Former Deutschland Sucht den Superstar winner Mark Medlock teamed up with hitmaker Dieter Bohlen once again for his fourth album, Club Tropicana, a summer-themed album with a tropical style.
The partnership between Medlock and Bohlen, in which the former sings the songs of the latter, resulted in three smash hit albums prior to this one: Mr.
Lonely (2007), Dreamcatcher (2007), and Cloud Dancer (2008).
Those albums were relatively diverse in style for Bohlen productions, including ballads as well as dance songs.
In contrast, the style of Club Tropicana is almost entirely tropical.
Given Bohlen's hitmaking instincts, it's perhaps no surprise that Club Tropicana follows precisely in the direction of "Summer Love," the chart-topping hit from Medlock's prior album.
In fact, the lyrics aside, there's very little difference between "Summer Love" and the lead single from Club Tropicana, "Mamacita." In essence, "Mamacita" is a rewrite of "Summer Love." The remainder of Club Tropicana more or less sticks with the tropical motif.
The musical styles change a bit from one song to the next -- going from Latin-inflected dance-pop to reggae-inflected dance-pop, for instance -- but the tempo never changes, nor does the beach party vibe.
Granted, there are some ballads sequenced intermittently during the second half of the album (e.g., "Heart to Heart," "Forgive Me"), not to mention the album-closing blues oddity "Last Summer," but they're essentially filler.
After all, this is slicked-up schlager music in a tropical style performed by an attractive television celebrity.
It's intended to be fun and carefree entertainment.
There's nothing especially creative or unique about it.
Critical acclaim is not the point.
Consequently, as with past albums by Medlock, either you like it or you don't, and therefore if you were a fan of "Summer Love," chances are you'll enjoy Club Tropicana too.