Internet sensation turned Capitol Records artist, Priscilla Renea has dropped her debut album “Jukebox” and fortunately it’s just as sugary sweet as her electronica/ pop friendly lead single “Dollhouse” (we prefer the acoustic version better). Complete with catchy lyrics (and a super cute video) the song takes a stab at female empowerment in the most underbearing way possible…but it works! Whether she knows it or not the single may end up becoming a female anthem for a younger generation riddled by controlling relationships. “I ain’t a doll, this ain’t a doll house,” she sings matter-o-factly. “You’re way too old to be putting me down like this, and playing around like this!”
The singer/songwriter penned more than half of the album flexing her muscles in a delightful hybrid of poetic expression garnished with life lessons. It’s almost hard to believe that Renea is not a seasoned woman in her 30s, but she’s clearly an old soul. Growing up as a child of the Navy, Renea’s album reflects lots of stories and people that she may have come across while moving from school to school and city to city, without ever growing roots. As such, her music flows in a hodgepodge of simplicity that is as comprehensive as it is entertaining. For example, ‘Rockabye Baby’ tells the story of an unplanned pregnancy and the obstacles that arise as a result. Renea tackles such a serious topic in a way that is original without being overbearing or preachy. On “Bacon and Eggs” she gets campy with her rendition of a 60s style jukebox friendly joint about cooking a nice meal for her man, which comes off as good natured due in part to the high register piano keys adding a little something extra to the track. “Hey Mr. Workerbee” falls along the same lines of a cutesy pop princess offering with more sweet tones underneath as she reminds her significant other not to forget about their love in spite of a busy schedule.
“Baby Please,” finds Renea illustrating her vocal range by trying her hand at your average ballad begging for her loved one’s forgiveness. The formulaic topic fails to deliver the wow factor simply because its been done before and sadly she ads nothing knew to the spin. Similarly “City Love,” gets lost in the shuffle of an otherwise interesting album.
The theme of “Jukebox” revolves around the old saying “you can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar” in that it manages to get a point across in a softer tone rather than boisterous and overbearing. For her first go ‘round Renea does a good job of authenticating her artistic expression. Even though nothing really manages to rise above a steady boil, that’s not always a bad thing. “Jukebox” is a pretty smooth ride null of any huge potholes or blunders, which is admirable and worth a good listen.
She’s so positive and her voice is soothing. I wish her much success. I will be downloading some of the songs like Hello, My Apple on Itunes.
thank you Latifsh.Muhammad!
nice album cover
I love this girl.. she’s be hot on Youtube for a while now.. wish her much success! .
I’ll go out and grad this one today
This review was well wriiten. And big ups to CL for promoting fresh new artist.
Not feeling it, seems kinda “gimmicky” for a lack of better words. But the girl clearly can sing. And i like Hello My Apple. Anyway, good luck.
I’m in love with her sound!
nice album cover
The album is great also
Her songs are so fresh in a time when the airwaves are inundated with sex, sex, and more sex. Her lyrics reminds me of the earlier lyrics of the Temptations and Supremes. We listened, danced and sang about relationships, love, and romance without compromising our sensibilities and our innocence.
Today’s entertainers continually produce works that glorify violence and the degradation of women. Sex sells is not new. Even during the time Christ and the disciples entertainers were producing the same over sexed images we see today. I sometimes feel sorry for our younger folks who have given up so much by following the wrong trends.
We need a change. I wish Priscilla much luck. Please do not change…don’t buy into the weave wearing over sexed image placed on Black women by our slave masters and perpetrated today in the guise of female empowerment.
Keep on and be true!
I hope you all are paid handsomely for promoting this trash.
I LISTENED TO HER ALBUM ON MYSPACE AND I WILL BE BUYING IT…ALL THE SONGS ARE GOOD ON THERE! LOVE IT
I WISH U MUCH SUCCESS PRISCILLA
Congrats to Priscilla, I wish her much success.
Im gonna youtube her…
@ 10 GTFOH!
this album has been on my wish list …glad it finally out
Some songs are nice and others are trash. Her image is good though but I doubt she will become anything. The MTV era is over. Don’t know how well she will do on BET. These new black artists really need MTV to get to mainstream. Sorry but unless you are white, times are tough. MTV stopped playing videos so black artists could not get ahead. If you are not already established, you are basically stuck in limbo.
I am so proud of this girl i have been following her on youtube for years listening to her unique sound, covers of other artists tracks with her own version n listening to her play her own songs!
Im a bit disappointed with the electro sound of Doll House as i heard the acoustic first and fell in love with it!!
But you go get em Miss Renae! its about time u had a record deal one of the best youtube artists that ever emerge and i home you crossover and blow them away!!
i meant and i *hope* you crossover
I love Rockabye baby, her voice is amazing.
“Dollhouse” should be enough to convice the consumers to check her out but Rockabye Baby!!? WOW!! this girl got whats missing in the urban market. hell any market! (buying on itunes as we speak)
what is wrong with these labels. they think they can just throw an artist out there without any tyoe of promotion. what’s the point of signing new artists if they don’t want them to become successful.
MTV does play videos…at like 3 in the damn morning…
MTV is garbage, they didnt want to ever play black music in the first place until Michael Jackson pressured them. BET is garbage and only airs ghetto type music. I would like for big money names in music to create a music channel network, but you know how that goes. Black artist with a message doesnt get ahead, media who is owned by Jewish elites continuously only show “us” sexual content or negative content.
Wishing her much luck and success. She’s got a unique style and POV, refreshing. And indeed…very well written CL. keep up the good work!
She is definitely the “BLACK LADY GAGA!”
Brace yourself young Priscilla; you won’t sale many albums, but if you continue to push and act as if you really want it you will be releasing a DELUXE EDITION to your album within 1-2 years. It just all depend on how quick people catch on to your music! Walk in FAITH!
@ 16
Good points. If you have digital cable you can watch MTV2 etc., they show videos of all damn day. And it’s artists of all races and backgrounds. I just recently saw that video by Raheem Devaughn, or w/e his name was, featuring Ludacris “Bulletproof”, the song was hawt. But had I not watched MTV2 I wouldn’t have even known about the song.
But, back to the subject on hand, this type of music does nothing for me. I won’t call it trash…but…it’s definitely up there! Lol
@ STFU & GTFOOH!
I like her. I wish her success.
Capitol records dont promote ( look how they did Faith Evans & LeToya Luckett) so I wish her luck.
Yay! Glad she’s featured! She’s great
wth @ ‘the black Lady Gaga”…..what a poor attempt at a compliment…..1. How did you even come up with that comparison? and 2. Why can’t she Just be Priscilla Renea and not the black version of some white person……. Anyway, I first disovered her on youtube a couple years back when she made a vid of her singing the dictionary…she’s very talented. I wish her much success and hopes she stays true to herself..
the next taylor swift
Her album is really dope. She’s very refreshing and creative. She’s not doing the typical R&B music, nor is she doing the typical R&B crossover to Pop music. Her album is really really good. It’s corky and fun but at the same time the messages in the songs are delivered in the lyrics. Plus she can sing her ass off, and play several instruments!! She’s just all around dope! My favorites are “Fixin My Hair” and “Rockabye Baby”, but I can listen to the album the whole way through without skipping a track.
Dark skin, not wearing a weave and is dressed quite modestly. Sorry P you’re not the type of black girl the industry is looking for. But good luck!
I LIKE THE SONG “HELLO, MY APPLE”
NOT SO KEEN ON THE “DOLLHOUSE SONG!
not feelin the direction she went in with this, I really liked an original song I heard her sing on youtube, but I cant get with this
I like it, some of you guys need to venture out a little more. There’s tons of awesome artists out there.
Angel do you like the Cardigans???
she is so hot!
I strongly suggest you go to sugarloves. c o m , where i have met many single sugar beauties and rich men, who love chatting sports vedios and nice music online .. .
finally there is talent in the music industry! i love her
I personally LOVE Ms. Priscilla Renea! I think as Black Americans..Blacks PERIOD we often are content with “Tradition” meaning the traditional R&B sound that Black people normally fall up under. I think she is EXTEMELY talented from her voice, to her guitar skills, & to her piano playing skills. We need more Black young women in the industry to focus more so on TALENT then outter appearance! GOOD LUCK Ms. P!
GOING 2 COP THE ALMBUM ASAP!!!
AINT NOBODY GETTIN DIS–FOH W/ DAT..WASTIN GOOD MONEY LOL!
AINT NOBODY GETTIN DIS–FOH W/ DAT..WASTIN GOOD MONEY LOL!
This chick is not for the ghetto BET crowd and like other ppl are pointing out there is no MTV to help out the artists who are black and don’t fit into that BET mold. This is why Leona Lewis is struggling now. SMH I honestly do believe they stopped playing videos so black artists cannot come up. You see that never stopped Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga with no MTV to back them up. Its sad and its killing our artists.
NEED MTV TO SUCCEED?
pulease! people are crazy. thre are plenty artists who do well for themselves even if your ignorance wont let you get past the “diferentness” of their sound. even if a lot of “us” dont patron her, she may blow up overseas. a lot of artists do so even while we are thinking theyre still local. take LIL BROTHER for example.
man, some people can be so ignorant when it comes to shutting out anything different. well, long live the hot ( ) at ( )-you fill in the blank.
if it aint in heavy rotation, mostly garbage, and oh so damaging to the soul, people dont want to hear it.
I love her. I’ve actually been to a show of hers and she’s even better live. The girl has talent. She’s not for everybody but she’ll definitely capture the attention of those who appreciate good lyrics and music that isn’t always about sex and drugs. Great role model for young adolescence.
this chick can sing and is talented but she is not marketable. all this rainbow extra loud colors are played out. im tired of ppl trying to do 80s. its wack and so unoriginal.
she has no sex appeal so i guess she has to do all that to get noticed. so sad
I hope she does well!! She is so refreshing
I do not like the fact that the labels do not promote new artists and certain established artists who actually really need it. How else will you get the sales if only a handful of people know who you are?
Instead, artist like Rihanna get all the moola. sigh.
Like a few comments on here, Priscilla Renea is great. Her singing is decent HOWEVER her writing skills are EXCELLENT!! Listen to the songs (on her myspace page): Rockabye Baby, Pretty Girl, Stonegarden, and I Fell In Love.
she is jus awesome! One of da most original sounds I’ve ever heard! If you don’t have her album already you need to go get it! A.S.A.P!
Finally heard the album and in terms of R&B, I give it a 4/5 but in terms of Indie pop I give it an 3/5. Decent debut IMO.
wackkk !!! she is a mess and whats up with these black girls?? they all of a sudden have these two-names tryna be unique in a way but it sounds a hot mess…. oh well FLOP
I recently found Priscilla on youtube just before Dollhouse was on the radio. I LOVE her style and writing abilities. I don’t think the album cover she has is very marketable, but people don’t go by album covers, they go by quality of music, which in her case is sheer genius. Beautiful voice without a mass quantity of vocoders or pitch corrections. Her label obviously doesn’t need to promote for her, her fans are doing a wonderful job of it. I love the album’s originality, but i can’t foresee another single on it besides Dollhouse, sadly. I know she will go far, both as a singer and a songwriter. Good luck Priscilla!!
and wtf’s up with all the racist comments? who cares if she’s black, white, blue or green? she is who she is and that’s that about that. jeez.