Once in a blue moon, I do come cross great vocalists whom even from one of my least favorite genres – in this case Hip Hop R&B – I just have to dig it and own the album. A bilingual and an opera trained, this 20 years old singer songwriter of Dominican Republic does have a recorded voice that reminds me of Shakira (especially with that Spanish touch), Mariah Carey (Kat is said to have a 5-octave range), and for some of the songs when she belts out the ending notes – Celine Dion.
However, that is what we hear from the CD. I have been doing some research on DeLuna’s live performance and much like my favorite Hip Hop star Rihanna, there is a certain gap between live acts and what is being recorded. But wait a minute, you may ask. What are you smoking and who are you comparing these artists with?
Think Beyoncé Knowles and I shall rest my case.
Some of you may be familiar with Kat Deluna’s first dance hit “Whine Up”. The album “9 Lives” does have some really great tracks but it also has some tracks that I utterly hate. So if you take away the 3 bonus tracks that are the Spanish version of the hit songs from the same album, take away the very first track that is more like an unnecessary intro, and the two songs that can do without – “Am I Dreaming” and “Animal” – the album is only left with 8 solid tracks. The record company has decided to re-release “9 Lives” this time with Akon‘s involvement. Supposedly, “Am I Dreaming” was slated to be the 2nd single. They soon postponed this idea and released “Run the Show” instead. Smart choice I must say. “Run the Show” has the “Whine Up” touch and to be frank, not even artist like Akon is going to save the track that shouldn’t be there.
My grievances to the album execution aside, those 8 tracks are pretty rare finds and these energy charged tracks should be more than enough to give you the extra boost in the morning before you head to work. Click here to view the video of “Run the Show”. If you can purchase track-by-track, do so instead.