Nicola Roberts - Cinderella’s Eyes.

It’s always a bit of a commotion when a member of a pop group branches off to carve themselves out a solo career. Pressure is high to chart well, receive critical acclaim, and hopefully create a dedicated fan base. How you measure the success of an album like this is tricky. First single “Beat of my Drum” peaked at #27 in the UK. So far it looks like second single “Lucky Day” has peaked at #40. Not great. However, the album has recieved mostly positive reviews and Nicola has definately won over the adoration of devoted fans (including yours truly). So the question at the end of the day really is: will the album be successful enough for Nicola not to be dropped from her record label? Will she be able to continue with her solo career and go on to create more intelligent, interesting, and unique pop music?

Well I guess I’m getting a little ahead of myself here. Third single “Yo-Yo” still has yet to officially drop, but let me just say, after listening to the album almost non-stop for two weeks, I can’t help but think the single choices were not the best. To my ears, this album contains much catchier, and frankly better songs than “Lucky Day” and “Yo-Yo.” I would have definately followed up “Beat of my Drum” with the quirky and amusing title track. With a record like this, the second single is the one that’s suposed to knock it out of the park. I think “Cinderella’s Eyes” could have done that. It’s upbeat, with clever lyrics, and sort of acts as a mantra to the album as a whole.

The b-side to the “Lucky Day” single is one of my favorite tracks she recorded titled “Disco, Blisters, and a Comedown.” Why that song is left off of the album is beyond me. I’ve re-tracked the album in my iTunes library and made it #3 on the tracklist. For the third single, I would have picked “Gladiator” - a thumping dancefloor stomper in the vein of Gwen Stefani’s “What You Waiting For.” Then as the fourth single, one of the slower tracks like the emotional “Porcelain Heart” or the reflective “Everybody’s got to Learn” could have worked nicely.

Other stand-outs on the album include “I” - one of the most interesting and personal tracks. The autobiographical nature of the album is continued and exlemplified on the closing track “Sticks and Stones.” The middle eight of this song is a perfect catharthis to everything we’ve heard so far, while also summing up the drama that has surrounded Nicola since she was first launched to stardom as a teenager. “Too young to buy my own bottle of vodka / So I’d beg the driver please I need another / How funny that I was too young for so many things / Yet you thought I’d cope with being told I’m ugly / Over and over I’d read it believe it / Said no to the shrink I can fix me I think / I got friends in my head they’ve got me on the mend / I am pretty in my mirror easy to pretend / 17 and thought that I’d won the jackpot / Seems I didn’t read between these lines of this one / I can’t think why I could of made you so angry / Your bullets I don’t feel them come on and fire at me.”

This album is everything I had hoped it would be. It’s a lot of fun without being stupid. Lyrically Nicola gives us a brave glimpse into her world and her struggles, but without sending out invitations to a pity party or getting out the violins. It’s quirky, charming, and sometimes a little bit strange, much like Nicola herself. Surely this will end up being one of my top five albums of the year.