Portland pop princess returns home
Review by Justin Dean
Issue date: 2/25/10 Section: Student Life
For enthusiastic music lovers, there is a general rule of thumb that local is better than commercial. Normally I tend to agree. The musicians generally have been playing longer and have more talent and passion than commercially produced prepubescent vocalists, which often confuses the listeners as to the performer's gender.
So it goes without saying that when I heard of Rebecca Hollcraft (stage name Becca), who was born and raised in our own backyard of Portland, I was excited to give some local talent a listen.
For those of you dying to have yet another generic pop-punk girl artist added to your iTunes DJ shuffle mix while sipping mocktails on a Friday night between bento bowl sessions, then Becca is probably just for you. But everyone else will likely take a gander and think to him or herself, "haven't I heard this before?" Don't worry; you have. Avril Lavigne, anyone?
In fact, Becca isn't even local. She signed with Sony Music Entertainment in Japan. Her first album has been around since 2008 and is slated to make its stateside debut March 2. Debuting in a culture that adorns pop-punk in everything from the bedazzled phones to the pink and black leg stockings may have been to her advantage in getting her music sold. This international momentum will certainly give her an edge in getting her music recognized amidst the fray of pop-punk princesses.
The track "Perfect Me," is an example of her songwriting. The overall structure entails a past relationship that has gone awry. The opening guitars might imply another power ballad liberation song along the lines of Kelly Clarkson, but instead the lyrics try to take an ironic twist and ends up reflecting how she is obsessive and literally stalking her ex, while the backing music is uplifting and motivational.
Sometimes ironic mismatching of word and music like this works, but not in this case.
To her credit, Becca does have a powerful voice, but seeing that I've never heard her live, there isn't any way for me to tell if what I am hearing is authentic. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that what I'm hearing isn't over engineered. Becca is an example of the music industry's tendency to focus a little too much on the business side rather than true artistic expression.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wash out my ears with a Santana CD.
So it goes without saying that when I heard of Rebecca Hollcraft (stage name Becca), who was born and raised in our own backyard of Portland, I was excited to give some local talent a listen.
For those of you dying to have yet another generic pop-punk girl artist added to your iTunes DJ shuffle mix while sipping mocktails on a Friday night between bento bowl sessions, then Becca is probably just for you. But everyone else will likely take a gander and think to him or herself, "haven't I heard this before?" Don't worry; you have. Avril Lavigne, anyone?
In fact, Becca isn't even local. She signed with Sony Music Entertainment in Japan. Her first album has been around since 2008 and is slated to make its stateside debut March 2. Debuting in a culture that adorns pop-punk in everything from the bedazzled phones to the pink and black leg stockings may have been to her advantage in getting her music sold. This international momentum will certainly give her an edge in getting her music recognized amidst the fray of pop-punk princesses.
The track "Perfect Me," is an example of her songwriting. The overall structure entails a past relationship that has gone awry. The opening guitars might imply another power ballad liberation song along the lines of Kelly Clarkson, but instead the lyrics try to take an ironic twist and ends up reflecting how she is obsessive and literally stalking her ex, while the backing music is uplifting and motivational.
Sometimes ironic mismatching of word and music like this works, but not in this case.
To her credit, Becca does have a powerful voice, but seeing that I've never heard her live, there isn't any way for me to tell if what I am hearing is authentic. I'll give her the benefit of the doubt and assume that what I'm hearing isn't over engineered. Becca is an example of the music industry's tendency to focus a little too much on the business side rather than true artistic expression.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go wash out my ears with a Santana CD.
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