Vanessa goes where her emotions take her

The title of the album is Be Not Nobody and Vanessa Carlton has taken this advice to heart. The young pop artist will never be considered a nobody anymore. Her single A Thousand Miles is in the top 10 of Billboard Magazine’s Hot 100 list. Her debut album is also a hit worldwide. Her only problem these days is that she is constantly being compared to other famous females in the field of music.

They say she looks like Michelle Branch. And she really does. They are both young, slim and sport straight blonde hair framing an oval face. She sounds like Tori Amos. Almost, although Vanessa leans more towards pop rock which in turn recalls Fiona Apple but of a more accessible sort. She is a threat to last year’s sensational newcomer Alicia Keys because she also plays the piano, writes her own songs and has powerful vocals.

Given all these "similarities," it is very difficult to pinpoint just who she is by only listening to her songs. So the only way you can keep Vanessa in mind is to get a good look at that amusing video of A Thousand Miles where she is shown playing this piano that goes everywhere. After that I assure you that you will find her quite capable of holding her own against Michelle, Tori, Fiona, Alicia and whoever else she gets compared to.

Vanessa’s mother is a piano teacher who had classical music playing in the house all the time and who made sure her daughter got her lessons. On the other hand her father had rock music playing in the car all the time. It is no wonder then that she picked out her first tune, It’s a Small World on the piano at age two and composed her first song when she was eight. Her music lessons took a back seat though when she became fascinated with ballet. She spent three years at the School of American Ballet until she decided that the dance’s rigid discipline did not agree with her.

She was 17 when she began working on her demos while waiting on tables at a New York eatery. It was not long before she was performing her works in various clubs that she soon caught the attention of people who found her unique mix of rock and classical music quite exciting. Vanessa’s approach to music can be rightly described as fearless. She is not bound by convention. She goes where her emotions take her. She does not abide by existing rules that say you cannot do this or that when writing or performing popular songs.

This is the reason why Vanessa’s music sounds so new. Of course, it would be great if she can get into more provocative themes than the usual boy/girl romantic angle but she is young and has enough time to polish her writing. Besides, even if she doesn’t, she still has a solid future as a singer as proven by her soulful take on the Rolling Stones classic Paint It Black.

Nu Divas

Vanessa Carlton is not part of the line-up of female performers included in Nu Divas though she will surely be among those considered for a second volume. But if you like a variety of girl sounds and want to save on cost by having them in a single CD, this is the compilation for you. Nu Divas has 18 cuts and features almost every popular female act of the moment, from Whitney Houston to Atomic Kitten is represented. This is the sort of album you will surely want to keep and will listen to again 10 years from now to remember how the females sounded at the beginning of the new millennium.

There are the phenomenal sellers like Fallin’ by Alicia Keys, I’m Like a Bird by Nelly Furtado, Genie in a Bottle by Christina Aguilera, Independent Woman Part 1 by Destiny’s Child and Breathless by The Corrs. There are interesting takes by the top divas of pop music today, It’s Not Right, But It’s Okay by Whitney Houston, Family Affair by Mary J. Blige, Spanish Guitar by Toni Braxton, I Will Remember You by Sarah McLachlan, I’m a Slave 4 U by Britney Spears and You Were Meant for Me by Jewel. And that’s not all, there are also contributions from Garbage, Dido, Natalie Imbruglia, Atomic Kitten, Blu Cantrell and others.