Review Summary: 16 year old's worthwhile emotional debut album brings some honest, although mildly flawed, life to the rock/pop scene
Because I Can stands on two feet as a well done album with many good/enjoyable tracks, although the mixed in filler songs serve to remind of Katy's young age and amateur/inexperienced attempts at creating a blue blooming flower of teenage angst. Don’t let the underground status fool you though, the album found singles “Lemon” and “Overdrive” slipping into acclaimed movies such as Mean Girls and Thirteen showing off some of the potential in Katy’s music making.
The album overall has some sentiments a la early Avril Lavigne (and the punky songs showcase this), although most of her strongest moments in this album surface when she dives deeper into her young cracked heart to share a melancholy and exhausted spirit, slowly breaking through the sea of mediocre artists to show a glimpse of honest coming of age frustrations. The lyrics are more poetically focused editions of an alternative melancholic teenager's diary. Although her writings do not achieve the same level of impressiveness that can be found in some of Lorde’s tracks, they do show a greater sense of self consciousness than what you may expect from a 16 year old. By sometimes using slower beats with effect ridden mellow guitars and broken unedited vocals she creates a chilly but intriguing rippling lake of emotion which although takes away from the radio pop sellability, adds a sense of honestly and beauty in spite of the simple riffs and un-perfected vocal work. Katy does, however, keep musical interest peaked by utilizing sound effects, mild sampling, and mood matching throughout her songs as well as alternating between chill and punky driven songs.
A noteworthy effort and quite impressive as well considering the amount of work involved at 16 years old. Because I Can deserves a listen by those who enjoy reliving the angst of their teenage years (or experiencing them now) in the form of a spunky, bitchy, youthful rock/pop album.
Recommended tracks: "Lemon" "Snowflake" “Catch My Fall” "Enchanted" “Because I Can”
