Karina - First Love

This girl has one of the most gorgeous voices I've ever heard. It's like Katharine McPhee mixed with Beyonce, Rihanna and Christina Aguilera. She's got the smoothness of Katharine's voice, the tone that Beyonce and Rihanna have and the power and control that Christina has. All in all, I think it's a perfect combination.

What makes her even better is the fact that melodically, her album is amazing. The melodies are tight, they're sure of themselves, they're not a result of different genres all put together haphazardly, they're clear and assertive that's the best way to put it I think.

When I first listened to her album, I knew absolutely nothing about her career or which songs were singles and what stories lay behind the songs. You can say that I listened to the album without biases, I had no idea how old she was, how she got signed, what chart position her album reached and all those stuff I usually like to know about an artist. What I heard was sheer brilliance.

Listening over to the album, there's probably at least one or two parts in each song that scream brilliance, but I'll just highlight my favorites on the album.

I love 90's Baby, believe it or not. A few of the songs on her album have a certain quirk to it that separates them from each other but somehow ties them together, and this one has this tambourine-sounding instrument keeping the beat. Then at the end, there's what sounds like either a xylophone or a triangle taking over. The melody sounds a lot like a mainstream single and for a while, I thought this was the lead single.

Baby, Baby is amazing as well, to tell you the truth. To my ear it's got a very gospel feel to it, but there's a part(the line around 2:12..) that reminds me of another song that I really can't remember. I know I heard that melody before, but I can't pinpoint which song it was. Anyway, this was the first song where I kind of liked the rap part, it accented the rest of the song well, actually. Effortless yet amazing.

Can't Find The Words has a beat similar to another song, I can't pinpoint it as well, but I've heard it on a non-R&B song, I'm sure of that. It's a bit slower than the other two songs and it focuses a bit more on the gorgeous side of a melody, not the quirk. I think it's a gorgeous song.

I won't review 16@ War just yet, because the review of that's coming sometime next week on my countdown so watch out for that, OK?

The song that caught my ear from the very start was Winner. The songs sounds a lot like Rihanna's Unfaithful and her voice actually sounds a bit like Rihanna as well. It's a strong song and production-wise it's amazing.

The Love We Got at certain parts sounds like something Alicia Keys would be interested in. Melodically it's brilliantly stunning, not just gorgeous or beautiful, I think it's stunning. I think that's the best way to describe the song so I'll leave it at that.

All in all, I love First Love. With melodies that are sure of themselves and a gorgeous voice to deliver those melodies, the album was definitely a pleasure to listen to, which is why........

to sum up the album:
Best Track: ALL of them!
Better Tracks: N/A
Least Favorite Track: N/A
THE RATING: 5/5(YES! Perfect!)