Published on Dec 2, 1998
As impartial as I’m supposed to be, often I’m not immediately
won over by some discs when I first pull them out of the mailing
envelopes and look through the press information. Sometimes,
however, my instincts are proven to be wrong once I do give the
album a fair shot in the CD player or tape deck.
In the case of Emilia, I normally wouldn’t have been excited at
the prospect of reviewing another dance-mix diva wannabe. However,
on her debut album
Big Big World, this 20-year-old Swedish native proves
there’s some meat behind those chops – though there is also signs
of too much of a good thing.
Right from the outset of this album, the energy that Emilia puts
into this project is infectious. Her vocals are powerful without
being overbearing, as the opening track “A Good Sign” proves. A
solid beat (even though a lot of it is synthesized), matched with
some well-placed Vocoder lyrics is evidence enough that Emilia has
a reasonable shot at stardom. The one thing I didn’t like – and
it’s something that plagues most of the album – is that the track
seems to end suddenly. Just when the listener is really getting
into the groove, wham! – the track is over. (Talk about leaving ’em
wanting more…)
Emilia’s talent shines through on many tracks on
Big Big World, such as “Twist Of Fate,” “What About Me?”,
“Come Into My Life” and “Daddys Girl”. While a lot of the material
may seem to be somewhat fluffish, Emilia seems to sense this, and
keeps a light atmosphere to the songs – almost as if she wants you
to remember the beats and harmonies more. This is a plus on some
tracks such as “Like Chocolate” – what the hell’s
this supposed to be a metaphor for? (Like cho… uh, like
it’s subject matter, though, this track also is catchy, despite
itself.)
Emilia’s ambition, however, gets to be a little too big on
occasion. The title track takes forever to build into anything, and
even after the beat kicks in, it really doesn’t go anywhere. (The
remix of the track at the end of the album doesn’t do anything for
it – hell, it makes me long for the sleepiness of the first
version.) And while I can admire her tip of the hat to the Supremes
on “Maybe Baby,” I take the feeling away from this song that she
wanted to accomplish too much too soon. (In this instance, the
swing version of the song that closes out the album is a major
improvement.)
So do the Spice Girls have anything to fear in Emilia? To be
honest, yes; if she’s given the right breaks, her version of
danceable pop could be the first big thing we’re talking about in
1999 – and that’s not a terrible thing to occur, to be honest.
Big Big World has quite a bit of promise to it, but Emilia
needs to not want to conquer the tallest mountain on her first
outing. Even so, she’s built a pretty strong foundation to work
with.