Music Review: My Paper Heart by Francesca Battistelli

Stars: 4 out of 5
Pros: A few fun and thoughtful songs
Cons: A few forgettable songs
The Bottom Line:
Mostly good debut
A few of the songs aren't great
Most enjoyable




Vulnerable Like a Paper Heart

Last year I saw an ad for Francesca Battistelli's debut CD in another debut CD.  Since I loved that praise focused disc, I bought My Paper Heart without hearing it once.  You can imagine my shock when I discovered I had bought a rock CD instead of a praise CD.  But I hate to write someone off after one listen, so a couple months later, I gave it another try.  I discovered when I'm in the proper mood, this is actually a pretty good CD.

Francesca is only 20 years old, so that makes parts of this disc rather impressive.  For starters, she wrote or co-wrote every song on the disc.  She also brings a polished sound to the vocals.  I'm not talking about the over polished vocals most pop stars seem to have today.  But they are rich and just a tad husky.

The disc is full of upbeat rock numbers, most of them driven by a heavy electric guitar. 

Of course, having said that, I'll start by talking about "Free to be Me," the first track on the disc.  This is a mid tempo song that actually starts out rather quietly until the chorus.  That's when the guitar really takes over, even though you can hear it in the background the entire way through.  The song is an odd mix as it talks about how God can use us despite our weaknesses and how we need to be what God has made us to me.  I would normally expect these topics to be the subjects of two different songs, but it does work.

Piano starts off the next track.  "I'm Letting Go" is a song of surrender.  (Yes, I'm using my gift of overstating the obvious again.)  It's got a nice hooky rhythm that makes it impossible not to smile.  And that's even before you get to the line "It feels like I'm falling and that's what it's like to believe."  It really stands out because she sings it so much faster than anything else in the song.

The song that caught my ear from the very first go around is the title track.  "My Paper Heart" uses some great imagery to contrast human "love" and God's true love.  And again, we're looking at a fast, rock song.

Things really slow down for "Beautiful, Beautiful."  This is a song of praise for the changes God has brought into our lives.  Francesca's voice absolutely soars on the chorus here.  The song uses keyboard almost exclusively on the verses while guitar comes in for the chorus.

"It's Your Life" is another good song of challenge.  It reminds us that we need to stick to our convictions because the world is watching.  It's another mid tempo rocker that really kicks it up a notch for the chorus, making it fun.

Unfortunately, this disc does have some drawbacks.  Every so often, the lyrics become too trite and familiar.  The worst offenders happen to be clustered together, too.  "Blue Sky" almost works.  It's a song written from God's point of view reminding us that He is with us during trials.  My biggest problem is the soulful take on it just doesn't work.  I think the lyrics and the music needed another match.

"Forever Love" is Francesca's attempt at a praise song.  Unfortunately, it falls into the trap of other praise songs - it's just too generic.  It honestly could be sung to a boyfriend just as easily as Jesus.

The worse offender for me is "Someday Soon."  This song doesn't pretend to be anything but a love song to a boyfriend.  It's a nice sounding piano based piece.  But the lyrics!  "I wanna be the one who knows everything about you/I wanna be the one who's always on your mind."  Really?  Is that all you can come up with?  Although, the worst offender is "I wanna be the one who gets to change her last name someday/To something that sounds something more like yours."  I actually started laughing the first time I heard that.

The flawed songs don't quite give My Paper Heart the repeat value that I had hoped for.  But there are still some gems in the rough.  Given a little time to polish up her song writing could make Francesca Battistelli a rising star in Christian music.

CD Length: 38:03

Tracks:

1. Free to be Me

2. I'm Letting Go

3. Unpredictable

4. My Paper Heart

5. Beautiful, Beautiful

6. Blue Sky

7. Forever Love

8. Someday Soon

9. Behind the Scenes

10. It's Your Life

11. Time in Between