Music may have been kind to Joey McIntyre back in the days of the New Kids, but in light of the sounds on Stay the Same, perhaps it's time for him to heed the words of Brady Bunch son Peter: It's time to change.
— Bob Gulla (Wall Of Sound)
eah, former New Kid on the Block Joey McIntyre may have music in his bones, but it doesn't mean that music is worth hearing. Sure, he grew up onstage and in public, singing and dancing his way through puberty before millions of screeching 10-year-olds. (To my knowledge, not the best judge of talent.) But at least in NKOTB, McIntyre had the rest of his bandmates and svengali Maurice Starr to hide behind.
On his first stab at a solo career, McIntyre, now a hoary 26 — and too old to capitalize on the current teensploitation bandwagon — stands alone. As writer or co-writer of all but one of 13 tunes here, he thinks enough of himself and the music in his bones to grab the spotlight. As a result, McIntyre's got no one to blame but himself for the shortcomings that score Stay the Same, from bland clichés (the embarrassingly naive "I Cried," the shallow "Let Me Take Your for a Ride") and overwrought arrangements (the ghastly over-produced "Stay the Same") to his severely limited vocal range (the nasally "I Can't Do It Without You"). As a vestige of NKOTB, McIntyre admirably attempts to retain at least some elements of white soul and funk on songs like "We Can Get Down" (co-produced by fellow New Kid Donnie Wahlberg) but those intentions get buried in a wash of radio-ready dross and faux electronic musicianship.