Earlier this month, Rick Astley dropped his first album in five years. And it’s got a whole lot of what we didn’t expect.
Called ‘Are We There Yet‘, the record delivers a lot of fun and a lot of feels. There are a few tracks that I dare you not to move your body to. And others that might jerk a tear or two out of your head. There are some country-inspired tunes. And others that are obviously more influenced by R&B. Pretty much a little bit of everything. But what it has a lot of is proof that Rick Astley has still got it.
Released on October 13, the album was inspired by his tour of the United States, Retro Pop Magazine reported. In the interview, Astley told the magazine that performing in the states for the five month tour had “re-tuned [his] ear a little bit”. His tour wrapped in July 2o22 and included performances on the Mixtape Tour 2022, with New Kids On The Block, En Vogue and Salt-N-Pepa. He will embark on a tour for the new album in the UK in November 2023.
Even though his soulful voice has always been his trademark, the Never Gonna Give You Up singer is known around most of the world as pop performer. And he saw his pop fame renewed around 2007 when his 1987 hit became the focus of the famed Rick Rolling movement. In total, Astley has released nine studio albums over his 50-year career (allmusic.com).
And this latest album might be Rick Astley’s best work yet.
According to his website, this is the third consecutive album that has been completely done in Astley’s home studio. The songwriting is strong and the vocals show even more range than we realized Astley had. Some of the songs you wouldn’t even realize were Astley. He’s just so versatile in what he can do and the way his voice has matured since his 1980’s success. Well…it’s just gotten better.
The album has 12 tracks. And there’s no way we can pick our favorites. But the country-inspired Dippin My Feet and the blues-inspired Never Gonna Stop are definitely on top for us.
-Wendy Rush, 96.3KKLZ
