Bea Miller - Not An Apology

Bea Miller
Not An Apology
2015

Powerful pop music should be a genre all unto itself. It is tricky to craft a song that has an earworm quality but still maintains some sort of meaning. Paring those with a strong unique voice is an even tougher sell. Bea Miller's debut Not An Apology has done that and more. First there is her voice, throaty and just the right amount of strength puts her in the Kelly Clarkson echelon. She sounds young and vibrant and sings about broad topics, although mostly focusing on love and loss as most of pop songs do. Her sound is quite interesting and her moving towards the broad is a clear choice. She could have easily been an indie artist somewhere on the fringe but with Not An Apology she is really going for it. And a lot of these songs are very successful, they have exactly what you are looking for in an artist like this. "Young Blood", "Fire N Gold" and "Force of Nature" in particular are just the right amount of catchy and poignant that you want from a great pop song.

There are some misses here though. "Enemy Fire" lacks almost any sense of energy and is produced within an inch of it's life. Where she sounds effortless on "Force of Nature", "Enemy Fire" is so forced and really the first time on the record when Bea starts to show some cracks. The second half of the album has Bea Miller getting more angsty almost to a pop punk level and anything authentic slips away. "Not An Apology" is so contrived and doesn't fit her vocal range at all. She succeeds in the lower pitches and this song in particular has her belting it out, not her strong suit. Where in the first half of the album she really connects the second half has her pandering to the youth which is completely transparent and almost reprehensible ('Dracula", "Rich Kids"). Not An Apology is almost a tale of two albums; One featuring power pop tracks fitting into her wheelhouse perfectly and another of a teen angsty guitar heavy mess. Song selection and a bit more of a discerning ear would do Bea Miller well in a potentially bright future.

5.2 out of 10