(Roc Nation)
"This opportunity will only come once in my life," coos 18-year-old Alexis Jordan on her breakthrough single (and first track on this album), Happiness. It's about a romantic liaison, but could equally mean she's aware that there are thousands of young American singers just as capable of carrying off undemanding pop like this. Signed to Jay-Z's label and produced by Rihanna/Ne-Yo songwriters Stargate, Jordan is reputed to have a voice worth hearing, but here it's been AutoTuned or buried under layers of Stargate's trademark clattery beats, to the point where any distinctiveness is lost. She bursts free of her restraints just long enough on the unadorned ballad The Air That I Breathe (not the Hollies song) to show she's capable of more than her producers are allowing her, but the rest of the album is consumed by samey uptempo fare. Happiness and Good Girl jog along catchily, but Rihanna doesn't have to be worried quite yet.
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