Kinnie Starr - Anything Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 09.05.2006
Nelly Furtado calls this woman an influence. Yeah, it’s that bad.
My Story
You know, Americans give Canada a lot of crap sometimes, but it’s all in good fun. In reality, Canada has given us some really great things in the past: Hockey fights, snow blowers, zippers, Trish Stratus, Shania Twain, “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” and at least a couple other major contributions.
Kinnie Starr is the latest in a long line of female Canadian alternative pop/rock artists to gain notice in the US. Will we be filing her in the “Sarah McLachlan: Welcome to the Country, Stay As Long As You Like!” section, or tossing her in the “Celine Dion: Thanks For That Big Song, Now Will You Get The Fuck Out?” bin. Let’s find out.
Their Story
Kinnie Starr was born in Calgary, Alberta to parents Donna and Michael Starr, a mixed-blood Mohawk Indian. Following high school, she moved to Vancouver to begin her life as a struggling musician. Starr was working with a band in the early 90’s, when a trip to New York City would give her career the kick in the ass it needed. An impromptu performance of her own freestyle poetry at an East Village open-mic night garnered such an enthusiastic reaction that Starr felt comfortable setting out solo.
Starr put together a demo (Learning 2 Cook) in 1995 and shopped it around to little interest. She followed it up with a self-released debut album called Tidy the next year. Tidy was all over the map, musically, mixing Starr’s love of punk, pop, straight-up rock and hip-hop. The album was the first to feature Starr’s rapping skill, finding her MCing in English, French and Spanish.
Tidy brought Kinnie Starr some attention from the major labels and she signed to hot rap label Island/Def Jam in 1997. The marriage didn’t last long, however. Island’s parent label was involved in the large Universal Music Group merger and Starr felt that her interests would not be represented well by the new Island infrastructure. Kinnie negotiated a release from her Island contract in 1998 and her nearly completed major label debut, Mended, was never released. The Def Jam deal didn’t set her back, though. Starr finished out the 90’s touring on both the Lilith Fair and the well-received Scrappy Bitch Tour, which featured similar Canadian girl acts Veda Hille and Oh Suzanna.
By 2000, Kinnie Starr had yet to break into the mainstream, but was becoming well known in the alterna-folk and other genre circles. Her second album, Tune Up, was released by indie label Outside Records that year, but didn’t make much of a blip outside her small fanbase. Starr made her film debut in 2001, playing Reggie in the Kurt Voss-directed indie flick Down And Out With The Dolls, a movie about an all-girl rock band.
In 2003, Starr self-released her third album, Sun Again. The album gained Starr some momentum, but was still not what you’d call a success commerically. It was this year that Kinnie was contacted by Cirque du Soleil to appear in their Zumanity show. Starr agreed and moved to Las Vegas, NV, but the deal went sour and, by 2004, Kinnie was back in Vancouver and touring on a revived Scrappy Bitches Tour.
Following the Cirque du Soleil debacle, Starr found herself making headlines and selling records. Her songs got an inclusion on both the 2003 movie soundtrack for Thirteen and the 2004 TV soundtrack for “The L Word” (Starr herself is an outspoken bisexual and popular in the gay community). All the buzz earned Starr a 2004 Juno Award nomination for Best New Artist. She lost to Michael Bublé.
This year, Starr has readied her fourth album, this time signed for release by MapleMusic Recordings, who recently launched Sam Roberts career.
The Album
On August 15, 2006, MapleMusic Recordings released Anything, the fourth album by Kinnie Starr and the follow-up to 2003’s self-released Sun Again. The album features a guest appearance by Tegan Quin (Tegan & Sara).
The Band: 5.0
Kinnie Starr: vocals, (nearly) all instruments
Holy fuck, is Kinnie Starr annoying. Her rapping is, ugh, just completely terrible and that’s only added to by her unwaivering confidence in her (non)abilities. I was trolling YouTube the other day and found a video from the 80’s tweener flick Teen Witch. The clip was of a “rap” song called “Top That” and it was, oh, it was so fucking lame. Don’t take my word for it, watch it!
OK, are you back? Yeah, Kinnie Starr’s rapping is that lame. I can see where Nelly Furtado drew inspiration from Kinnie Starr. They both suck.
When it comes to other vocals, Starr ranges from a poor man’s Sarah McLachlan to a mild version of alt-rocker Poe. There are a few slower tunes where Starr’s vocals shine, but they’re few and far between.
Starr proudly handles all the instrumentation on this album, and it’s not too bad. I think a good hip-hop producer would’ve probably fit in well here, but as is, the mixture is hip-hop-lite and crummy indie(ish) pop. There’s nothing like a piano or hot guitar lick, so don’t go in expecting it. Starr also produces. So, yeah, this is her album, if you haven’t noticed.
In 1995, Sheryl Crow released a popular album called Tuesday Night Music Club. It was a great CD, but the notable exception was the painfully terrible “Na-Na Song”. Now imagine if someone made a whole album of that. Yeah, Anything is that bad.
The Songs: 3.5
1. Step Back
2. Anything
3. La Le La La
4. Rock The Boat
5. Up In Smoke
6. Please Hold My Hand
7. Sex In The Prairies
8. Blackbrown Eyes
9. Wind In Your Sail
10. Walking Away
11. Not Enough
Are you really still thinking about buying this album? Really?
Actually, Anything does have one very interesting aspect. Yes, most of the songs suck, but it’s the way they manage to all suck in different ways that makes it unique. The opener, “Step Back”, sucks because Starr is a terrible rapper and because the acoustic guitar/rap thing has been done to death. “Sex In The Prairies” is quite possibly the worst “interlude” track I’ve ever heard. “La Le La La” sucks because it has stupid, childish lyrics . “Rock The Boat” sucks in a bad pop sing-a-long way. And because of all the shout-outs to aboriginals. I’ve got love for the native people, too, but trust me, Kinnie: they don’t want this song, either! Same goes for the nonsensical “Blackbrown Eyes”. Hell, even between tracks is annoying on this CD because the silence gaps are noticeably too long.
There are a few bright spots, believe it or not. “Wind In Your Sail” is defiantly gorgeous and is worth a download, and “Please Hold My Hand” is good enough to bring Ani DeFranco to mind. I'd say this album is better than Nelly Furtado's painfully annoying Loose, but at least Nelly had Timbaland to fall back on. Kinnie Starr relies soley on herself and I get the feeling she may be the only one enjoying this awful CD.
The 411: On “Rock The Boat”, Kinnie Starr sings “I like writing rhymes, but I’m not supposed to/Writing rhymes is not what fair skinned girls do”. That is some advice that Starr should have heeded. Anything ranges from yawner pop to embarrassing hip-hop. Starr has a message of girl power and uplifting minorities, but it gets lost in her lack of ability to express it in a sane, attractive or pleasant manner. There are a couple of tracks like “Wind In Your Sail” that truly shine, but those rare moments only lift Anything up from “complete disaster” to “avoid”. Save your money.
