Billie Myers
Growing Pains
Universal

ãNaked, I like you naked. And when I fake it, you like me more.ä So sings Billie Myers in her song, ãTell Me,ä in which she contemplates what it would be like to experience a Freaky Friday-esque change with her lover.

Myersâ first song to enter the mainstreamâs consciousness ãKiss The Rain,ä is a song is which she tells her man to go outside and kiss the rain if he gets tempted to cheat on her. Itâs a part-paranoid, part-comfort song, a song Myers belts out from somewhere deep inside.

Myersâ writing style is very touchy feely, trying hard to be both deep and clever. Her sound is virtually indescribable. ãTell Meä has a Middle Eastern feel to it, while ãKiss The Rain,ä is a power ballad, and several songs are downright mellow. Growing Pains constantly walks the fine line between innovative and emotion, stirring or stupid. ãMother, Daughter, Sister, Lover,ä is an example of the latter.

Songs about an attraction to someone elseâs man (ãYou Send Me Flyingä) and a relationshipâs demise (ãA Few Words Too Manyä) can too-quickly be labeled ãchick songs,ä but keep in mind Myersâ music is incapable of being categorized.

While Growing Pains can be a jagged pill to swallow in its entirety, if listeners attempt to listen without prejudice, they may find an album worth listening to.

÷by Sarah Heiman