The debut self-titled full-length album from Union J effectively introduces the British boy band's standard brand of dance-oriented pop and R&B. Union J features the talents of vocalists George Shelley, Josh Cuthbert, JJ Hamblett, and Jaymi Hensley. The album comes on the heels of their Top Ten-charting single "Carry You." It also appears a year after they finished in fourth place on the 2012 season of Britain's X-Factor. After leaving X-Factor, Union J began recording their debut album, working with a handful of writers and producers including Steve Mac (the Wanted, the Saturdays), Claude Kelly (Big Time Rush, Jessie J), Lindy Robbins (Fifth Harmony, Demi Lovato), and others. To these ends we get a batch of high-energy, radio-friendly songs that fall into line right behind the flagship single, "Carry You." If that song found Union J channeling Maroon 5, then cuts like "Loving You Is Easy" and "Where Are You Now" are infectious, radio-ready anthems in the style of Ryan Tedder's OneRepublic. Elsewhere, the boys proffer up several desperately romantic ballads in "Beautiful Life" and "Amaze Me," and cover Demi Lovato's dramatic pop hit "Skyscraper." Ultimately, it's the band's sense of cheeky pop flirtatiousness on cuts like "Beethoven," in which they proclaim "I'll play you like an instrument/Let me be your Beethoven," that helps make the album a fun, buoyant debut.
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