Brittany Nicole Waddell was born on August 2, 1984. Best known as Britt Nicole, she released her
major label debut SAY IT (Sparrow) in 2007.
The debut single ‘You’ peaked at #6 on Billboard’s Hot Christian Songs
chart. Her next studio album THE LOST
GET FOUND came out in 2009. The song
‘Walk on Water’ from it, was used by NBC’s ‘The Biggest Loser’. Her third album, GOLD, came out in 2012 in
the Christian market, and in 2013 in the mainstream market (Capitol). In 2016 she released her self-titled fourth
studio album. Reflecting on it, she
says: “There was no box..., no rules. I
just wrote from my heart and had fun. I
titled this record BRITT NICOLE because there is a part of me in every
song. I felt a lot of freedom in the
writing. There are songs about my
husband, my kids, my friends, my struggles and my faith. It is a true representation of who I
am”. Here, I am reviewing the Deluxe
Edition of the album (Capitol CMG Label Group).
Twelve producers are used on the album.
They include: David Garcia, Joshua Crosby, Jason Ingram, Paul Mabury, Z.
Will, and Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins.
Starting things off is the album’s lead single, ‘Through
Your Eyes’. It’s an upbeat pop music
testimonial penned by Britt and Ben Glover: “You’re lifting my head up/I was
keeping my head down/I didn’t know love/But I do now/Cause You stood right
there and then You broke apart the lies/You told me I had something beautiful
inside/You brought to life the part of me I thought had died/Cause You stood
right there until I saw, I saw me/I saw me through Your eyes”. Jonathan Crone plays guitars on the catchy
pop tune ‘All the Money’. It’s about
puppy love: “No house in Bel Air could ever compare to the way you’re good to
me/No ‘round the world cruise could rock me like you/You knock me right off my
feet/It’s hard to describe/But I’m feeling like I won the lottery/It’s not your
car, boy it’s your heart/That makes me feel like a queen/Cause a car can’t kiss
goodnight/And a diamond can’t hold me tight”.
Britt, David Arthur Garcia, and Julia Michaels wrote
‘Better’, a pretty ballad of encouragement: “Hey girl in the back of the
classroom/Just be strong/Some days feel like forever/But it won’t be long/Until
you’re sittin’ on top of the world/Baby, believe it/Like a paper plane in the
sky, you’ll fly, oh/I’ve been there/I’ve seen it all before/Baby, I was
you/Hoping for something more”. ‘Work of
Art’ is a confidence booster for girls and ladies: “You were made for
greatness/Beautifully created/By the One who made the stars/Baby, that’s just
who we are/Take back what was taken/All those lies are vacant/We’re gonna tear
them all apart/Let the truth invade our heart/Every freckle, every scar/You’re
a work of art”.
Britt, her husband Joshua Crosby, Elley Duhe, and Robert Nix
wrote ‘Fallin’ In Love’, a happy pop/dance track about a male-female
relationship: “I’ve got this feeling and I can’t explain it/Can’t explain
it/You got me feeling something so amazing, so amazing/There’s no denying that
my heart is racing/This is crazy/I don’t wanna run this time/I just wanna stay
this time/I just wanna keep on fallin’ in love with you/Ooh, over and
over”. ‘Be the Change’ is a single from
the album. This pop song inspires us to
make a positive difference in our world: “So many hearts around the world,
breaking/If I only got one chance, I’ll take it/Let my voice be a trumpet that
can say that/Someone gotta be the hope and someone gotta be the love.../And
don’t you know it starts today?/And baby, no, it’s not too late/It begins with
you and I, you and I/Together we can be the change”.
‘All Day’ is an R & B ballad directed at Britt’s
children: “Sometimes I gotta go to work/I be thinking ‘bout you all day/I be
thinking ‘bout you in the studio/Be thinking ‘bout you on the stage/I was
wishing I was holdin’ you/Wishing I was singing you to sleep/Thinking about you
all the time, everyday, all night, all my life/I don’t wanna miss nothin’.../I
will be there for you/When I can’t I know God will be holdin’ you!” Patrick ‘Petey’ Martin and Alys Ffion wrote
‘Pave’, a sultry love song: “Say you wanna get outta here/Somewhere where the
skies are clear/I know just the place to go/If we never make it there/I don’t
care if you don’t care.../Me and you baby/We can go wherever/I can pave the
road”.
‘No Filter’ is a marvelous adult contemporary piano based
ballad about the facades we oft put on: “And what we let the whole world
see/Isn’t really you and me/So tell me, what’s a picture worth if we can’t say
a single word?/We always put a filter on to try to cover up the flaws/And if we
do it all for show/I think it’s time we let it go/Cause I can picture us,
picture us.../I can picture us with no filter on”. Gary Lunn plays bass on ‘Girls Night Out’,
which also uses a horn section. It’s a
playful, carefree dance number: “No worries, no drama and no broken
hearts/Don’t know where we’re goin’/Just get in the car/We’re perfectly
perfect/The way that we are, we are/Cause we ain’t got nothing to prove,
ooh/We’ll let our hair down/And do what we wanna do, ooh/There ain’t no boys allowed”.
Britt, Joshua Crosby, and Jason Ingram penned ‘After You’
which includes strings by Matt Butler.
It’s an intimate praise and worship song: “There’s nothing sweeter than
Your love/It’s all I want, it’s all I need/There’s nothing sweeter than Your
love/You gave it all, poured out for me/So I’m not after the world/I’m after
You”. The Deluxe Edition of the album
includes three bonus cuts, the first of which is ‘Concrete’. Julia Michaels, Chris Sernel, and Mitch Allen
wrote this song about a durable relationship: “You and me are concrete/Even if
the demons try and get you/I’ll be standing there right by your
side/Everytime/There’s no mistake that you can make/That’s ever gonna make me
walk away”.
‘Heart of Stone’ is a groovy R & B song that cries out
to God: “They say that the armor makes you strong/I might be safe but I’m all
alone/Been hiding from the light for way too long/Tell me You can break this
heart of stone.../Only You can break it.../I’m never going back to the chains I
wore before”. Last up is ‘Electric Love’
written by Britt, her husband, and Rodney ‘Darkchild’ Jerkins. Frederik Halland plays guitar on this happy
tune: “So tell me where you wanna, tell me where you wanna go/We can fly to the
moon and watch the world down below/We can sail into the open/We can sail into
the open seas/Boy, if I got you I got all I need/Yeah, cause we got electric,
we got electric love”.
BRITT NICOLE is an absolutely terrific pop/dance album with
R & B influences. Her vocals are top
notch. She holds her own with mainstream
counterparts Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato. To top it off she’s a pretty good
rapper too as evidenced on a couple of the tracks! Love songs about male-female relationships
are the most common theme, but a close second is God’s love for us-out of which
our self-esteem should spring. There are
also songs about having a good time, her love for her children, and making a
positive difference in the world. Britt
is a beautiful lady who is a great role model for young folks. She does not promote promiscuity. I’m rating this fourth studio album of hers
(and my favourite), a perfect 100% and recommending it to fans of Miley Cyrus,
V. Rose, and Rihanna. The Deluxe Edition
clocks in at 55 minutes and 24 seconds.
For more info visit: www.brittnicole.com
and www.themcollective.com.