Album review: “24 Hrs” – Olly Murs
For my birthday a few weeks ago I got Olly Murs’ new album, ‘24 hrs’. If you know me, you’ll know how much I love Olly and have done for about 7 years ever since he was on X Factor. In fact, I’m pretty excited as I write this because this morning Olly added a surprise extra date to his summer tour next year where I live! Obviously as soon as I found out I spontaneously bought tickets right that moment, because nobody ever comes to where I live because it’s so small. So I’m totally in the mood to write this post now, I couldn’t be happier to be seeing him twice next year, especially as the second will be extra special as it’s in my home town.
Right, let’s get into the album. ‘24 hrs’ is Olly’s fifth album, and just like all his others, it has such a feel-good, positive vibe. What I love about Olly’s music is how upbeat it is; just listening to his songs puts a massive smile on my face instantly. The album opens with the single ‘You Don’t Know Love’, which sets it off with Olly’s signature cheeky, happy sound and sets this tone for the rest of the album. Even though this song is a single and usually they get overplayed, somehow I never get sick of this song because it just makes me want to get up and dance, and makes me happy.
Although Olly has a distinctive sound, for me his albums never get repetitive or boring. I find that with some artists, you listen to their album and all the songs sound the same. Somehow Olly, at least in my opinion, always seems to bring something original to every album and song he records. The title song, ‘24 hrs’, provides a more chilled out vibe, as does ‘Love You More’, which gives the album a great variety and contrasts to the more upbeat songs such as ‘Deeper’ and ‘Back Around’.
Top 5 songs:
• Years and Years
I should stress that these songs are in no particular order, by the way. This song is the third single from the album and for me it’s such a good choice! I instantly loved this song when I first listened to the album and it stood out to me straight away as one of my favourites. It’s the perfect balance between chilled and upbeat in one song and that’s one of the things I love about it. Not only is it really sweet and lovely to listen to, the lyrics are also really adorable. For me, beautiful lyrics are so appealing, and this song has such a sweet message that when you’re with the right person, time seems to stand still and you feel like you want to be with them forever. I especially love the lyric ‘you signed your name on my heart saying you were here’, it’s just the cutest thing ever. It’s probably the fact I’ve spent so much time analysing poetry and literature, but imagery like this stands out to me and I love the idea of claiming someone else’s heart by signing your name on it, it’s so sweet.
• Unpredictable
This song makes me want to get up and dance! It’s so groovy (if that’s an acceptable adjective to use these days), but that’s the only way I can properly describe the vibe of this song. It’s got a kind of old school sound to it; it kind of reminds me of Stevie Wonder and that kind of funky sound especially with the background music. As if I just used the words ‘funky’ and ‘groovy’ in the same paragraph. But you get the kind of sound I’m trying to describe. I also like the backing vocals on this song, I have no idea who the woman is but her voice in the background of the chorus blends really well with Olly’s and adds to the originality of the song.
• Private
The old-school vibe also runs through this song, which I absolutely love. It’s quite a different sound for Olly, but that’s what I adore about it. I just want to dance around to this song, it epitomises Olly’s personality; cheeky and fun. It reminds me of ‘Cake by The Ocean’ by DNCE especially at the chorus – it has the same fun-filled, upbeat sound and just instantly puts a smile on my face.
• Back Around
This is a classic upbeat Olly song. As with most of the album, I also just want to dance to this song. It’s catchy, fun and brings all the positivity and character that a true Olly Murs song has. Yet, it still doesn’t sound exactly like any of his other songs, and it amazes me that Olly has the ability to retain his distinct sound without all his songs sounding the same.
• Flaws
It wouldn’t be an album if it didn’t have at least one slightly depressing song, would it? I always seem to have one of the slower songs on an album as one of my favourites, of course as I’ve already explained I love Olly’s upbeat and positive songs but slower, more ballad-like songs generally have deeper and more meaningful lyrics which I’ve already mentioned that I’m a sucker for. This is the last song on the album (unfortunately I don’t have the deluxe version) and it’s a little gem. Yes, it’s very slow and slightly sad, but for some reason songs like that tend to really appeal to me. It shows off Olly’s amazing vocals, which his mostly more upbeat singles don’t really get the chance to emphasise. This song shows a softer side to Olly, it shows that everyone has flaws and I think it’s so refreshing to have a song like this on the album because it shows that Olly doesn’t just do cheeky, upbeat songs, he really has an amazing voice and this song shows that side of him off so well.
rare for me; there isn’t a song that I’d skip when it came on. With some of my favourite artists who have released a lot of albums, I’m always slightly concerned that they won’t be able to top their previous ones, but Olly certainly did not disappoint with this album. It retains his signature happy, fun sound while also showcasing his amazing vocals, some beautiful lyrics and the fact that he is an all-round artist and doesn’t just do upbeat songs. Olly is such a lovely, down-to-earth person and this is definitely reflected in his music. I really can’t wait to hear some of these songs live next year!
Are you an Olly fan like me? What do you think of ‘24hrs’? Any comments are appreciated so much; let me know your opinions on the album, this post and if you enjoy reading my album reviews! Thank you again for reading, it means a lot to me. x
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