CD: Conor Maynard - Contrast

They're calling it "Conormania". One website says that unless you don’t “like things that are awesome” you should be developing a healthy obsession with him. He is Conor Maynard and his debut album is Contrast. Over the last three years, Maynard has built up a massive fan base from YouTube cover songs recorded in his bedroom, and mixed by Anth Melo, his American “sick rapper brother from another mother”. Then came a subsequent record deal and MTV award.

Maynard hates that comparison. He wants to be taken more seriously. Rather than using his looks, he says he wants his music to do the talking. More precisely, he’s been saying he doesn’t just want to be known as someone who takes his top off. So, what exactly does his album Contrast sound like? Is it, as some have suggested, more Justin Timberlake than JB?

His voice has moved on from the endearing but over-warbled sound of the webcam years

That may be a bit of an exaggeration but there’s no denying that, aided by collaborators like Pharell Williams and Ne-Yo, much of the album has a slick MTV “white R&B” feel. On songs like “Cant Say No” his voice has moved on from the endearing but over-warbled sound of the webcam years to catchy American hip-hop pop. The escapism suits him. In the "Vegas Girl" video he might improbably walk the graffiti-strewn Brooklyn backstreets, but, like Busted or McFly before, it’s when Maynard is at his most flagrantly inauthentic that he is at his most entertaining. By the same token, when he strays into British R&B territory, such as on “Take One”, it’s all a little lumpen. For the most part, however, Contrast finds Maynard equal to the company he’s been keeping. Like fellow YouTube alumnus Jessie J, the signs are that he’ll be keeping his Mayniacs entertained for some time yet.

Watch the video for Conor Maynard's "Vegas Girl"