Free Me by Emma
Looking suspiciously like an Olsen twin on the cover of her latest album, the Spice Girl formerly known as Baby threatens much with Free Me. After all, this was the Spice considered the nicest, the plainest, the most-likely-to (get married and never be seen again). Luckily, the threats turn out to be just false alarms, as the one-named Emma sings her little baby heart out. Free Me is fun -“ the title song sounds like a Bond theme, Maybe bounces along, a jaunty glockenspiel helping out. There’s a lot of strings on the whole album, from the Spanish guitar on the oddly-titled Sing For AnaMaria to the violin-intro on Something So Beautiful. Her voice gets pretty thin, especially at the top of its range and there are a few moments where it seems like Emma’s going to fall off the sentimental cliff into the schmaltzy sea. But generally Free Me is a lot better than expected.
