Keke Palmer | Awaken
Album Review: Keke Palmer | Awaken Mixtape
By Peggy Oliver
Keke
Palmer started chasing her dream of becoming a double threat
entertainer since she was in grade school. And she had the advantage of
developing her voice in her mother’s home recording studio. Once the
very gifted Palmer (born Lauren Keyana ‘Keke’ Palmer) ventured out to
make her dream reality, she went through the motions of various
rejections, including her audition being edited out of American Idol’s
short-lived spin off series, American Juniors.
Though Palmer was signed to Atlantic Records in 2005, she first won the
hearts of many moviegoers for her portrayal of a teen who prepares to
win a national spelling bee in Akeelah & The Bee. Her debut single,
“All My Girlz,” was also featured in that 2006 film. Her contributions
to soundtracks were many, including Disney’s Jump In!, the dance-themed film, Make It Happen and Night at the Museum.
Though primarily identified with tween channels Disney and Nickelodoen,
she displayed her full range of acting roles as a young pregnant girl
in the Ludacris & Mary J. Blige video, “Runaway Love” and
appearances on ER, Tyler Perry’s House of Payne and The Cleveland Show.
Though her acting performances earned several awards, including the
NAACP Image Awards for Akeelah & her current TV series – True Jackson, VP, how would Palmer fare in the recording studio with her own full-length project?
Palmer’s debut in 1997, So Uncool,
featuring high energy positive based urban and pop that perfectly
suited a young teenage audience, was received with sweet reviews but not
so impressive record sales. She also demonstrated her songwriting
ability co-writing several songs, including one of her popular songs -
“Bottoms Up.” Despite So Uncool biting the
dust in a short time, Palmer decided to continue her solo singing
endeavors by moving from Atlantic to Interscope Records.
As a teaser to her upcoming disc tentatively due in the summer of 2011, Palmer releases a mixtape entitled Awaken. Her fan base should recognize several tracks from So Uncool
such as "The Game Song," "Bottoms Up" and "Keep it Movin’. In addition,
the now seventeen year old singer/songwriter mixes in new material
which expands her musical territory with more rhythmic
R&B crossovers (a la Rhiannon and Keri Hilson) and touching more on
love relationships (“The One You Call,” “Keke’s Love,” “Hard to
Breathe”). On “Superjerkin’ (On the Floor),” Palmer leans a bit towards
the Timberland/Missy Elliott type grooves while exercising her rap
skills and there’s a surprising old-school synth R&B/pop ballad,
“Top of the World.”
Overall, Palmer’s crystal voice is pleasing and soulful. As for the music on the Awaken Mixtape,
the production is clean yet there are several auto tune spots and just
so-so background vocals in certain places, which seem par for the course
in today’s urban market. Thus, the question is not whether Palmer has
very good vocal capabilities. It is a matter of whether her music at
this point can stand toe to toe with the more prolific urban vocal
talent hitting the charts today.
Peggy Oliver
The Urban Music Scene
Posted by Administration at 1/18/2011 11:41 AM 
Categories: Rhythm and Blues, Nu-Voices, The New Voices of Today, Video
Tags: Rhythm And Blues Music Videos
Categories: Rhythm and Blues, Nu-Voices, The New Voices of Today, Video
Tags: Rhythm And Blues Music Videos
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