Album Review: Karina "First Love"

17-year-old Karina is already a strong vocalist ready to take the music industry by storm. When Karina first hit the scene, she was "16 @ War," showing that she has a mature attitude to go along with her mature vocal ability. Luckily for us, both of these attributes contribute to Karina's solid debut CD First Love, which has a wonderful balance of upbeat tunes, midtempos, & ballads. Not only does this young singer show great potential with her debut, but she also fulfills that potential to a large extent.

First Love starts off with the banger "90's Baby." As the sucker that I am for a good uptempo track, I found this to be the perfect way to grab the listener's attention, as well as describe to her audience just who they are dealing with. The upbeat feel continues with the Lil' Mama-assisted "Baby, Baby," another solid & enjoyable song. Second single "Can't Find The Words" slows it down a bit. If radio would pay attention to this song, it would light up the airwaves. The album's first single "16 @ War" is next, followed by "Winner," which just so happens to be quite an appropriate title. It really hits hard & seems like a track that belongs to, & only to, Karina.

"Can You Handle It" comes next & is a nice tune that deals with issues that are appropriate for Karina's young age. The catchy slow jam "The Love We Got" & cool uptempo "They Ain't Gotta Love You" compliment eachother well with their similar subject matter & excellent vocal display. Karina really starts showing off her vocal chops with the ballad "Slow Motion." Then, her two aforementioned attributes are displayed well in the album's last two tracks. "Can't Bring Me Down" is a declaration of the strength Karina has developed at this point in her life & the title track "First Love" is a very enjoyable finale that has Karina describing what music means to her.

Most of the tracks on First Love are great, some are just good, but the talent of this new artist is nothing short of extraordinary. Karina's debut is a fun & interesting listen that brings a fine young vocalist to our attention. With any luck, the world will look up & recognize a real singer when they hear one. Either way, I plan to enjoy First Love & look forward to what Karina has to offer us in the future.

Rating: 4/5 Stars