2/5
Not since Lonelygirl15 has YouTube birthed a star as eye-catching as Esmee Denters. (Let’s face it: Marie Digby’s Rihanna spiel stopped at one-hit wonder.)
Aside from the Dutch darling’s toothy, Hannah Montana-watt smile, she has the vocal chops to save her from little-girl syndrome. It makes sense, then, that white knight Justin Timberlake would come to her rescue: How gracious, how kind of him to pluck out a no-name protege and make her princess of his new record label ‘mdash; just like daddy Prince and his long list of suckling babes (ahem, Bria Valente). Props to Denters, who’s hopped on the pumpkin chariot headfirst ‘mdash; Outta Here takes tracks from JT, One Republic frontman Ryan Tedder and hitmaker Palow da Don.
Too bad her vocals take a backseat to primping and posing; in her debut, the almost-21-year-old takes care to flaunt every curve. The title track and first single is the most blatant case in point: Denters rocks the best big hair and makeup money can buy. Even without watching the video clip, we can tell. Perfume oozes from the curl-flipping echo ‘Get me outta here/ Here/ Here.’ It’s standard procedure, as is JT’s pumped-up guest appearance on a couple flat tracks.
‘Love Dealer’ takes uninspiration to the max, eking out an overproduced Hilary Duff B-side. And for every silky smooth, funkadelic track (‘Admit It’), there’s a ballady stepchild lurking in the corner: On ‘Getting Over You,’ she wails about failing to do so over the same five-note sequence.
It’s hard to blame the copycat; she’s unashamedly clutching JT as her guide. But even the prophetic Mouseketeer’s ultra-polished production can’t save bleached-out harmonies and sinking hooks. While skintight autotuning might trounce other wannabes, Denters’ Mariah-style vocals need to break free ‘mdash; only then will we hear what YouTube’s number-one star is really capable of.