Seventeen year old Tiera Leftwich has already accomplished so much. She hasn't even graduated high school yet, but she is a member of NSAI, has over 5,000 followers on Twitter, and is lined up to play at the Bluebird Cafe next month. Her first show in Nashville was playing with Song Suffragettes, and after that, she was promptly invited back for the next month. On YouTube, her fans have been exposed to her covers, but not so much her original music. With this EP, she is giving her fans what they have requested, and at the same time, implementing herself in the world of country music.
What makes Tiera's YouTube channel special, is not that she has millions of subscribers, though she does have over 1,000, but that she doesn't just cover popular songs. Most country YouTube channels are full of covers of Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood covers, along with country covers of pop hits. Tiera does that, with covers of Keith Urban. Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift, but she's also covered songs of up and coming country artists. She's done "God Sees Everything" by Kalie Shorr, "Just Another Girl" by Carly Pearce, "Down This Road" by Cam, and many more. In doing this, she doesn't just show off her own talent, but she exposes these artists to new fans. It is a thing that most artists don't do, because they assume people want to hear covers of the songs on the radio. But this is one thing that sets Tiera apart, and makes her different.
This whole EP is acoustic, so the listener is able to easily identify the amount of vocal talent Tiera has. From the first note on the opening track, "Love You Better," it is obvious that she has quite a lot. But by acoustic, she means just acoustic guitar. Many acoustic records include piano, mandolins, and banjos as well as the guitar, but this is just straight acoustic guitar, allowing for no buffers between the listener and the voice of the artist, and the lyrics. If they are bad, there's no way to hide. Fortunatly, Tiera does not have that problem. The first track is of similar content to "I Can Love You Better" the opening track of the 1998 smash record Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks. The element of a song like this one is that the artist has quite a bit of self confidence, at least when coming to getting a guy. Other notable tracks on the same topic as this one include Kalie Shorr's "Trailblazer," "Invisible" by Taylor Swift, and Avril Lavigne's No. 1 pop record, "Girlfriend." Tiera takes this idea back to the basics, with honest, clear lyrics.
This whole EP is acoustic, so the listener is able to easily identify the amount of vocal talent Tiera has. From the first note on the opening track, "Love You Better," it is obvious that she has quite a lot. But by acoustic, she means just acoustic guitar. Many acoustic records include piano, mandolins, and banjos as well as the guitar, but this is just straight acoustic guitar, allowing for no buffers between the listener and the voice of the artist, and the lyrics. If they are bad, there's no way to hide. Fortunatly, Tiera does not have that problem. The first track is of similar content to "I Can Love You Better" the opening track of the 1998 smash record Wide Open Spaces by the Dixie Chicks. The element of a song like this one is that the artist has quite a bit of self confidence, at least when coming to getting a guy. Other notable tracks on the same topic as this one include Kalie Shorr's "Trailblazer," "Invisible" by Taylor Swift, and Avril Lavigne's No. 1 pop record, "Girlfriend." Tiera takes this idea back to the basics, with honest, clear lyrics.
"Easy to Do" is a highlight, but not the best track on the record. In this song, Tiera expresses a real, true love that's easy. So many love songs are about complicated, but passionate love, but sometimes it's just easy. Tiera adopts a little bit of a Lena Stone country pop sound on this song, with the descriptive and insanely catchy chorus. Tiera spends some of the song comparing her real life love to fictional love stories:
"It's like the stuff you see on T.V. / the guy walks up and says 'Baby, can't you see?' / 'We were meant to be'"
These lines add another element of reliability to the track, and a youthful element as well.
The EP closes with the best song on it. Out of the three songs on this collection, "Jokes on You" is the one that best represents Tiera as an artist. The song is a cheating song, but there is just the right amount of sass and vulnerability to make this song more than a Carrie Underwood copycat. She says that there's not going to be any tears in her eyes, and that she's moving on, but in her vocal delivery, and the tempo of the song, there is also some regret that the relationship didn't work out the way it should have. Those are the best kinds of cheating songs, because rarely in a breakup, is the feeling ever just blind rage. There are other emotions as well, which Tiera emphasizes beautifully.
Tiera is also special because of her throwback style. Her vocals seem like they should belong to a country artist of 20 years ago. She understands that the boundaries of country music can be pushed a lot more than they probably should be these days, but that there's also a pureness in staying true to a genre. Despite the fact that this EP has no banjos, or mandolins, or slide guitars, this is a country EP. Tiera's songwriting and vocal stylings are so remarkably country, it doesn't take anything more than an acoustic setting to see that.
Best tracks: Easy to Do, Jokes on You
Throwaway tracks: none
Overall rating: 4 and a half crowns
"It's like the stuff you see on T.V. / the guy walks up and says 'Baby, can't you see?' / 'We were meant to be'"
These lines add another element of reliability to the track, and a youthful element as well.
The EP closes with the best song on it. Out of the three songs on this collection, "Jokes on You" is the one that best represents Tiera as an artist. The song is a cheating song, but there is just the right amount of sass and vulnerability to make this song more than a Carrie Underwood copycat. She says that there's not going to be any tears in her eyes, and that she's moving on, but in her vocal delivery, and the tempo of the song, there is also some regret that the relationship didn't work out the way it should have. Those are the best kinds of cheating songs, because rarely in a breakup, is the feeling ever just blind rage. There are other emotions as well, which Tiera emphasizes beautifully.
Tiera is also special because of her throwback style. Her vocals seem like they should belong to a country artist of 20 years ago. She understands that the boundaries of country music can be pushed a lot more than they probably should be these days, but that there's also a pureness in staying true to a genre. Despite the fact that this EP has no banjos, or mandolins, or slide guitars, this is a country EP. Tiera's songwriting and vocal stylings are so remarkably country, it doesn't take anything more than an acoustic setting to see that.
Best tracks: Easy to Do, Jokes on You
Throwaway tracks: none
Overall rating: 4 and a half crowns
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