Trouble in Paradise

La Roux - Trouble in Paradise
Critic Score
Based on 35 reviews
2014 Ratings: #130 / 1042
Year End Rank: #42
User Score
Based on 306 ratings
2014 Rank: #193
Liked by 16 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
Time Out London

The overall result is just fabulous: if this album doesn’t become the soundtrack of your summer, you’ll be missing out.

90
NME

It's been a tortuous half-decade that's found Jackson riven with anxiety in the aftermath of her debut, to the point where she couldn't even sing, but she comes out reborn.

80
The Line of Best Fit

There’s a notable evolution here, and we see the lone Jackson strive for something you can sink your teeth into over the course of a few days, weeks, month, rather than something you can insufflate at a club in the space of a few minutes.

80
DIY

Even taking into account the creative tensions that created it, though, ‘Trouble In Paradise’ is her most exciting, and immediately likeable work yet. 

80
SPIN

She's abandoned the intimacy of a lonely girl and her machines for full-band funk, and where her vocals had been dry and often solitary, here they're overdubbed into an airy choir resembling that of Tina Weymouth and her sisters of the Tom Tom Club.

80
musicOMH

Despite pushing the sound of LA Roux forward from the debut, Trouble In Paradise shares its hit packed qualities.

75
Pretty Much Amazing

Trouble In Paradise somehow wins in a way that deems the comparison to its predecessor a moot point. Rather than drafting in its momentum, Trouble sets off on a new path entirely because there’s no other path to take.

70
Rolling Stone

On La Roux's second LP, her vintage synth-pop magnificence (see 2009's hit "Bulletproof") has warmed into the sort of electro-disco drama you imagine the Daft Punk robots blasting as they cruise down Highway 1.

70
The 405

Whilst the singles might not be as big as 'Bulletproof' or 'In for the Kill', Jackson is offering up something much more substantial and satisfying this time around.

70
AllMusic

Trouble in Paradise proves Jackson is still better than many of her contemporaries when it comes to making fizzy electro-pop.

67
Consequence of Sound

Still a pop record at the end of the day, the album is not without its share of weak lyrics. 

65
Pitchfork

For all Jackson's personal struggle and exploration, Paradise feels like a safe record, calibrated for the comfort of an imagined audience, working at its best when it becomes almost invisible—the accessory to the experience and not the experience itself. 

60
Drowned in Sound

Here, Jackson's attempts at mixing carefree sauntering with emotive bursts leads to a 'win some, lose some' situation.

60
PopMatters

While their may be nothing quite as earworm-worthy as “Bulletproof” on this album, she makes a strong case for an artist to keep listening to looking into the future.

MAN
56

It's nice :)

Euglena50
94

One of the best records of 2014, and an amazing comeback for La Roux.

Quet
69

Trouble In Paradise is a bit too flimsy, but is a very welcome refresh for La Roux.

vulnicurq
74

first listen //
a cute record, i really liked 3 tracks off it (and the production on 'kiss and not tell'), the rest did not move me that much/at all.

fav tracks : silent partner, paradise is you, let me down gently

jairo0nehemias
100

I think I'll talk about my point of view of how I saw this project in me, Trouble In Paradise second album of the british band La Roux, for me the debut was their top project because I lived so much with it and I felt and still feel it a project very close to me, both the lyrics and production or because of what was happening in my life at that time that I discovered them... Trouble In Paradise I listened to it for the first time a year ago or less and the first listen was good, I gave it ... read more

noobseo
88

it gets better with each listen i swear

tracks that i would like to mention: let me down gently, silent partner, uptight downtown, kiss and not tell, paradise is you, cruel sexuality, sexotheque, tropical chancer

tracks that i would not like to mention: the feeling

(81 => 88)

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Added on: May 12, 2014