Tuesday 4th July 2006
Beautiful Awakening
New Album Released August 28th
Stacie Orrico never asked to be a star. Stardom, with all its glittering promises, found her. She was discovered at 12, released a gold-selling debut album at 14, and traveled the globe to support her internationally best-selling follow-up at 17. By the age of 18, Orrico had sold more than 3.4 million albums worldwide.
But the demands of a successful career nearly drove this young, preternaturally gifted singer and songwriter out of the music business. Thankfully, Orrico not only possesses a dazzling voice, she is also blessed with a rare maturity, which enabled her to walk away from her career three years ago to rediscover who she was and what, and whom, really mattered to her. Orrico’s elegant new album, the soulful, R&B-powered 'Beautiful Awakening', tells the story of that journey, which has landed her where she is today: in control of her life and career for the first time.
“It’s definitely a peaceful record,” says Orrico, now 20. “I wanted to make an album that you would want to put on while you’re sitting in your bedroom after a long day. I wanted it to have songs that I could sing accompanied by just an acoustic guitar.” The result, a stripped-down affair that sets raw beats, guitar, piano, and a few strings against Orrico’s jazz-inflected powerhouse vocals, is the work of an artist coming into her own. Orrico says the topics, which range from break-up songs (“I’m Not Missing You,” “Don’t Ask Me to Stay”) to romantic ballads (“Easy to Love You,” “Wait”) to a shout-out to single moms (“Babygirl”) to a celebration of family (“So Simple”), “reflect a time that is really joyful and where love has been a part of my life. Whereas in the past my music arose from a place that was a lot rougher emotionally.”
Stacie released her first album for Virgin in 2003. Stacie Orrico, with its urban-flavored R&B-pop sound, spawned two hit singles, “ (There’s Gotta Be) More To Life” and “Stuck,” the 17-year-old found herself caught up in a whirlwind of promotional appearances; announcing the Grammy nominations (for which she earned one for “Best Pop Contemporary Gospel Album”); and walking the red carpet at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Then the album exploded in Asia, and Orrico hit the road, traveling to a new country every three days and doing interviews from seven in the morning to 11 at night. At this point, she had never attended a day of high school, never went to prom, and missed all of her family’s vacations, a particularly sad state of affairs for such a family-oriented person. “It just got to a point where I was getting more and more exhausted,” she says. “I started to think, I didn’t fight for this. I didn’t go knocking on people’s doors for a record deal. Now my whole identity is completely wrapped up in the music industry. I had no life outside of it — no foundation beneath it to support me. It was time to decide whether a music career was really what I wanted to do.”
She decided it wasn’t. By this time, Orrico’s family had moved back to Seattle and Stacie decided to join them, enjoying her mother’s cooking, attending her sister’s dance recital, and her brother’s football games, and making up for lost time. She got a job in a restaurant with her best friend, making $7.50 an hour serving fish and chips at a seafood place. “I just wanted to do something normal,” she says. “We had to wear these hideous outfits — ties and below-the-knee skirts, white tights, and navy shoes. I loved it.”
When that job ended, Orrico moved to L.A. to spend some time with her sister who was attending college in Malibu. She made new friends and felt relieved to be around people who were not familiar with her career. “You can get a pretty messed-up view of yourself when you’re used to people kissing your butt and telling you how perfect you are 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for eight years straight,” she says. “People say ‘Oh, you’re so mature and so together,’ but they don’t know you’re going back to your hotel room at night and ordering six desserts from room service because you’re so stressed-out.”
The break enabled Orrico to build a foundation of support from family and friends, which in turn, allowed her to consider going back to the business. “I finally started to realize that music is what I love — it is what I’m passionate about,” she says. “For me, it’s more than just making records — it’s a form of communication: telling stories and sharing experiences. When I was too exhausted and detached from myself to make that personal connection with people, I lost my enthusiasm for it.” As Orrico began writing songs again, her desire to make records returned.
Orrico’s renewed passion for music — everything from singing to writing to vocal arranging — bleeds through the tracks on Beautiful Awakening. Orrico co-wrote a majority of the album and worked with a variety of top-notch producers, including Dallas Austin, Dwayne Bastiany, Kaygee, and co-writers such as Shekspear, Track & Field, Anthony Dent, and newcomer Novel.
Orrico is also eager to go on tour and perform. She’s inspired by Lauryn Hill and Alicia Keys, artists who make their point simply without a lot of bells and whistles.
“You’re not going to see me jumping around onstage to pre-recorded tracks" she says. "Really I feel like I’m launching a new career. I want to perform soul music. That is what rings true to me. And truth, honesty, and vulnerability always rise to the top.”
Click here to buy 'Stacie Orrico - Beautiful Awakening'
David Jensen Photography:
https://www.davidjensen.co.uk/
