In fact that’s exactly how Lina describes herself and her music. “I break the rules because I talk about inner beauty in Hollywood, a place where everything is about the physical,” she says. “Everything is about how big your boobs are, or how short your skirt is. That’s not me.”
No, Lina is a crunchy, bohemian soul; organic and easy flowing, like an ocean. From the very beginning, she made waves. After a quick stint at Atlantic Records, where she dropped her debut, Stranger on Earth, Lina severs ties with the label, starts her own (Moonstar Recordings) and partners with Hidden Beach records, home of other singer/songwriters like Jill Scott and Brenda Russell. The result: aural satisfaction. For Lina, this is what music should do: be beautiful.
“The Inner Beauty Movement for me is embracing everything that your spirit goes through, embracing your struggle,” she said in our lengthy talk. “It’s that self-realization of being without all your things, without your body, anything physical. Your body is this house where your soul and light reside, and your inner God and inner voice.”
Inner voice? What could inner voices truly mean on the pop music landscape? Here is where an artist, like Lina risks quick death. You see, contemporary pop music was never that big on originality unless by fluke an artist happens to drop an album that sells gazillions of copies and shocks everyone. What the music business concerns itself with is more practical: replicating hot product at warp speed in order to make money. The end.
Then there are the exceptional exceptions. Lina is no one’s product but her own. Not so surprising considering that when her acclaimed debut, Stranger on Earth, made little noise on the pop charts in 2001, it didn’t really matter. Listeners who took the opportunity luxuriated in her delightful crystal clear vocals. Rather than exploding into the stratosphere the album shimmered softly on CD players of truly grateful music lovers who whispered her name, and didn’t have to be told she was good. And since, Lina kept her clothes on in the videos “Playa No More” and “It’s Alright.” It wasn’t likely that you would see her bouncing about on the covers of rags like King or Smooth.
Back to 2005. This Texas native’s sophomore effort, The Inner Beauty Movement, is a remarkably mature effort. The brown chanteuse continues to do what she does best: dive down, down, down into the wreckage of hip hop, R&B. and jazz, and salvages their still beating hearts in order to create infectious melodies that delicately support her singing and responsible songwriting skills.
“I am passionate about a few things; music is one of those things that I do to feed my soul,” she says, and you feel that passion when listening to the sweet “Come to Mama,” the yearning “Hope, Wish and Pray,” and the romantic, jazzy bounce of “Around the World,” her duet with R&B sensation Anthony Hamilton. You won’t skip over a single track.
Simply put, Lina is special. She sings like she’s in jazz club in the 1920s; brings the heat of a modern R&B songstress; and emits the passion and simplicity of a hip hop head. You’ll sway, nod, and think, ‘damn, what a good album!’ Yes, yes it is.
Read more vibe.com online exclusives.
del.icio.us
digg
Furl
Reddit
YahooMyWeb
Comments
1.
pulkit gupta says:
sex
August 13, 2007 at 11:53 pm