeil’s talents as a pop vocalist, while her “Hung Up” release rivaled Pink and Kelly Clarkson’s rock-edged upbeat numbers by lashing out in true pop/rock princess style. McNeil, whose success was seemingly not attached to her first album (which had plenty of other excellent Kelly Clarkson/Pink-style tracks penned by songwriting giant Kara DioGuardi and Marti Frederiksen), opted therefore to launch a second album a mere 18 months after her first release. The result, Rock N’ Roller, is a well-planned release by McNeil that parallels many aspects of its preceding disc, Broken and Beautiful. The album is nearly entirely produced and penned with the help of Frederiksen, along with McNeil, who co-wrote more than a handful of tracks, something she didn’t do the first time around. Almost all of the tracks are funky vibrant rock numbers that tether well to where McNeil garnered success in the first place. Where the album differs from McNeil’s first release is in the lack of showstopping ballad numbers. On Rock N’ Roller, there is an acoustic version of her strongest success, “Believe” (in clear hopes of tying in with the success of the single, which is a trademark song in the upcoming 2010 Olympics for the largest sponsor of the games in Canada); however, aside from “Believe” there is an absence of dramatic power numbers (something that was frequent on Broken and Beautiful). Therefore, although the bulk of McNeil’s new album is quite excellent, the repetitiveness of some tracks limits their overall quality. The album’s first lead single, “Let’s Go,” is the strongest display of excellent power pop aimed at a teenage mainstream market, and has shown success in radio stations across Canada. After that, “Fast Lane,” an edgy lovelorn jam, and the title track, the album’s most creative and unique moment, round out the top tier of truly wonderful numbers that add to McNeil’s consistent career. McNeil has avoided the sophomore slump not by doing something necessarily different on her second release, but rather by simply building on the excellent foundation she laid — using similar styles of music, the same producers, and the same formula to achieve an “almost as good” release as her first one. – Matthew Chisling
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