Anastacia

She literally looks at life through rose-tinted lenses and with her brash, in-your-face voice and one of the most notable midriffs in the world, Anastacia is back with her third album, ‘Anastacia’.

Her first album, including the smash hits ‘I’m Outta Love’ and ‘Not that Kind’, launched what has so far been a glittering career. Her second album ‘Freak of Nature’ rocketed her into the music business elite and with 10 million worldwide sales and countless awards to date, Anastacia’s star just continues to rise.

However in 2003 her music career was put on hold after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a seven-hour surgical procedure to reconstruct her breast. The sight of harsh reality may have temporarily replaced her rose-tinted glasses, but with her new album she is well and truly back in the spotlight and ready once again to top the world charts.

Along with Grammy-award winners Dave Stewart, Dallas Austin and Glen Ballard, Anastacia produced an album aptly dubbed by the singer herself as “sprock music”, a mixture of soul, pop and rock.

The first single released from her new album, ‘Left Outside Alone’ follows the pattern of her fame as a pop star — a catchy tune with powerful emotive vocals. And even though her distinctive vocals remain constant throughout, I feel a bit too much experimenting was done with the songs that follow. The tracks entitled ‘Time’ and ‘I do’ bring out the little rocker in her, with a soft, emotional track entitled ‘Heavy on my Heart’ sandwiched in between. The ebb and flow of the album is confusing, although it could have been indicative of the emotional rollercoaster she has been riding since 2003.

However, one must give the sexy diva some credit for having the courage to experiment with such a risky combination of genres — it would have been very easy to produce 12 tracks similar to her previous hits, which would have been instantly successful.

Unfortunately, hard work doesn’t always result in success. Some albums are memorable for the sheer brilliance or for their addictive capabilities — her first two albums are perfect examples — but I feel that her third offering has too many ingredients all thrown into the mixer with the hope of producing an unforgettable collection of songs, which I don’t think she has. Sometimes sticking to what you’re good is just the best way to do things.