Boy groups, schmoy groups. The real action in high-energy pop
\nthese days, at least in Christian circles, is girl groups. When it
\ncomes to boy groups there’s – Plus One and that’s about it. But
\nthere seems to be no shortage of young, good-looking, girls willing
\nto go solo or in a group to create the current version of disco
\nmusic.<\/p>\n
Yes, I said disco. Get over it. Because lo, this kind of
\ndisposable pop music will be with you always, until the end of the
\nworld – only now they call it dance music.<\/p>\n
There are multiple groups and solo artists practicing this now
\n(V*ENNA, Aurora, Rachel Lampa, Shine-MK, Whisper Loud, Stacie
\nOrrico), but as far as I can tell the best one is coming out of
\nSparrow Records with the improbable name of ZOEgirl – what does
\nthat mean?<\/p>\n
(According to Kristin Swinford, one of the members of the group,
\n“Zoe means ‘life’ – the kind of life attained through living
\naccording to the will of God in Christ Jesus. We want our lives to
\nbe examples of that — being a ‘ZOEgirl.'”)<\/p>\n
Regardless, if this kind of music is your kind of music (even if
\nyou won’t admit it in polite company) you will want to pick up
\nZOEgirl’s debut disc. Not only is it imminently danceable, but the
\nlyrics that get stuck in your mind won’t be embarrassing should you
\nfind yourself singing them out loud one day.<\/p>\n
ZOEgirl is comprised of three young women (Chrissy Conway, Alisa
\nGirard, and Swinford) who did not know each other before being
\ntapped by Sparrow to form this group. What’s unusual about that is
\nthese three women, after meeting each other and joining forces,
\nwrote or co-wrote every song on their debut while in the studio
\nrecording it. And if their lyrics were puddles, you’d actually get
\nmore than the soles of your feet wet when you walked through
\nthem.<\/p>\n
The first single, “I Believe,” was written by Girard and tells
\nthe tale of a young woman who could not face the real world until
\nfinding hope and salvation in Christ:<\/p>\n
I used to close my eyes and pray the time would pass me by So I
\ncould fly away in my dreams to anywhere unreal And I’d hide away
\nfrom everything I didn’t know what was real; I didn’t know the
\ntruth There was a day when somebody introduced me to You And You
\nbreathed your life in me, You set me free… Now I’ll shout it from
\nthe mountain That I’m not the same that I used to be I believe in
\nGod, believe in God<\/p>\n
Set that lyric to a catchy beat, which Girard did, and you’ve
\ngot one memorable single. But, do that for 8 or 9 out of 11 tracks
\nand you have a great debut album. Of course, some great producers,
\nincluding Tedd Tjornhom, Quinlan, and Joey P ably assisted the
\ntrio.<\/p>\n
The real test is whether the girls can carry a ballad — without
\nthe benefit of drum machines, sequencers, and synthesizers.
\nTruthfully, they can. Lyrically one of the strongest songs on the
\ndisc is the ballad “Give Me One Reason,” written by all three
\nsingers.<\/p>\n
It is written from an unusual point of view for a Christian song
\n— that of a young woman who is sexually experienced, but after
\ngiving her life to Jesus embraces abstinence. In the song the woman
\nis trying to explain to her boyfriend, who is not Christian, why
\nshe can no longer live the way she did before her conversion:<\/p>\n
I always thought you’d understand the reasons why Why I don’t
\nwant to do the things that I used to do Now that my heart and my
\nsoul, belong to God and God alone …How can you expect me to Walk
\nwith Him and give myself to you?<\/p>\n
There’s real life songwriting. This is a song that could speak
\nto “second-chance” virgins and offer them encouragement that yes,
\nit is possible to go back to abstinence. In the song, not only is
\nthe singer saying it can’t be the way it once was, but, hey, by the
\nway, she says, you need Him to:<\/p>\n
Boy, I still long for your embrace But what I’ve found in God,
\noh, it could never be replaced Still I pray for the chance As you
\nslip through my hands you’ll come around But your hearts so far
\naway from the words I’m trying to say Wish I could hold you both
\nand still be true There’s only one thing left for me to do Baby, I
\nlove you But I can’t stay with you unless you love Him too<\/p>\n
What sets ZOEgirl apart, other than their intelligent lyrics, is
\ntheir sincerity. These women are genuine – and current. In the song
\n“Upside Down” (not a remake of the Diana Ross hit) the group sings
\nabout the shallowness of pop culture. OK, so that’s pretty nervy
\nwhen you consider they are part of the culture, but it comes off
\nall right because of the message:<\/p>\n
What’s up with all the obsession? What’s in and what’s out?
\nThat’s what it’s about …Talk shows, ecstasy, horoscopes, DVD’s,
\npop culture, magazines, chatrooms, MTV Protein diets, Internet, the
\nstory isn’t over yet the psychic network really cares? WHO WANTS TO
\nBE A ZILLIONAIRE?<\/p>\n
ZOEgirl’s debut is a great example of having your candy – and
\neating it too. That’s what sets it above similar projects by other
\ngroups. Yes, it’s pop fluff, but it’s fluff fortified with the
\naural equivalent of the United States daily requirement of Vitamin
\nC — it’s also good for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":25619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[6456],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-36825","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-zoegirl","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/36825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36825"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=36825"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=36825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}