Album review: Candice Glover’s powerful debut ‘Music Speaks’
Might “American Idol’s†slide into irrelevance be a boon for its talent? That’s one takeaway to be drawn from the surprisingly strong debut by Candice Glover, who last year won the televised singing competition amid historically low ratings.
A big-voiced soul belter, Glover ended a lengthy stretch of victories by white-guy guitar strummers, including Lee DeWyze and Phillip Phillips — reason enough to celebrate her win. But she’s also made a better record than the last few “Idol†champs, one that doesn’t sound like its quirks have been ironed out in an attempt to satisfy the show’s once-enormous audience.
There are signs of individual life here: the palpable regret in “Damn,†about falling in love “with someone else’s manâ€; the old-fashioned sass suffusing “In the Middleâ€; the tension between desire and virtue in “Passenger,†with a characteristically woozy beat by producer Mike Will Made It. And, reprised from the show, there is Glover’s powerful rendition of the Cure’s “Lovesong,†which may go down as the final must-see “Idol†performance. TV’s loss is music’s gain.
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Candice Glover
“Music Speaksâ€
(19/Interscope)
Two and a half stars
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