As a member of the generation who grew up listening to Britney and Christina, it’s easy to say that the last thing the music world needs is another blonde female pop star. Or at least that’s what Island Records was thinking, when they dropped up-and-coming singer Annie before they could produce her sophomore album, and intended major-label debut. Now back to her roots at an independent label (and one from her native Norway), Annie’s release of Don’t Stop cements her status as an indie electropop princess whose talent for catchy, synthesized beats and clever, sometimes bizarre lyrics is unmatched by her mainstream counterparts.
Although the twelve-track album houses a few forgettable songs which function as little more than space-filler (boring 80’s-esque ballad “When the Night” could have easily been excluded), what Annie lacks in consistency, she makes up for in talent. Her impressive vocal range, occasionally lost in her breathy chanting, takes center stage in the moody and introspective but still quick and pulsing “Bad Times.” Her ability to write scathing lyrics (rare in electronic music) is evident in “My Love is Better,” whose driving riff and powerful beat bring a surprisingly likable quality to a song whose repetition of “I’m so much better, so eat this” is egotistical enough to be straight out of a Fergie song. Annie’s snarky self-confidence reaches its pinnacle in “I Don’t Like Your Band,” in which she pokes fun at a mediocre musician she’s dating over a catchy, stuttering rhythm.
Not to be labeled a conceited diva like her contemporaries, Annie contrasts her tongue-in-cheek confidence with songs that toe the line between clever and downright strange. Listening to “The Breakfast Song” is a confounding experience—it’s infectiously melodic, but it turns out that the singer is simply asking the listener what she wants for breakfast. “Marie Cherie” sounds at times like a lament to a middle-school friendship gone awry, but the storyline is unclear. By the time the album concludes with “Heaven and Hell,” a Katy Perry-esque tribute to wavering love, Annie has proven she’s not your average Britney clone—with her unique beats and unusual lyrics, she’s different than anything we’ve ever seen before.
Voice’s Choices: “Bad Times,” “I Don’t Like Your Band,” “Heaven and Hell”
