Review: Kat Dahlia - My Garden
By Alainna Marincic, Contributor
[Epic Records; 2015]
Rating: 4/10
Key Tracks: “Gangsta,” “Just Another Dude”
My Garden is the debut album of Kat Dahlia, a 24-year-old first generation Cuban American who started making music as a rapper before switching to a type of singer-songwriter/rap fusion. She left Miami for New York to pursue a music career and considers BB King, Bob Marley and dance hall reggae as her primary influences, which is all extremely interesting. My Garden, however, is completely boring--an utter snooze.
The album starts out rocky with title track “My Garden.” The song’s vocals begin just fine and it’s one of the better tracks on the album, alternating between an aggressively fast flow and a slow and raspy drawn out croon. However, the vocals are ruined by laughable lyrics that border on cringe-worthy half the time. “My garden's wide of daisies / And it's untouched, come play,” sings Dahlia to her sugar daddy.
Following track “Gangsta” heavily features Dahlia’s superb rapping skills. The song references Dahlia’s tough, underprivileged childhood and how it presently affects her relationships. The theme is compelling and suits Dahlia’s tone, making it a highlight of the album. Dahlia effectively criticizes the idea of “gangster” and what it means for masculinity in Hispanic culture, all the while contrasting it with the hard work her mother and other women partake in to survive.
After “Gangsta,” My Garden turns into a series of pop songs that either knock off P!nk or Amy Winehouse. “Crazy” and “Lava” fall into the latter, which makes sense; both are produced by Salaam Remi, who produced for Winehouse. The songs lack the looseness found in Winehouse’s music and Dahlia ultimately sounds uncomfortable. “I Think I’m In Love” and “Mirror” are reminiscent of P!nk, and they happen to be the least entertaining and most bland tracks on the album. Her voice is also oddly distorted, which makes these two tracks all the worse.
Outliers include “Tumbao,” a song in Spanglish. Even if one does not understand the mixture of Spanish and English, they will understand the anger in Dahlia’s voice. Dahlia sounds at home in this track, along with any others that feature her rapping abilities. My Garden ends on a high note with “Just Another Dude,” which draws comparisons to Alanis Morissette. Dahlia is simultaneously aggressive and vulnerable and the background guitar is very evident of her reggae dancehall influences.
Kat Dahlia has plenty of potential; she is an amazing rapper and has a charismatic singing style. Her album isn't particularly bad, it’s simply uneventful and the fake pop ballads do not help. Dahlia sounds far more comfortable and natural on her honest tracks, on which she sings or raps about her past; Dahlia obviously has important subjects she wants to talk about and the substance is there in songs like “Gangsta.” Unfortunately My Garden is not substantial enough to satisfy, just mediocre enough to disappoint.
