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Jessi
Hamilton: Self-Titled
By the second track of Jessi Hamiltons debut CD, Im transported back to the seventh grade. My beautiful, blonde, baby-faced boyfriend has just severed our two-week relationship. Heartbroken, I know that Jessi will understand my pain. Ill cry for you/Ill cry for me/Ill cry for what we had together/Ill cry for what will never be, she sings, and my 12-year-old self wails along passionately, a la Bridget Jones to Celine Dions All by Myself. Granted, Hamilton was only 10 when I experienced this trauma, but even then, she was a seasoned musician. She started her formal piano training at the age of four; voice training began three years later. At 14, she met current producer Chris Stevens, who helped her put together her first demos. Hamilton eventually attracted the attention of legends Randy Newman and Al Green, both of whom contributed songs to her self-titled debut. After thanking the young songstress for recording Every Time it Rains, Newman is quoted as saying that he wrote the track for Michael Jackson, who didnt want it. This worked out nicely for Hamilton: Every Time it Rains is one of the strong points of this album. Other songs sound like Evanescence/Amy Lee power ballads or pop ditties by Hamiltons vocal twin, Mandy Moore. Though Hamilton was named one of the best unsigned acts in America by ROCK-R-GRL Magazine, its the type of rock found in more aggressive tracks by Britney Spears or the now-defunct girl group Dream. Hamilton will most likely share these acts young female audience, which is fitting considering her age. Producers Stevens and Bruce Pilato ought to remember this concept. Hamilton wrote or co-wrote 11 songs with her producers, and the ones she wrote on her own are age-appropriate, if somewhat generic. But things sometimes go awry when Stevens and Pilato get involved. For example, it is difficult to accept work life laments from a 20-year-old: in Keep the Motor Runnin, Hamilton complains that shes got to leave the daily grind because she cant take this work or these kiss-ass jerks. And her voice and persona both seem far too naive to be paired with the likes of Ghetto Prince, who informs Hamilton that he will do things to you to make you throw out your laptop in an anti-technology love song called Turn Off, Shut Down. The strengths here occur when the music, lyrics and Hamiltons age intersect in pleasing ballads like Missing You Again or Al Greens cheerful pop-soul number, People in the World (Keep On Lovin You). Like Mandy Moore, Hamilton should keep it sweet. Preteens everywhere will thank her.
This album can be purchased at the Jessi Hamilton Official Website About LOTD Contact/Staff Advertise Home All content © LEFT OFF THE DIAL 2001-2005. All rights reserved. |
