Delta Goodrem
Innocent eyes

THE REVIEW

Who said that pop must necessarily be banal? If you're interested in the genre, partially distance yourself from prejudices and reckless comparisons with stars like Hillary Duff or Britney Spears when you first glance at this album's cover. Unknown in Europe (continent where the second album "Mistaken Identity" hasn't even been released), Delta Goodrem is one of the biggest sensations in recent years in Australia.

A small musical talent that remained hidden behind a contract requiring her participation in a successful television series in her homeland, the young Delta reached the opportunity to debut in the recording market in 2003, the year when the major Sony released the debut "Innocent Eyes". A small talent who plays the piano in all the album's tracks (an instrument studied since childhood) and enchants with vocal tones reminiscent of the more acclaimed (and aged) Céline Dion. Musically, we're halfway between the latest albums of the mentioned Canadian singer and Tori Amos' pop-rock. Gentle emotional exhalations come to life in light, spring-like episodes. Amidst melancholy, reflectiveness, and carefreeness, Delta offers 14 tracks from which evident forces emerge, inevitable commercial concessions in an album produced for a typically "disposable" market such as today's pop. We are indeed talking about the flattest and trivial music existing on the face of the planet, music recorded and composed only to generate economic profits, whose creators, in the case of a failed attempt, soon disappear into oblivion. Illustrative of this is the name of the album's producer: Gary Barlow, recently returned to the limelight thanks to the Take That reunion, the forerunner among the boy bands purposefully constructed by crafty record producers, whom no one needed.

However, if the saying "not all that glitters is gold" is often overused, in this case, the amusing parody "not everything that stinks is waste" would fit better. Exactly so; as the album title suggests, from the angelic blue eyes, the sober and minimal look, the velvety and extensively valid voice, the enchanted piano of Delta (mostly accompanied by predominantly acoustic instrumentation such as strings, guitars, and never intrusive basses and percussions), an absolute co-star of the album, only innocence and sincerity emerge. Thus, the contamination of the music business against the young singer occurred only partially.

So, alongside countless and predictable pop episodes (but never annoying thanks to Delta's precious and constant contribution on the piano and a superb job on the arrangement phase) like the carefree and lively "Throw It Away" and "My Big Mistake", the melancholic "Lost Without You" and the launch single "Born to Try" allow room for romantic and introspective parentheses. Notable are the touching depth of "Not Me, Not I", the purity of "In My Own Time" and "Will You Fall for Me" (entirely written and arranged by the singer, a disarming demonstration of what direction the album would have taken if more space had been given to this small revelation in the compositional phase) and the vocal charge of "Predictable", a pop-rock episode that pathetic Avril Lavigne could only envy. Thus, for the genre in question, and for this small talent exploited in the worst way by success-thirsty record producers, giving a passing grade is a generous but deserved rating. However, it is obvious that those who live with blinders on or are not in search of delicacy and simplicity will find nothing pleasant within this album and, in some ways quite understandably, will continue to think of Delta Goodrem as yet another girl recruited by record companies to capture a teenage, inexperienced, and greedy musical audience desperate for another status symbol to idolize.