Everybody's Girl

On her melodically rich and exuberantly rocking debut effort, "Everybody's Girl," the award-winning singer, songwriter and guitarist displays a spirit that's both timeless and up-to-date. Tracks such as "Superwoman," "Water in Your Hands," "The One Who Got Away," the award winning track "She" and her first single "Used Black Cars" are more incisive examinations of relationships, while "Seize the Moment" champions the benefits of doing just what the title says. And who can't relate to the sentiment expressed in the title -- and the lyrics -- of "I Just Wanna Be Happy?" Then there's "In Between Poses," Foster's personal favorite on "Everybody's Girl" and an emotional lynch pin for the entire album. Her frankness -- heartfelt and forthright, but never cloying -- are, in fact, the hallmark of Foster's songwriting. That philosophy is displayed throughout "Everybody's Girl," which takes events and lessons from Foster's own experience and transcribes them into universal sentiments.

Here’s an earnest debut of honest songs sung earnestly by a talented young singer in the Joan Osborne/ Michelle Branch vein. Foster came to attention in 2001 when she won the "Great American Song Contest" in the pop category, and was a finalist in the "John Lennon songwriting contest" for her song "She"--a pleasant, straightforward tune about falling in love with another woman. There are a few standout tracks, but overall the album fails for trying too hard. The production uses samples but sounds curiously dated, and the whole project sounds like it was pieced together by a confused committee who didn’t know whether to go for the Dawson’s Creek crowd or the Melissa Etheridge demographic, so they opted for a strange middle-ground between the two. Foster’s singing, while a highlight throughout, is too overwrought too many times; she sounds like Alanis Morisette’s mom on a bad day on the annoying anthem "Superwoman." Here’s to hoping that she records her next album with just an acoustic guitar and a microphone. Foster doesn’t need all the bombastic studio trickery that clutters up and overwhelms this well-intentioned debut. --Mike McGonigal