Easy listening with Colbie Caillat

There are lots of females in the hit charts nowadays. They are not hard to categorize as they all seem to belong to the world of R&B. Check out hip-hop from Beyoncé Knowles, more of the same from Rihanna, a heavier version of the stuff from Mary J. Blige and some soul from Alicia Keys.

It is no wonder then that something lighter and devoid of sampling or vocal histrionics would emerge as unique and more interesting. Such is the music of blonde and bright-eyed Colbie Caillat. This girl has the sweetheart looks that echo Jennifer Aniston’s and she sounds sunny, sexy and happy, qualities which we can certainly use more of these days.

Although she is the daughter of a recording engineer who recorded and mixed the Fleetwood Mac milestone release Rumours, Colbie’s music does not rock and is very relaxing. Her songs possess an easy lope, the same kind you get while walking on a sunkissed beach or lolling around on lazy Sunday afternoons. Mostly acoustic, it reminds the listener of Jack Johnson spiced with Norah Jones. Nothing earthshaking, just simple pop with hints of jazz and the blues that is quite engaging.

Colbie’s debut Coco is one of the biggest selling albums in the world today. It is also one of the most successful new releases to come out of the Internet. Colbie was discovered there singing her composition Bubbly. There she first made her mark as the No. 1 unsigned artist on myspace with a total of 14 million plays. She next conquered iTunes by making No. 1 within hours after her CD came out and now averages 50,000 plays a day.

The 22-year-old Colbie does not really present anything new. Females who sing, write songs and play the guitar have been around for ages, many of them truly great artists. But then she came at a time when buyers were drowning their ears in R&B and could really use something else. Happily it turned out that her web success was no fluke. Colbie is a natural musician who approaches her lyrics with surprising maturity and interprets her songs very well.

Coco is mostly made up of love songs but Colbie plays around different angles unusual for a CD of this sort. She thinks of a bad affair as a Battle, of drowning her heartbreak with a drink in Midnight Bottle or what having a baby is like in Capri. The other cuts are the hit single which is truly Bubbly, Oxygen, where she shows great vocals, plus The Little Things, One Fine Wire, Feelings Show, Realize, Tailor Made, Magic and Tied Down.

But then those are only titles and do not really matter in an album of this sort. What Coco does best is set a vibe that continues on and on with every cut. It is easy, unobtrusive and infectious. You can listen to it, drive to it, party to it or just play it around the house. It is the sort of album that Pinoys enjoy very much like those acoustic CDs from some years back and those bossa novas that still sell a lot.

In case you have not noticed, the bossa divas have stopped trying to sound authentic. They have instead ditched the Latin beat and switched to acoustic pop. Since that is the case, they should be able to learn a lot from Colbie’s Coco.

Top 200 albums

Meanwhile, the Top 10 titles in Billboard Magazine’s Top 200 Albums list are As I Am by Alicia Keys; Juno, the soundtrack album by Various Artists; Growing Pains by Mary J. Blige; In Rainbows by Radiohead; Love Behind the Melody by Raheem DeVaughn; Taylor Swift by Taylor Swift; Live from Philadelphia by John Legend; Now 26 by Various Artists; Exclusive by Chris Brown; and Hannah Montana 2 Meet Miley Cyrus Soundtrack by Miley Cyrus.

The Top 10 singles as per the Hot 100 tabulation are Low by Flo Rida featuring T-Pain; No One by Alicia Keys; Apologize by Timbaland feat. OneRepublic; With You by Chris Brown; Clumsy by Fergie; Kiss Kiss by Chris Brown feat. T-Pain; Don’t Stop the Music by Rihanna; Take You There by Sean Kingston; Paralyzer by Finger Eleven; and Love Songs by Sara Bareilles.