Her road to fame began in a bedroom. In that room, she first decided to post a few videos on YouTube, just to see what would happen. Her mom, who thought the voice coming from the bedroom was the TV, was pleasantly surprised that the beautiful sound was no TV at all – it was the voice of her own daughter.
That was Priscilla Renea’s senior year in high school. Now, the Vero Beach, Fla. native awaits the release of her Capitol Records debut album, “Jukebox,” on Oct. 20, giving herself a chance to share her music with a world beyond YouTube.
“Jukebox” includes an exciting variety of pop tunes with catchy melodies. The album kicks off with an upbeat song, “Dollhouse,” that immediately flaunts Renea’s confident personality. “Dollhouse” states: “I ain’t a doll, this ain’t a dollhouse,” Renea’s refusal to be mastered by an overbearing, unappreciative man. “Pretty Girl” changes styles with a slower, contemplative ballad. Renea asks, “Why don’t you just be you?” assuring girls that there is no need to be fake. Her voice floats gorgeously over the guitar, piano and thumping bass.
Despite her gorgeous voice, Renea sounds a bit like the “Juno” soundtrack-meets-musical – not the best combination. She refers to a male known as “Mr. Workabee” and has a buzzing bee sound in the background. It’s creative, but maybe a bit too creative. Bees shouldn’t be the most important instrument in the band at any point in a song.
Renea says she, “writes songs that people can relate to.” This is clearly one of the strengths of the album.
In the last track on the album, “Fixing My Hair,” Renea describes the real reason why girls spend so much time primping. “Even when you tell me I’m so pretty, I need it to hide all my insecurities,” Renea says of fixing her hair.
It’s nice to hear a singer every once and a while who can actually sing without sound-enhancing technology. Renea is one of those. She combines emotion with catchy tunes that would make anyone want to sing along. Who knows if she’ll make it big, but Renea’s at least off to a decent start.