Have I reviewed Alex Warren before? Probably. I remember discovering him on the radio when ‘Ordinary’ was being played to death, rather than as a social media personality. I imagine on something like TikTok, which I have no interest in being on. He is now considered to be one of the biggest new stars at the moment thanks to ‘Ordinary’. “WILDCHILD” keeps him on the emotional singer-songwriter path, addressing subjects like love, loss, relationships, and, unfortunately, the loss of his father.

I know these songs have deep meaning, but the album just didn’t tingle my ear. Songs began to sound all too familiar. The best examples were ‘Same Stars’, ‘Passenger’, ‘Rescuer’, and ‘I Miss You More’. I have since heard some remixes of some of the tracks, and they are better in that form. I was rapidly losing interest by ‘Only Thing Left’ and ‘Won’t Go Back’. I have heard ‘Fever Dream’ too many times now to even care about it. The songs probably had some good stories behind them, but the instrumentation just bored me.

Even though I knew these songs came from real experiences, the album still didn’t grab my attention. Songs like ‘Same Stars’, ‘Passenger’, ‘Rescuer’, and ‘I Miss You More’ started to sound too similar. By the time I got to ‘Only Thing Left’ and ‘Won’t Go Back Again’, I found myself losing focus. Warren might have good stories, but the music just didn’t keep me interested.

My attention only picked up when ‘Last Time’ came around. It is certainly my highlight with its rock edge. Alex should have done more of that, or at least balanced it better, because the record just feels repetitive.

I understand there was a lot of emotion when making the album, especially on the title track, but it ended up feeling like background music to me. It didn’t annoy me; I simply lost interest. Sometimes it’s worth taking a risk rather than being boring.

Song recommendations: ‘Last Time’

4/10