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Aiming for pop stardom

Say New You
Say New You
By Victoria Robertson

Self-released: 2007

Buy it now


This review first appeared in the March 29, 2007 issue of the North County Times.

San Diegan Victoria Robertson (of late apparently going by the stage name of Victoria) isn't a particularly visible presence on the local scene, but she is active on MySpace (where she makes no secret of her desire to become a Top 40 artist) and has a new album out that's a surprisingly good listen.

The album, apparently her third, repositions her as a sultry pop chanteusse after a roots Americana outing and an album of patriotic songs. "Say New You" opens with a seductive bit of dance pop, "Top," built around Robertson's smooth voice and a hypnotic techno beat, and that techno groove holds for the first four songs. The fifth track ("Best of Me"), though, shifts gears to more of an art pop approach, closer to Kate Bush or Jane Siberry. On "Journey" she's into some pretty pure pop territory – not so far from Natasha Bedingfield in sound and approach. The album then revisits the techno and house sounds from the first tracks, plus a few more pop tunes.

The overall result is an album of bright, uptempo songs all written by Robertson and sung with confidence and charisma (and a top-notch bit of production work for a remarkably clean sound). There's no one song that screams out "Top 40 hit," and the disc seems more a showcase to try to get her a record deal with a national label than an effort to spread her music among her fans. But based on the quality songwriting and strong singing on display here, such a deal wouldn't be either a surprise or unwarranted.