Posted on: February 1, 2008 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Sally Anthony – Goodbye / 2007 EMI / 19 Tracks / http://www.sallyanthony.com / http://www.emicap.com /

Individuals may not remember exactly where they remember the name Sally Anthony from, but if they saw a show with Natalie Merchant, Chris Isaak, James Taylor, Tom Petty, or Enrique Iglesias in the last few years (since 1998, when Anthony released eir first EP), there is a chance that they have seen Sally Anthony perform. Anthony has had success on eir own; “Vent” and “C’mon C’mon”, both off of eir first full-length, rocketed up radio charts and ultimately helped push over 175,000 copies of that first album. “Goodbye” worked with much of the same success, shooting up to #9 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart.

However, where everything previously had painted Anthony as someone soft or quiet, what results in a track like “Goodbye” (which features Mo-Unique) is something that is much more close to a Pink or a Ashlee Simpson – slinky pop-infused, lightly-dusted with rock music. “So Long” is another track that fits into that general framework, even if the tempo achieved during that track is much slower during “Goodbye”. Sally Anthony seems to bring the style of an Avril Lavigne back into the realm of serious music, rather than being a mockery of anything that rock stands for. “Don’t Fall In Love (With Me”) is a cheerleader-chant type of track that links together Gwen Stefani’s “Bananas” with the style of R&B put forth by Destiny’s Child and Rihanna. Any one of the tracks on “Goodbye” could be put up with “U and Ur Hand”, “Girlfriend”, or any song similar to that ilk without individuals creating the slightest bit of complaint – Sally Anthony has the ability and catchy enough type of pop to make it to the next level.  “Today Is Not Tomorrow” is another slower type of pop song, one that blends equal parts Christina Aguilera and Disney soundtrack.

The fact that “Today Is Not Tomorrow” is followed up by “Death by Me”, a much more rock-influenced track, shows that there is a lot of variation still to be had in pop music. While there are a number of up and coming individuals and acts that are trying to dethrone the current individuals in the pop world (Saving Jane, Jordin Sparks, etc), I feel that Sally Anthony will be able to push past these individuals and make a name of eirself even more than ey has already in the last ten years. Give the disc a go if you like pop with teeth.

Top Tracks: JJ, Death of Me

Rating: 7.0/10

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