Jeannie Ortega – No Place Like Brooklyn

Artist: Jeannie Ortega

Title: No Place Like Brooklyn

Label: Hollywood

Rating: 4.5/10

FILE UNDER: J. Lo lite.

CORPORATE LINE: As a member of the first graduating class of Brooklyn’s High School of The Arts, Ortega is a natural at performing. With years of practice under her belt, she is the total package: singer, songwriter, dancer, and more. In her youth, Jeannie performed at local parks (as “Spice,” one half of a kiddie singing group she called “Sugar & Spice”), in front of her kindergarten class, and numerous times throughout her school years. When her voice became popular in the neighborhood and people started to seriously take notice, Jeannie decided to go full speed ahead and focus on her dream. “I was ready and jumped in feet first,” she says of the opportunity she was not going to miss.

Now19-years old, the Bushwick, Brooklyn-native has much to be thankful for. After her first real recording “Got What It Takes” wound up on the soundtrack and in the movie Love Don’t Cost A Thing, Jeannie inked a major recording deal with Hollywood Records and is now prepared to release her debut album, aptly titled No Place Like Brooklyn.

THE GOOD:
“Let It Go” – It’s not impossible to see this song as a single even though it’s not a hit. “Let It Go” is the kind of track that can get people moving on the dance floor.

THE AVERAGE:
“Crowded” f/Papoose – Ortega has a decent hook—the rhyme thrown together by rapper Papoose is amateur at best. It’s a shame that they allowed some nameless and skillless rapper to come in and ruin the track. It sounds like they pulled a guy off the street and asked him to rap.
“Pay It” f/Kovas – It’s funny that the same error is repeated here as someone thought it was a good idea to get another talent-less rapper to bring in a busted rhyme. It’s less tolerable because the song isn’t as good as “Crowded”.
“Green I’Z” – Ortega gets off a track that could have been a Jennifer Lopez castoff.

THE BAD:
There are a lot of songs that come close.

FRANKLY: Jeannie Ortega is bound to get lost in the mix of the revolving door of pop artists. Nothing distinguishes Ortega from anyone else as she mixes in some rappers, hot beats, and monotonous pop lyrics. What is lacking are big, memorable hooks. Ortega is one of dozens disposable pop artists shuffled too-and-fro every year by record labels hoping for the next Britney or Jennifer Lopez.

+ Rae Gun