Actress, Singer Alexz Johnson Previews Her Long-Awaited Debut Album
Another face joins the crowd of actresses and singers. But the face of Alexz Johnson stands out as she packs a voice that puts the “legendary voices” to shame.
Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera cannot compare to Johnson. Even today’s top-notch vocalists Carrie Underwood, Kelly Clarkson and Leona Lewis fall slightly behind.
Where did this powerhouse vocalist come from?
Johnson gained a musical following when she starred as Annie Thelen on the supernatural and music-influenced Disney channel series “So Weird” in 2001.
After disappearing for a while, the Canadian star returned to television for the role of Jude Harrison on “Instant Star.” The show follows Harrison’s career in the music industry after winning the first season of an “American Idol”-type show.
Playing Harrison, Johnson sang the majority of the music on the show and released a soundtrack for each of the four seasons containing the songs featured in the show.
Johnson wrote many of the songs for the first season, but stepped back from the writing to distance the music of Jude Harrison from that of Alexz Johnson.
Though her vocal abilities grew with each season, her songwriting abilities from the first season remain ground-breaking.
“I drift away to a place / Another kind of life / Take away the pain / I create my paradise / Everything I've held has hit the wall / What used to be yours, isn't yours at all / Falling apart and all that I'm asking / Is it a crime, am I over reacting?” she sings on the haunting track “Skin.”
As she continues, the lyrics grow darker. “Oh, he's under my skin / Just give me something to get rid of him / I got a reason now to bury this alive / Another little white lie / I don't believe I'll be alright / I don't believe I'll be ok / I don't believe how you've thrown me away / I do believe you didn't try / I do blame you for every lie / When I look in your eyes I don't see mine,” she sings on the self-penned track.
The spark of “Skin” lies in the raw emotion she releases in her voice. It becomes frightening and beautiful at the same time.
In between seasons, Johnson filmed the horror movies “Final Destination 3” and “Devil’s Diary.” As the seasons went on and eventually ended, more music came, including the breathtaking tracks “I Don’t Know If I Should Stay,” “Don’t You Dare” and “I Still Love You.”
However, when the series wrapped, it ended with the gut-wrenching “2 a.m.”
Johnson’s vocals cannot be described as she sends notes up and down so effortlessly.
“I must have missed your call / Gathering up these nights / Black on black / I know your voice like it's my own / And it makes my heart go slack / I can’t tell the stars / From the downtown lights,” she sings before throwing everything she has into “If I said I was truly over you / My heart would say amen / But I give in to the cold caress of 2 AM / If I admit I can’t get used to this / Will my heart break again? / As I fall / Into the waiting arms of 2 AM.”
With the show behind her, the Gemini Award-winning actress moved further into her solo music career. She signed with Epic Records and plans to release her debut album later this year. To fill the time in between, she took a guest-starring role on the CW-series “Smallville” playing Saturn Girl and will star as twins in the upcoming thriller “Stranger with My Face,” according to her official MySpace.
Also on her MySpace, she released five songs from the upcoming album. Only fitting after signing with Epic Records, she created a sound defined by the word epic.
In her blog, she described the songs as, “Incredibly good - very different from the songs you've come to know through Instant Star, much more rhythmic, with almost a world beat."
For the first preview, “Swallowed,” melodic and backed with a bongo and chimes, she provides simple lyrics that become more impressive as the song plays.
“Oh my darling, have they all be lying? / Oh my baby, what’s the use in trying? / Oh my darling, tell me, am I moving? / Oh my baby, tell me I’m improving / Oh my darling, can you all still see me? / Oh my baby, can you see they’re leaving? / On a train, hiding in the forest / Leaving only little messes for us / Hey now, oh no, don’t wanna let it go / Tell me my baby, now am I being swallowed?” she sings in an almost tribe-like style.
The girl who wrote “Skin” developed into a daring young woman. One of the new songs, “Running with the Devil,” sends chills down your spine.
In between chants of “Running with the devil,” she sings, “Memories hurt even more when you burn / Like you’re walking on a tightrope, having no hope / Looking down for a face or smile
You find it there, you fell / Writing deep letters to yourself, maybe this one will help / Throw it all away and hurt yourself / When you’re done see, what was all about / See the hurt didn’t help.”
In the opposite direction of “Devil,” she included the ballad “Golden.”
The vocals heard on “2 a.m.” return on this track. Her tone angelic, she sings with the accompaniment of the piano.
“Sit up, come you / So I have made you / Oh rain, fall too hard / So I can keep you / Oh rain, don’t follow through / Follow through, don’t follow / You’re golden, you’re gold aren’t you?” she enchants with her voice.
“Easy,” a throw-back jazz track with traces of scatting, could described with one word. Genius.
“Oh, I must’ve been wrong, scattin’ along / Under the lights ’til the crack of dawn / Never was right, I’m usually tight / Under lights past three at night / Easy, easy when you kiss me / Callin’ the shots, and buyin’ another round / Ooo-wee easy isn’t sleazy / Living it up’s not bringin’ a lady down / Oooo, mmm, da da da da, mmm, no,” she sings so convincingly, you question her age. A 22-year-old mastering jazz style of the 1920s with a modern twist is rare.
The last peek into the album, “Chicago,” another worldly track with tribal beats, combines brilliant lyrics and hooks.
“On a plane, I’m leaving for Chicago / Any place I go, you can’t run / Leaving town, won’t be found here tomorrow / Telling stories, mine has just begun / Taking over, leaving no traces / Only smiling faces in the sun / Starting over, tying up my laces / But the damage is done,” she sings.
As beats and false endings with hauntingly impressive returns complete the song, one part of the song stands out.
“I won’t be fine about time / Need someone to hold back my hands / Let me loose, let me fall
They’ll understand, understand / Hurt them once, maybe twice / They’ll find you in a ditch somewhere / Spreading wings, little things / I’m keeping you away from me,” she threatens.
For the aggressiveness to come through in such a way, one would be brave to cross this girl.
While Johnson’s music does not sound like anything on the radio, she may not gain the airplay she deserves. However, she marches to the beat of her own drum.
She, hands down, is one of the greatest vocalists of this generation, as well as one of the most gifted songwriters.
Even if her release does not rake in the sales, it will be one of few albums to be considered a masterpiece. If the remainder of the album sounds like the five tracks on her MySpace, she could take a future “Album of the Year” award at many award shows because of her creativity.
Alexz Johnson Forum
Thema drucken
18.03.2009 15:57
Antworten
