  
A Great Big World are a duo of talented musicians
from New York made up of singers and songwriters
Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino and since their formation
they have caught the attention of the TV show
Glee who used their song ‘This Is The New
Year’ back in 2013 and also pretty much
at the same time the caught the attention of Epic
Records who were quick to sign them up and now
fast forward to 2014 and A Great Big World are
on the verge of releasing their debut album ‘Is
There Anybody Out There?’.
A lot of enjoyment is to found in ‘Is There
Anybody Out There?’ if you have the patience
to listen to the album a couple of times over
as the album features 13 randomly placed tracks
where some are upbeat, some are slow and some
are truly bonkers, whilst the creativeness of
their music will leave you comparing A Great Big
World to the likes of the band Fun.
The album opens with ‘Rockstar’ which
is a completely upbeat pop song which is driven
by a piano and the most nerdy sounding vocals
you would of heard in a long time as Ian Axel
and Chad Vaccarino really go to town showing off
their extremely creative musical style as they
repetitively sing “Singin’ ah ha ha
I just wanna be a rock star”, whilst also
laying down sounds which sound so similar to the
sounds of retro computer games from back in the
late 80’s and early 90’s.
‘Land Of Opportunity’ is a well written
and performed song and within about 30seconds
it will have you thinking about West End and Broadway
musicals as the way the song is preformed it sounds
exactly a song which would be featured in a musical
as Ian Axel and Chad Vaccarino take it in turns
to sing whilst also laying down extremely catchy
instrumental work, fully bringing the song to
life.
‘Already Home’ see’s the band
slow things down for a ballad but they also manage
to keep the happy charm which seem to run through
their songs even though they are singing about
living in a massive city and being away from loved
ones with beautiful lyrics of “If only New
York wasn’t so far away, I promise the city
won’t get in our way when you’re scared
and alone, just know that I’m already home”.
‘I Really Want It’ has the band Fun.
Written all over it as the song is a big upbeat
number which is just so much fun to listen to.
‘Everyone Is Gay’ is also a big fun
upbeat song and I can guarantee that it is the
song on the album that most people will come back
to listen to again and again as the song has such
a catchy feel to it and you can’t help but
sing-a-long. ‘This Is The New Year’
is the song which really led to big things for
the band as it is the song which was picked up
by Glee and it happens to be quite a cheerful
piano driven song.
The album comes to a close with ‘Say Something’
a song which is already featured earlier in the
album but the band loved the song so much that
they roped Christina Aguilera for a special version
of the song and it is easily the stand out track
of the album which sounds so beautiful with Ian
Axel, Chad Vaccarino and Christina Aguilera singing
over the beautiful piano piece being played out,
lyrically the song is very sad covering the theme
of walking away from someone you love and the
emotions can truly be heard in the trios vocals.
I feel that A Great Big World have created a truly
interesting album with ‘Is There Anybody
Out There?’ as the majority of the songs
are a joy to listen to due to the sheer upbeat
tempo beautifully crafted lyrics but at the same
time I feel that A Great Big World are confused
musicians who would be better suited to writing
for Broadway shows and probably enjoy much more
success.
3.5/5
Review by Trigger
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