Building a Better Pop Star
Don’t expect me to post multiple entries a day very often. I’m just trying to make up for lost time and to get used to writing more posts in a shorter amount of time. Hopefully, the quality of my writing doesn’t suffer (if there is any quality to be
lost in the first place).
Kyle Lardner
Today’s artist is 18-year old pop songstress Kyle Lardner who is musically somewhere between Avril Lavigne and Jessica Simpson, without all of superficial shine and polish provided by major label bucks. But she does have a few things going for her that the dumb, ditzy celebutantes that litter the United States’s entertainment industry don’t have. For one thing, she actually has talent in writing, composing, and playing music, which she has used in the creation of her debut album Sail Among the Stars. It’s far from being a perfect album, but it’s a competent endeavor with some strong emotion and heartfelt effort obvious in its creation. Her songs show a sincere desire to express real feelings not built in the factory that is a major record label’s recording studio and, in some cases, to send a clear personal message to the listener, whereas the only message to be found in any song by the likes of Paris Hilton or Brittney Spears is “Shower me with attention and money!”
One important thing that Kyle Lardner has that most of the trashy celebutantes lack is dignity. It’s nice to have a young, female pop singer out there who isn’t mired in scandal after scandal and isn’t constantly hounded by the vultures of the entertainment news industry. We need entertainers that you can look up to without having to sift through all sorts of glaring flaws. I suppose that’s one of the fringe benefits of being indie: no one really cares about every single move you make and dives on your every little mistake or fashion faux pas. It allows a certain amount of creative freedom within your genre. All in all, I guess it’s better to be a Kyle Lardner than a Lindsay Lohan.
In a way, Lardner reminds me of a younger Nora Jones. By all accounts, Nora Jones is considered a pop artist, but her music is not so predictable and shallow as a lot of the other tunes put out by other young female artists. There are elements of jazz and folk implemented into the production heavy, glossy pop formula. This is pretty much what describes the sound of Sail Among the Stars. Songs like “Costa Rica,” “When We’re Gone,” “All the Things (You Never Say),” and “Neverland” stand out above the rest of the album in terms of overall quality and show that Kyle Lardner has great potential for improvement.
Purchase Sail Among the Stars by Kyle Lardner
Kyle Lardner – When We’re Gone
Kyle Lardner – All the Things (You Never Say)
Kyle Lardner – Neverland