Album Review- Britt Nicole- Gold

Artists who want to be successful understand one thing: in order to keep their fan base, they have to both record songs that are similar to what they've done in the past and add new sounds and styles to their wheelhouse. Britt Nicole wants to be a successful artist. Since she burst on the scene in 2007, Britt Nicole has filled a gaping hole in CCM for relevant female pop singers.  Gold continues to emphasize that point by showcasing musical styles that fully encompass the current mainstream pop market.  While her last album, 2009's The Lost Get Found featured many radio ready mid-tempo songs in the vein of Jordin Sparks, Leona Lewis, and Natasha Bedingfield, Gold builds on that sound and adds a strong dance presence to the mix.  This album is truly a pop radio fan's delight.  The title track leads of the album and is a perfectly balanced musical mixture of all of Katy Perry's singles from her Teenage Dream album. She even included the requisite rap bridge that most mainstream pop songs have today, except she doesn't need Snoop Dog (or Kanye, Missy Elliot, or BOB) to rap for her- she handles the verse by herself.  Later on she does include an Lecrae on the catchy (and hopefully second single) "Ready or Not", but this pairing seems very natural and many fans have been hoping these two artists would collaborate.  The results are sweet and satisfying and it is a highlight of the album.  There are plenty of midtempo Pop songs to continue her streak of top 10 hits at Christian Radio (first single "All This Time", "You Are Who You Say You Are", "Stand", bonus track "Straight For Your Heart"), but it is on the more experimental dance tracks that Britt really shines.  "Breakthrough" begins as a dark acoustic ballad until the chorus "breaks through" (pun intended) with a huge dubstep beats and a driving chorus.  "Amazing Life" (and its equally stellar Capital Kings dubstep remix) follows and it sounds like a twin to JLo's comeback hit "On The Floor-, except with a better vocal (It is interesting to note that both songs seem to borrow melody lines from Rebecca St. James' "Lean On", a little known album track from her 2000 album Transform) and "Looks Like Love" is a traditional CCM pop/rock track that should be a youth group mission trip theme song at some point in time.  The album closes with three ballads, which usually is a disappointment, but each of these songs take on a life of their own with varying levels of success. The best of the three is "Still That Girl"; it begins as a quirky, gentile lullaby reminicient of The Civil Wars before opening up to a full fledged pop anthem with a cool drum beat and and a souring chorus. "The Sun is Rising" reminds me of an American Idol winner's song.  However, I wish Britt would have went for the big glory notes at the end (as all good Amereican Idols do) instead of settling for a softer ending. The standard edition of Gold ends with "Seeing For The First Time", a song inspired by her recent baptism and features one of Britt's most impressive and emotive vocal performances to date (especially during the bridge).  However, while I do like the song, it has little to do with the story behind it; which brings me to the one critique of this album: it seems that so much time was spent on the melodies and production of the songs that the lyrics seem to suffer a bit.  Sure, they fit well within Britt's target audience, (teen girls) and they are quite encouraging, but most songs seem to stay on the surface level and never seem to get personal or go past the obvious spiritually. (The only real exception to this is the carrier single "All This Time")  However, it is apparent that quite a bit of planning went into the making of Gold and the generic lyricism seems to be part of the plan.  The goal with this record seems to be to encourage and inspire young people while giving them music that is relevant to them. And in that Britt Nicole definitely succeeds.

Radio Ready: Any song, pick one!  These are my predictions: All This Time, Stand, Ready or Not, Who You Say You Are, Amazing Life (mainstream)

iPod Picks: Breakthrough, Amazing Life (Capital Kings Remix), Ready or Not, All This Time, Stand, Gold