Chris Fallon
04/14/10, 01:44 AM
Becca - Alive!!
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Record Label: Sony Music/RED
Following in the footsteps of Avril Lavigne and Paramore's Hayley Williams, 20-year-old Portland native Becca Holcraft wants to be the next hard-rocking female with attitude. Already a big smash in Japan, the young starlet hopes to strike the same chord with fans of chicks who can sing a note or two, look good while doing so, and in the process, rock hard.
Yeah, okay, sure. Sounds good on paper, right? I mean, Hayley Williams has no problem with it. Avril Lavigne has become less bratty teen queen and more, um, sassy bitch? Becca certainly isn't Ann Wilson or even Alanis Morrisette (she's barely tolerable as a Demi Lovato knock-off), but with Meredith Brooks (she sang that song "Bitch" like 12 years ago) behind her, Becca is prepared to leave her footprint in the rock world.
Problem is, it all feels far too gimmicky to be taken seriously. The "rock" mantra is stressed so prominantly in promotional photos and press releases, you're waiting for Becca to strut out in the same leather pants Cher wore in "If I Could Turn Back Time." Hugging guitars, sporting cool hats, wearing ripped tees -- alright, we get it. You're edgy, you aren't being Miley -- don't force the issue. Make it come alive in your music. That's where you cash your checks in, and sadly, they bounce back hard. Becca appears to be a talented singer, but it doesn't come across naturally. She isn't a voice you could pick out of a crowd and as hard as she tries, her emotions come off as stiff and rigid; she could sell a "Sk8er Boi" cover, for sure, but she is intent on writing "deep" stuff, and it simply stalls before it can reach the gate.
Make no mistake: this isn't sexism. This is purely cashing in on a trend. Girls playing "hard rockin' tunes" with an unmistakably pop sheen to them is all the rage right now, and Becca's another young, cute and gentle-voiced singer trying to find a way in. There's nothing here you haven't heard anywhere else, and unless Fefe Dobson or hell, Meredith Brooks for that matter, can convince Becca the American public is going to buy it... she'd be better off re-working it all for a more down-to-earth approach.
Her lyrics are Jewel-poem rejects, and the tightly-wound instrumentals aren't even Becca's doing (she can pose with a guitar, but can she play one?). They sound huge and are perfect for teenagers' ears, but the lack of heart is so visible, it's blinding. "Where's the sun, all I see are the clouds / I just wanna run, break free from this crowd ... Isn't there someone who, understands my pain." Considering how long this kid's been in the business (according to her press release), did she simply plagiarize her old middle school diary? Even emo kids would have a difficult time swallowing this trite nonsense. Even when she's struggling to sound like the female Vince Neil on "Turn to Stone," it's so dramatically forced, it really is a challenge to take seriously ("I've got a lightning rod in my vein"? What the fuck does that even mean?). Party tracks like "Shibuya" or "Turn Up the Stereo" have a nice energy to them, but in the end, the album gets bogged down by trying to be something it should never have made itself out to be: emotionally vulnerable, which is so clear-cut, it's like sharpening broken glass on your knuckles.
Go listen to some Heart or pick up a damn Go-Go's record. At least they were honest enough to let their hard living ways leak out via recorded footage. Becca is just another clone in a very fast-growing, ostentatious line that needs to shorten up quickly. Lawyer'd.
Pink; Avril Lavigne; Demi Lovato; DamoneOfficial Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/beccachanofficial)Amazon MP3 (http://www.amazon.com/Alive/dp/B0039A8QHW) | iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/alive/id357203298)
Release Date: March 2, 2010
Record Label: Sony Music/RED
Following in the footsteps of Avril Lavigne and Paramore's Hayley Williams, 20-year-old Portland native Becca Holcraft wants to be the next hard-rocking female with attitude. Already a big smash in Japan, the young starlet hopes to strike the same chord with fans of chicks who can sing a note or two, look good while doing so, and in the process, rock hard.
Yeah, okay, sure. Sounds good on paper, right? I mean, Hayley Williams has no problem with it. Avril Lavigne has become less bratty teen queen and more, um, sassy bitch? Becca certainly isn't Ann Wilson or even Alanis Morrisette (she's barely tolerable as a Demi Lovato knock-off), but with Meredith Brooks (she sang that song "Bitch" like 12 years ago) behind her, Becca is prepared to leave her footprint in the rock world.
Problem is, it all feels far too gimmicky to be taken seriously. The "rock" mantra is stressed so prominantly in promotional photos and press releases, you're waiting for Becca to strut out in the same leather pants Cher wore in "If I Could Turn Back Time." Hugging guitars, sporting cool hats, wearing ripped tees -- alright, we get it. You're edgy, you aren't being Miley -- don't force the issue. Make it come alive in your music. That's where you cash your checks in, and sadly, they bounce back hard. Becca appears to be a talented singer, but it doesn't come across naturally. She isn't a voice you could pick out of a crowd and as hard as she tries, her emotions come off as stiff and rigid; she could sell a "Sk8er Boi" cover, for sure, but she is intent on writing "deep" stuff, and it simply stalls before it can reach the gate.
Make no mistake: this isn't sexism. This is purely cashing in on a trend. Girls playing "hard rockin' tunes" with an unmistakably pop sheen to them is all the rage right now, and Becca's another young, cute and gentle-voiced singer trying to find a way in. There's nothing here you haven't heard anywhere else, and unless Fefe Dobson or hell, Meredith Brooks for that matter, can convince Becca the American public is going to buy it... she'd be better off re-working it all for a more down-to-earth approach.
Her lyrics are Jewel-poem rejects, and the tightly-wound instrumentals aren't even Becca's doing (she can pose with a guitar, but can she play one?). They sound huge and are perfect for teenagers' ears, but the lack of heart is so visible, it's blinding. "Where's the sun, all I see are the clouds / I just wanna run, break free from this crowd ... Isn't there someone who, understands my pain." Considering how long this kid's been in the business (according to her press release), did she simply plagiarize her old middle school diary? Even emo kids would have a difficult time swallowing this trite nonsense. Even when she's struggling to sound like the female Vince Neil on "Turn to Stone," it's so dramatically forced, it really is a challenge to take seriously ("I've got a lightning rod in my vein"? What the fuck does that even mean?). Party tracks like "Shibuya" or "Turn Up the Stereo" have a nice energy to them, but in the end, the album gets bogged down by trying to be something it should never have made itself out to be: emotionally vulnerable, which is so clear-cut, it's like sharpening broken glass on your knuckles.
Go listen to some Heart or pick up a damn Go-Go's record. At least they were honest enough to let their hard living ways leak out via recorded footage. Becca is just another clone in a very fast-growing, ostentatious line that needs to shorten up quickly. Lawyer'd.
Pink; Avril Lavigne; Demi Lovato; DamoneOfficial Myspace (http://www.myspace.com/beccachanofficial)Amazon MP3 (http://www.amazon.com/Alive/dp/B0039A8QHW) | iTunes (http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/alive/id357203298)