Photo from pressplayok.com
By Rebecca Brooks
Staff Writer
Alessia Cara’s debut album, “Know-It-All,” debuted at number seven on the iTunes Album Charts this past weekend, behind Justin Bieber, at number one, and One Direction, both of whom released albums the same day. This is the follow up to her debut EP, “These Four Pink Walls,” which introduced the world to her song “Here,” which soon became a sleeper hit.
Her voice is notable for its “blue-eyed soul” feel, to which critics have compared to artists such as Norah Jones and Adina Howard.
I listened to the deluxe version of the album, which includes three bonus tracks, including a “2:00 AM version” of her hit song “Here.” While I am not a big fan of pop or R&B/soul music, I found Cara’s album to be enjoyable.
Her voice is silky smooth and has a distinctive sound to it that reminded me of Alicia Keys in her early days. The song “Here,” particularly had that vibe, the song giving me the same melodic feel as Keys’ hit song “Fallen.”
My other favorite tracks on the album include the opening track “Seventeen,” “Outlaws” and the album’s closing track “Scars To Your Beautiful.”
The last track especially highlights Cara’s vocal talent, the subject matter being equally as beautiful.
My only real complaint about the album as a whole is that there is not enough variety going on. A lot of songs sound exactly the same in melody and feeling. Each song is either heavily reliant on a piano ballad or consists of studio drum beats and synthesizers.
Cara definitely has vocal talent and a wider range of abilities than this album shows, and it almost limits her by having a repetitive nature.
For her next album, I think it would be wise if she stepped up to the challenge of a more diverse sounding album that truly shows off her vocal range and capabilities.
However, Cara is still young, at only 19 years old, and has a record deal on her hands as a result of her uploading acoustic covers on YouTube instead of being discovered on one of the various talent shows on television today.
I think she has a lot more to offer to the music industry and has potential to become a big star. She just needs to step up to the plate on her next album and show the world what she is truly capable of.