There are those who sing and then there are those who were made to sing. Candice Russell was made to sing. She is a 21 year old pop singer and songwriter who has just released her debut album called So Much More.
Candice grew up singing in the church. At the age of sixteen, she won a state wide singer-songwriting contest at the Oregon Fine Arts Festival. In 2012, she went to Hollywood on American Idol, Season 11, as a teenager. She also made it into the showcase final as a singer-songwriter at AMTC’s Shine event in Orlando in 2012. She has been seasoned by competitions, great mentors and coaches, and now she is ready to share with the world the songs that have been cultivated and developed behind the scenes in the last year.
Soon after her time on American Idol, Candice met Dave Lubben, who is a veteran artist, songwriter and producer in Portland, Oregon. Among his many credits is producing the band Kutless. Candice collaborated with Dave Lubben and her brother, Aaron Russell (who also assisted in production), to write all ten of the new and original songs on this project. This album was recorded using top studio musicians from Los Angeles, Nashville and Portland.
Candice Russell is in fine form on So Much More. She is able to tell stories in her songs, while keeping it simple and more often than not she finds one heck of a hook in the chorus too. There is passion, there’s energy and there is joy. Candice exudes so much joy in making music that it’s hard for listeners not to get caught up in it with her.
So Much More, dishes up a nice combo of upbeat pop tunes and ballads, while Candice sings her heart out, and the talent she has is amazing. Her songs are very well written, easy to remember as well as sing along to, and will certainly appeal to all age groups. The songs are filled with intense, emotion-driven arrangements and lyrics that you can relate to even though you haven’t experienced the exact situation yourself.
Aside from those songs, the album also has slow, intense ballads like, “Remember”, “When I See You” and “My Friend” that will put you in a tender romantic mood or a mid-tempo duet like “Loved By You”, which will leave you highly emotional. Candice has a good knack for crafting and delivering catchy songs that tug at your heartstrings.
Candice Russell’s debut album leaves little doubt that she deserves radio play, for not only for her voice but also for her content and the album’s great production level. Songs like “So Much More”, “Someday” and “Summer Nights” are so riff and hook-filled that it’s pretty hard to resist tapping your toes or humming along to; a typical sign that these songs are ready-made for mainstream radio.
I hope with the album, So Much More , that Candice Russell gets the mainstream stardom that she deserves. Candice has talent to spare and a vocal purity that needs to be appreciated on a much larger scale!
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