Lea Marie

Do we really need another Britney Spears?
by: Tim Wardyn

Where do I begin with Lea Marie? Do you remember back in the late 90’s when Britney Spears was just beginning and the cheesy-pop era of music began? I like to call that The Time That Real Music Was Dormant. Lea Marie’s self-titled debut album is straight from that time frame. She’s a teenage singer/songwriter who caters to the tween age years.

The opening track "World of Wonders" reminds me why I hate Britney Spears’ music. Lea Marie sounds just like her. It has a club beat, if the club were the Mickey Mouse Club. It’s like Kidz Bop except that she actually wrote this. Every other song is like this. This is why Top-40 music was so bad for so long. She’s just a decade too late.

Now you could say that I’m being too hard on her. She’s only 16-years-old and she’s been writing these songs since she was nine. That’s true, but she has had a decade to get up with the times. C’mon! Crappy R&B is way to go now!

Her lyrics are very juvenile, but it’s to be expected. On "My Knight in Shining Armor," she pleads "My knight in shining armor/ Drop your sword/ Search the world for me." That seems really lazy. She’s just going to wait around for him? And he’s supposed to be running around in armor looking for her? If this is the prelude to a relationship, then I can’t imagine what the actual relationship will be like.

Lea Marie still young, but she has a promotional team that is relentless. Try as they may, this album still reeks of last millennium’s leftovers. Lea Marie may end up achieving great things as an artist. Robyn dropped her killer self-titled album almost a decade after her cheeseburger <i>Show Me Love</i>. Maybe she’ll end up like Robyn. But I can’t shake the feeling that musically, she’ll end up like Britney Spears. Still working the lame pop music over a decade later.