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Stacie Orrico
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Stacie Orrico
Virgin Records/ForeFront Records
Release: 03/25/2003
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Rated:
Review by:
Tyler Champley
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In an age where young pop divas saturate the market,
Stacie Orrico has released a polished sophomore effort sure
to woo the masses. She is only 17, but her voice outclasses
the likes of her elders Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears and
the like. She is neither tacky like Britney nor show offish and
overdramatic like Christina with her vocals. Stacie has
departed a bit from her pop sounding roots for an R&B feel
on her latest self-titled album. This CD delivers strong
melodies, catchy hooks and dance hits sure to become a
mainstay for her youthful audience.
Unlike many other artists, it was music that found Stacie
Orrico. When she was 12, Stacie entered a Christian music
contest with the encouragement of a friend. The event
turned out to be a bigger deal than she expected and she
ended up winning it. As coincidence would have it, the
Executive Vice President of A&R at ForeFront Records heard
Stacie perform and signed her almost
immediately.
With ForeFront being a Christian label and Stacie's debut
Genuine being largely spiritually influenced, it
was with a bit of hesitation the parent label Virgin picked this
release up. Although her debut CD had gone Gold, Virgin
was not immediately inclined to support her latest release to
a mainstream, secular audience. After a lot of fine-tuning
and many trips back to the production studio, Virgin decided
to release this CD. All of the extra work put into this album
shines as the songs are well evolved and possess a
presence of overwhelming maturity.
The first track on the CD, and first single, "Stuck," moves the
listener to the dance floor without hesitation. The R&B
grooves contributed from hit makers such as Dallas Austin
(Pink, TLC) and others are clearly heard here and
throughout the album. Citing influencing artists such as
Lauryn Hill, Whitney Houston and Ella Fitzgerald, Stacie has a
fully developed vocal presence and really makes her songs
groove. Songs like "Bounce Back," "Security," "Hesitation"
and "I Could Be The One" reinforce her credentials as a
serious and gifted artist.
Some fans may be disappointed with her relaxed grip of pop
influence and religious content, but this still can be found in
the album. Penned solely by Stacie, "Strong Enough" is the
heaviest pop song on the album and her strong religious
sincerity can be heard unwavering. I'm sure Virgin was very
careful to achieve a balance of these influences and the R&B
feel of this album. This has been achieved quite successfully
and the album is better for it.
Virgin is going full steam in promoting Stacie Orrico among
the likes of today's young female artists. With the album's
R&B feel and strong grooves, the audience that grabs this
release up should be rather diverse from young adolescent
girls, to the twenty something crowd and even older. The
writing is quality, the singing is a total delight and the
packaging of this beautiful young woman will gobble up fans
quickly. |
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