Kendall Payne is a fiery redhead with a voice to match. But the problems with this disc start off right away with the first track, “Closer To Myself”, borrowing shamelessly from Shawn Colvin’s “Sunny Came Home”. You will also quickly notice how much she sounds like Alanis Morissette. It’s quite suspicious considering one of her songs is produced by none other than Glen Ballard, known best for his work on both of Alanis’ records.
The sad part is that Kendall Payne is a great singer. Copying everyone else won’t get her anywhere. “Supermodels” is Payne’s chance to trample on the waifs of the world who are in every ad in every magazine we read. Too bad Jill Sobule already covered this topic more deftly. “Wonderland” slowly goes from sounding just like Alanis, to some originality, back to sounding like Alanis again. A good mix, but it doesn’t do much in the way of giving Payne a chance to show her stuff.
It maybe worth noting that Payne is only eighteen; the promise that she shows is immense. However, until the time when her own voice is heard, we will only have as an example of her talents Jordan’s Sister, sleekly produced and beautifully sung, yet tired. It’s already been done a few times before by others, and it’s been done better. Hopefully it won’t take long for Payne to show us what she’s got, but for now she seems content with showing us her best impressions.
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