Me & My Piano

Description

KRYSTAL ME & MY PIANOWith her dark fingernails, heavy eyeliner, and dyed-black spiky hair, Backstreet Boys protégé Krystal looks like Pink, but that s where the similarities end. While Pink is all hip-hop street cred, Krystal is a sensitive young Christian woman who s devoted to her piano. Most of the songs on Me and My Piano sound the same: piano, strings, drum machines, overproduced vocals, and traditional pop structure, right down to the key change three-quarters through each track. Standouts include the first single, "Supergirl," a strong, danceable blend of girl power and youthful vulnerability, and "Angel on My Shoulder," a ballad that recalls Mariah Carey s early inspirational offerings (with the accompanying vocal tricks). "You re the Reason," a mid-tempo ballad featuring the Backstreet Boys, would be a perfect TRL chartbuster with its handclaps and softly strumming guitar if the melody wasn t so high, making it impossible for both Krystal and her teenage audience to sing along. The lyrics of every song could be about either a boyfriend or the Lord, which should comfort Christian parents looking for "secular" music appropriate for their adolescent girls. Overall, the album is capable but seamlessly uniform: background music to do your homework by, but little else. --Courtney Kemp