VICTORIA DUFFIELD - "SHUT UP AND DANCE" ALBUM REVIEW

Victoria Duffield - Shut Up and Dance

All hail the new Princess of Canadian Pop! Although Victoria Duffield still neatly can placed in the Emerging Artists category, with just the right amount of push, she could well be Canada’s next big international Export. Case in point, Carly Rae Jepsen already has proven her mettle abroad and Duffield equally has what it takes to accomplish this. In the v. least she is collaborating with the right names. Ryan Stewart, who is responsible for some of Jepsen’s recent material, co-writes with Duffield on this stellar and compact eight-track debut, Shut Up and Dance.

Since being teased late 2011 with the undeniably catchy Title Track, my curiosity has been piqued by the 18-year-old Singer from Abbotsford, BC. Although second Single, a Kylie-inspired Feel, went over the heads of the Canadian Public failing to achieve the same level of success as Shut Up and Dance, its standing as a quality piece of Dance-Pop remains untarnished.

Current Single, Break My Heart is a cut from the same cloth as Duffield's Debut, channeling inflections of Femme Fatale-era Britney. Duffield’s genius as a Pop Artist here perhaps comes from the one word she doesn’t sing in the Track's Hook, “I know you're only gonna break my ____”. It is impossible to not want to fill in that blank and furthermore, it is impossible to not want to sing along.

A catchy Duet with Aussie Pop Sensation Cody Simpson, They Don’t Know About Us, opens many possibilities in terms of exposure for her and is strategically-spotted. Sweet Fantasy borders a bit on Mariah Carey/R&B-Pop territory and is another Gem in this Collection of Winners. Meanwhile, Final Warning leaves us wanting more by the end of this just-long-enough introduction to Duffield.  Keep in mind, we still haven’t heard the best of Duffield yet and I can vouch that she is the real deal live - a real Pop Star.

V. Duffield, v. good. Warner Music releases Shut Up and Dance in Canada, August 21, 2012.  Order it here. 

I did have the pleasure of chatting Duffield over the Winter. Click here for more.