Mistaken Identity Delta Goodrem Artist

As stated in many interviews and press releases, {|Mistaken Identity|}, the second release by Australian beauty {|Delta Goodrem|}, was fueled and inspired by a central event that occurred in the young star: her tumultuous battle with lymphoma and the... Read more

As stated in many interviews and press releases, {|Mistaken Identity|}, the second release by Australian beauty {|Delta Goodrem|}, was fueled and inspired by a central event that occurred in the young star: her tumultuous battle with lymphoma and the struggles of remission. Therefore, it is without surprise that the second release by {|Goodrem|} is a much darker, introverted look at the pain and emotional issues handled in her life. {|Mistaken Identity|}, contrary to {|Goodrem|}'s first release, {|Innocent Eyes|}, is a ballad-packed album with dramatic beats, moodier lyrics, and deeper meanings beneath the singer's icy pure vocals. The result is chilling, turning the {|Mandy Moore-esque|} tones on {|Goodrem|}'s first release into haunting {|Celine Dion|} power ballads. In many cases, this transition works well. {|Goodrem|}'s voice is very well suited to the adult contemporary market, and the spot-on delivery bodes well for her, since her public battle with cancer validates many of the tough topics tackled on this second release. However, since this is only {|Goodrem|}'s second album, her need to be more artistically expressive at such a young age might tend to be written off as immature and vapid, particularly since words like emotional suicide don't fit with gorgeously talented 20-year-old starlets with enough pop potential to make up for all the schlock in the market. The album is an odd misstep in the sense that {|Goodrem|} falls far from the market that made her a pop star, and though the tunes on a song-by-song basis are probably equal on each album, this dark spin on pop music doesn't truly reflect the market where {|Goodrem|} might find the most success. Still, when the talent is too good to be denied, like on {|Extraordinary Day|} or {|Almost Here|} (a duet with Irish pop singer {|Brian McFadden|}), {|Goodrem|}'s sophomore outing isn't as much a slump as it is an entirely detached spin on the Australian's pop career -- a sidestep on the road to stardom that needed to be made to make sense of the pain that affected her life at such a young age. In that sense, this album is not a mistake at all; however, in terms of making {|Goodrem|} a multi-dimensional pop star, {|Mistaken Identity|} stalls her career, since it is not accessible enough to market on the bulk of mainstream radio, which could easily hold back a pop artist who needs to be as accessible as possible. However, it's quite reassuring to see a genuine talent possess such grace and maturity in the face of a health challenge that entered her life at such a young age. ~ Matthew Chisling Less