Will Young

Will Young was growing up. It had been three years since his unexpected win on the first season of Pop Idol and even at the time of his second album, Friday's Child, he had stated his intention to distance himself from the moniker of being a TV reality show winner, especially as their careers tended to be notoriously short. So there he was on the cover of his third album, Keep On, looking remarkably like the actor Todd Carty who played the weatherbeaten character of Mark Fowler on BBC TVs Eastenders. Mature enough to write (or at least co-write) most of the tracks including the first two, "Keep On" and "Switch It On," both quite funky numbers, before the album went into its first ballad, "All Time Love," which was every bit as tuneful as "Anything Is Possible," or "Evergreeen" were, his debut single and still the best selling single of the 21st century. There were a mixture of styles on Keep On, from the salsa, holiday inspired "Happiness" to the Justin Timberlake pastiche of "Aint Such A Bad Place to Be," on which even the Indian-style intro worked well, to the ballads "Save Yourself," "Who Am I," and the final song "Home," a haunting atmospheric track co-written by Nitin Sawhney. Keep On ran out of steam near the end with three tracks, "Madness," "All I Want," and "Think About It," all again co-written by Will Young but nothing more than album fillers, none of them having much of a melody. Three singles were released from Keep On, "Switch It On," "All Time Love," and "Who Am I," all of which either reached or got pretty near to the Top Ten, and there were a few other tracks that would have made great singles too. Altogether an excellent pop album from an artist who was maturing very nicely as the years went by. [Sony BMG's 2006 edition featured one bonus track.] ~ Sharon Mawer, All Music Guide