Maybe you have heard of her, maybe not, but if you find yourself asking who Anna Nalick is, then it is time for you to find out.
The 20-year-old singer from California has always dreamed of being an entertainer, and it is no wonder why.
Both of her grandparents were performers on Broadway. Her grandmother even had the opportunity to dance with the esteemed Fred Astaire.
So for Nalick, it was hard to escape the awe of the entertainment business without wanting to be a part of it.
As she got older, Nalick went through the same phases many aspiring musicians go through. In her classes, she would zone out in order to write her latest song. She would examine guitar riffs from some of her favorite songs, piece them together, and form her own original. She was also a cover singer for Rush, a Canadian rock group.
Nalick’s big break came in college, when one of her professors gave her the names of a student’s parents in the music business. Fast forward a few months and Nalick now had herself a manager, a record deal, and some of the industry’s best producers working on her album.
With her well-voiced, lyrically driven debut album Wreck of the Day, Anna Nalick is finally starting to achieve stardom.
Released this past April, Nalick’s album steadily gained momentum over the summer with the release of her first single “Breathe (2 AM).” The song is now nestled in the top five of Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. Sweetly sung and lyrically loaded, Nalick gives an account of what she encounters in her everyday life, whether it is personal or solely observation.
Lyrically, this holds true for most of the album. Whether her lyrics are personal and as she says it, “straight from her diary,” or about some of the things she has witnessed in her life, they are mature, original, and well-written. Her often story-like lyrics engage the listener immediately as she alludes to our insecurities. Some of her most effective and heartfelt lyrics allude to religion. They are intelligent, thoughtful, and sophisticated without being confusing.
The 11 track album itself is a vision of this. Nalick starts strong with the catchy “Breathe (2 AM)” and moves onto the dark “Citadel” and the upbeat “Paper Bag,” where we find her vulnerable. She questions her life and her beauty, through lyrics that are universal.
The title track of the album, “Wreck of the Day,” is darker still and hits you at your core. Then, just when you have an impression of what to expect, Nalick surprises you with “Forever Love (Digame),” one of the softer songs that sings like a lullaby and melts the hearts of women everywhere looking for love.
The album ends with Nalick trying her hand at rock with “Bleed” and “Consider This,” both of which include an electric guitar accompanied by a driving voice and chorus.
Vocally, Nalick proves she can sing. Her voice, an impressive mix of Tori Amos, Jewel, and Alanis Morisette, is simultaneously soft, sultry, smoky, funky, and unwavering. Though her songs are simply sung, her voice shows great potential for the future.
