She may not be Afraid but the album needs a little work
Posted March 25, 2009
By Nathan,
In a year where albums from Superchic[k], Krystal Meyers, Fireflight, and Brooke Barrettsmith highlighted the girl pop rock it’s easy to overlook someone like Stephanie Smith. One of the bright stars to come out of Gotee Records, Smith’s debut album, Not Afraid, is built off of song about real life experiences that she has faced.
Sadly, to cut to the chase, nothing is new on Not Afraid. Smith plays it safe and enjoys the trail that has already been trail blazed for her. However that is not to say that Stephanie Smith doesn’t deserve any credit as she does put in an admirable amount of work, but she borrows from her peers a little too much. The opening song “beauty” is a fun upbeat pop song that starts off terrifically but steps back when it hits a less smooth chorus. A flaw in the album is that while the stanzas of tracks sound great the chorus doesn’t flow as well as revealed in “waiting on you”. The fun “love out loud” is a upbeat pop song that uses the synth controllably to add an electric spin in the melodies but the electronic twist on “superstar” gives the song an over the top feeling.
All of the songs before mentioned songs are solid but nothing spectacular, but Smith’s vocals rise to meet “renew me” and it’s one of the better girl rock songs. “In my eyes” leaves the big riffs of the opening verse behind for a very solid girl rock tune. Her youthful voice adds emotion to her light pop ballad like piano driven “you alone” but especially in the passionate “what if I made a mistake”. The one song farthest from mediocre is the aptly named ‘bonus’ track “last words”, where the music is brilliantly rolled together using music similar to that of Hawk Nelson’s “one little miracle” and combining it with the emotion of an Natalie Grant smash to complete the epic.
Alas the lyrics for the most part are predictable and almost intentionally borrow from other concepts and songs. The comparison with Jaci Velasquez “love out loud” with Stephanie’s being the most prominent: ‘Love out loud, let your love be your voice (Everybody come on))’ and ‘Listen up (listen up)/Everybody… Love out loud’). Smith’s stress that beauty should be on the inside rather than outside on “beauty” (‘Beauty is in you/You don't have to make it, you don't have to fake it’) is forgivable but the same and even weaker message on “superstar” was inexcusable.
Still admirable themes pop in the form of “waiting on you” as She decides that God’s timetable is the best since he sees ‘more than I do’ while both the title track and “what if I made a mistake” look to God as the only way to take away sin (‘It’s real relentless and it won’t let me go/I can’t fight this, this dirt on my soul’). Some flexibility shows up in the songwriting when Smith lets go of some angst on “in my eyes” but the best song on the album is “first words” which deals with the gripping tale of Stephanie’s broken relationship with her father and forgiveness.
Some diversity would have been appreciated, but it’s easy to see why Stephanie Smith and label stuck to the script. Not afraid might not be a smash pop rock album but it will be interesting what will be on the table the next time around for this talented young woman.
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