It is rare that an artist wishes to use a hash tag in front of his album title, but for someone like will.i.am, its part of his production and innovative ideas. The album is William Adams aka will.i.am’s first new material after his first solo work in 2007titled Songs about Girls that failed commercially. As a solo artist, success has eluded him, so on #willpower; the pop/party-rapper plays it safe and has ninety percent of his album with collaborators. You have 15 tracks here made for the club, bringing in music pals like Eva Simons, Chris Brown, Britney Spears, Nicole Scherzinger, Justin Bieber and a few other pop and hip hop biggies. Besides a few solo tracks done by the BEPs frontman who has taken immense liberty with Auto – Tune, the album clocking close to a little over an hour should be a favorite with any clubber, but saying that we also have a few tracks that suck, but then which album doesn’t. 

Following an introductory 1 minute plus track Good Morning, will.i.am moves on to introduce us to his antics with Hello a pretty danceable piece. Well produced and reasonably enjoyable, will.i.am invites us into his world with words like “I don’t wanna be alone tonight / I’ll be rocking with you, rocking with you…” Further down he goes solo again with Geekin’ heavily laden with beats and Auto-Tune. Highlighting the hook ups, we have South Korean girl band 2NE1 giving rap on Getting Dumb a good moment on the record.  Let's Go, on which he's joined by Chris Brown, in another upbeat melody. Pure pop numbers This is Love, featuring Eva Simons as well as the album’s biggest asset Britney Spears collab on Scream & Shout is loud and a sure replay. Her cocky vocals are the pickup lines here. “I wanna scream and shout and let it all out…we sayin’ oh-wee-oh, wee-oh-wee oh…” Both cuts are ‘best of the best’ and surpass what follows on the rest of the album. The title track #ThatPower is another super saver for the album, bringing in with it pop’s super teen star Justin Bieber on a corny, but catchy enough hook.

Expect some raunchy lyrics on most of the songs, most of which are written by will.i.am. On Gettin’ Dumb, and just as the title suggests, the track is slightly just that, hitting out at ‘drinking’ and ‘turning it up’ in the club. On Geekin’, he details his love for technology, with some smart rapping. Newcomers don’t add much fizz either. Freshy, a collaboration featuring MC Juicy J is a downer with lyrics that don’t really say anything much. Miley Cyrus doesn’t help either. Fall Down with words like “You make my world, you make my world go ‘round / you turn me up / you turn me upside down…” lack the luster we’d expect from the dynamic female heartthrob. Ghetto Ghetto speaks about the life in the ghetto, through the eyes of a child. Will.i.am talks about the evils of drugs and children living life without their parents. Ghetto Ghetto the final cut has a good hook, crisp rapping and will.i.am known for encouraging new singers, features Baby Kaely, a young child singing over will.i.am’s vocals.

Will.i.am has played a gargantuan role in pop – hip hop music and with this album he cements his stand in the industry with a half baked successful album with his friends. #willpower has good cuts and a few silly tracks.

-- Reviewd by Verus Ferreira