Aaron Carter - "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)"

[StevePulaski]

Aaron's Party (Come Get It) (2000)
By: Aaron Carter

Rating: ★★★

I thought after listening to Aaron Carter's nearly abysmal eponymous debut album that I was in for rough waters exploring his four studio albums. However, his sophomore effort, Aaron's Party (Come Get It), which contains some of the pint-sized artist's biggest hits of his career, proved me wrong from the first track, the album's titular jam. The song details Aaron shooing his parents out of the house, so he can gather his tween friends together and have a house party (notably supplied with juice, which winds up on his mother's new cushion). The song may not be much, but it sure provides for a good time, and, right off the bat, sets a much more fitting tone for Carter than what his debut suggested.

Aaron Carter felt like a manufactured debut in every sense of the word, featuring a ten-year-old Carter singing about ideas like true love and finding a lifelong soulmate, or, in a sense, things Carter obviously doesn't know much about. Admittedly, they were things that, at eighteen, I still have very little conception of and won't pretend like I do in any way. Aaron's Party (Come Get It) deals more in the realm of pop-rap and energetic, feel-good music, rather than the sappy love songs sung with a high-pitched voice that graced so much of his debut.

Aside from the titular winner, "That's How I Beat Shaq" catches Carter in a daydreaming mood about besting NBA superstar (at the time) Shaquille O'Neal at his own game, "I Want Candy" is a rendition on the classic sixties song, with an interlude identifying the noun in the song as Aaron's love interest, "Bounce" is an effective tune in the pop-rap genre Carter is trying to function in, and, the album's winner in my book, "Iko Iko," an infectious jam that serves as a cover of The Dixie Cups' hit song, sung and constructed in true early-2000's fashion by Carter.

Aaron's Party has its share of unwelcome guests, as the last three tracks of the album are lackluster love songs in the vein of Carter's debut, which only work to throw off the new style Carter was going for. However, every song up to then wasn't one to knock in any considerably debilitating way, and Carter's deeper voice provides for a much more sophisticated sound. The only other setback is the use of "interludes" before every song, which is some sort of spoken word skit that either sets up the song or curiously adds a bit of fluff to the album (it's anything from Aaron getting a call from his crush, going through a drive-thru - not really sure how he could've actually driven thru one by himself, but whatever - and asking for a cheeseburger with no cheese, or even prank-calling one of his friend's moms posing as a teacher). Such interludes are needless, but if one can remind themselves tolerable, somewhat nostalgic music follows, then you might be okay with putting up with them for a few seconds.

Recommended tracks (in order): "Iko Iko," "Aaron's Party (Come Get It)," "That's How I Beat Shaq," "Bounce," "I Want Candy," and "The Clapping Song (Clap, Pat, Clap, Slap)."