"Listen Up!" - Reviews Thread

[john]

Pop Quiz review

Haley Reinhart is a star for another era.

A jazz-soaked voice that can be both sexy and sweet that was first featured on season 10 of “American Idol,” now has full range to show off. Listen Up! is one of the greatest chart-topping records from the late 60s that never was. But just because Listen is a throwback album, doesn’t mean it’s not very necessary for today.

Actually, it’s quite respectable to embrace such an old school sound. Flowing from doo-wop to jazz, from summery pop to disco, Reinhart’s debut LP isn’t necessarily riding the Adele train, but dusting off the old tracks left behind by performers like Dusty Springfield and Nancy Sinatra and giving them a new shine.

The third-place reality show finisher co-wrote on all but one of the album’s 14 tracks. “Free,” the album’s first single, is the only one the singer didn’t write on, but she still delivers a pure emotion that can too often be void in to world of pop music. A song about heartache and letting go, one might think this 21-year-old is an old soul.

Elsewhere, Haley shines on standouts like “Now That You’re Here,” “Hit The Ground Runnin’,” and the absolutely effervescent “What You Don’t Know.”

Listen Up! wasn’t crafted for Top 40 radio in 2012, but remains true to the artist at its core. And like all artists (with teams pressuring them for a product) sometimes inspirations can become too narrow or simplified, and that’s where the shine can become dull. Yet, for a debut, this is one of the strongest from the “American Idol” line.

It’s a strong start for an old soul in a new age.

Grade: B+

Download: “Liar,” “What You Don’t Know,” “Now That You’re Here,” “Undone,” “Wonderland.”

http://popquizbeat.com/2012/05/haley-rei...listen-up/