Melicious
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| Melicious (aka Melissa Lefton) | ||
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| Studio album by Melissa Lefton | ||
| Released | Never Commercially Released | |
| Recorded | 2001 | |
| Genre | Pop, Electronica, Comedy | |
| Length | 36:50 | |
| Label | Jive Records, Zomba Recording | |
| Producer | The Matrix | |
"Melicious" is the title of the second album by singer Melissa Lefton. On many promotional copies it was simply titled "Melissa Lefton". The album was due for release in September, 2001 on Jive Records but that release was suspended indefinitely. It was produced by The Matrix.
The album featured well-produced pop songs that, when given a closer listen, were filled with bitterness, anger and social commentary. The song "Radio Rainbow" addressed date rape; "Sunnyville" was a song about occultism. The song "My Hit Song" was an ironic ditty imploring the listener to make the song itself a hit.
Lefton's image was tooled intentionally to mime that of other successful young pop stars like Britney Spears, when in fact Lefton is nearly thirty years old. This led to comparisons to Cyndi Lauper, who also wrote socially conscious pop songs geared toward a young audience when she was in her thirties.
As evidence of what was intended to be a heavily promoted project, the only songs commercially released by Lefton appeared on soundtracks. "He Blinded Me With Science," a cover of the Thomas Dolby classic, appeared on the soundtrack to "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius." "I Love Life" appeared on the soundtrack to The Princess Diaries. "My Hit Song" appeared on the soundtrack to On the Line. Lefton also had a song on the compilation album Cool Traxx! 3.
The only copies of the album that exist are full length promotional copies. There are two variations; one is an acetate promo which has a stick-on label and comes in an orange jewel case. The other comes in a cardboard sleeve and features Lefton in a t-shirt with a jolly roger on it. Though the image displayed here was the publicized actual album cover, no actually produced albums in circulation feature it. A three song sampler also exists which plays the songs "My Hit Song," "Ozone" and "Sugar Daddy".
A promotional short film was created to promote the album. Called "Behind the Muse", it was a fictionalized mockumentary spoofing the Behind the Music program and format. In it Lefton is depicted as an already-famous musician who rose to fame as a pop star only to succumb to an IV addiction to Sunny Delight. After a nearly fatal car crash she records an album called "Ow!", and then revitalizes her career as a Las Vegas lounge singer. The humor in the film is decidedly not for young people; for example, regarding her addiction, Lefton states: "I was making love to sweaty bums just to score a hit of Sunny D, and it didn't feel good on my vagina." The film was promotionally distributed on a VHS tape and digitized for viewing only; as of 2007 it is currently watchable on YouTube.
Lefton built up public interest despite the full length album never being released, and for several years after the fact promotional copies frequently sold on ebay for $50-100. Interest has since waned and these copies rarely appear for sale at all.
[edit] Tracklist
- My Hit Song
- ...Now I Got Punk Rock Fever
- Radio Rainbow
- Ozone
- Last Summer
- Sugar Daddy
- Bionic Man
- Sunnyville
- I Love Life
- Who Shot Jennifer?
- I Know You Want Me (How Can I Blame You?)
