Trouble

"I want everyone in the world to know who I am," says audacious Seattle-bred 19-year-old singer-songwriter Bonnie McKee. "I want to move people. I want to open people up - and I want to last." With her debut album Trouble, produced by Rob Cavallo (Green Day, Goo Goo Dolls, Alanis Morissette) and Bob Power - and its powerful anthem "Somebody" - McKee's bold pop-from-the-heart promises she will be not just a somebody but a major artist who indeed lasts.

Although only nineteen years old, this precocious redhead unleashes more sass and ambiguity in her voice than a woman twice her age. Fierce and musically assured, Bonnie McKee is a pop alternative to Avril Lavigne, traversing some of the same lyrical territory as the Canadian punk thrush but with more emotional intelligence and grit--quite an accomplishment since McKee didn't employ the glossy talents of the Matrix, or anyone else for that matter--the singer penned all twelve tracks herself. With a vocal range on par with Christina Aguilera, McKee manages to go from kittenish to feral in the space of a single song, and always seems to end up on top, no matter how many times she stumbles. "When It All Comes Down" may be the sound of heartbreak, but McKee refuses to wallow in her pain and plots her own eventual recovery in the space of a single song. By rights, this should be the anthem for anyone attempting to get over a breakup--without appearing to. "Confessions of a Teenage Girl," is so winsome and engaging, it could inspire a Fox TV show. But Bonnie McKee has talent to burn, so it wouldn't be a surprise if that's already in the works. Paired with Green Day producer, Rob Cavallo, McKee elevates post-teen rebellion and broken romance to high art--and this is only the beginning of what she's capable of. --Jaan Uhelszki