Album Review: Esmee Denters "Outta Here"

(Yay for catching up!) After gaining a large following singing covers on YouTube, Esmee Denters was discovered & signed by none other than Justin Timberlake. Unfortunately, her debut album Outta Here never took off here in the US & was finally given a digital-only release this past August. I had been listening to her album for a while before it came out here, as it was released internationally first, & was therefore less than impressed with what her label did to it when they released it here digitally.

1. "Love Dealer": Toted as featuring J.T. when it was released as Esmee's second push here in the US (it doesn't), this is a fun song, but it's still not too hard to see why it went nowhere. 4/5

2. "Outta Here": The title track was released as the album's first single & should've been pushed a lot harder because this Polow production is easily the highlight of the album. 5/5

3. "Admit It": Another Timberlake-sounding one that's good, yet nothing special. 4/5

4. "Casanova" (ft. Justin Timberlake): The album's sole track to actually feature Justin singing, I'm personally glad he did because it's a nice one, plus they sound good together. 4.5/5

5. "Gravity": Yet another smooth midtempo from Esmee. This song is one of a few from here on out, however, that probably benefits from not having been released as a single somewhere in the world (like the first three tracks) because I'm not tired of it. 4.5/5

6. "Getting Over You": This one has some charm, but it's also quite forgettable. 4/5

7. "What If": A very cool jam & probably where they should've just ended this thing as an EP... 4.5/5

8. "Memories Turn To Dust": Unfortunately, one of the album's weakest. 3.5/5

9. "Crazy Place": A digital single to (correct me if I'm wrong) benefit charity released long before Outta Here was--anywhere, this does not fit in with the rest of the album. At all. 1/5

10. "Sad Symphony": A nice way to wrap things up. 4.5/5

From this, you can tell that Outta Here is a solid body of work for Esmee Denters' debut. However, it's difficult to overlook such omissions as "Bigger Than The World" (also look out for "Victim", "Just Can't Have It", & the retro "The First Thing"). It's a shame that the label would put money before the artistic expression that this album had to make & although it's not something that would normally happen, the final rating I'm giving this album is going to suffer just a bit. However, it should simply serve as a warning about the digital US release of Outta Here; it's nothing against Esmee herself.

Rating: 4/5 Stars