Album Preview: Greyson Chance Debut Not Just for Tween Girls

When Greyson Chance was first "discovered" on YouTube and invited to sing his cover version of Lady Gaga's Paparazzi on the Ellen Degeneres Show music professionals agreed there was something special about this kid. Since then, Ellen created Eleveneleven Records and signed Greyson as the first artist. Chance has released two songs so far from the album, Waiting Outside the Lines and the more recent Unfriend You. A third song, Heart Like Stone is available on the website Greyson-Official.com, in exchange for your birthday and email address. The remainder of the Greyson chance album, Hold on Til the Night will be officially released on August 02, 2011.

At 13, Greyson Chance is drawing a lot of comparisons to Justin Bieber. Like Bieber, Chance owes much of his rise to fame to Youtube, and getting noticed by the right people. And it's hard to deny that this kid is adorable. Both the videos of Waiting Outside the Lines and Unfriend You maximize on Greyson's appeal with young girls. What the videos don't do, thankfully, is try and make Chance seem attractive to girls older than, say, fourteen.

Although he admits to not writing the debut single, Waiting Outside the Lines, Chance revealed in an interview with Beatweek.com that he did write much of the music on the upcoming album. "I'm really specific about what I don't write," he told them "because I want to make sure that it still stays true to me." While the exact writing credits aren't yet available for Hold on Til the Night, Chance does appear to have at least had a hand in the writing of Unfriend You as signed copies of handwritten lyrics are available on Greyson's Official site.

On the surface, Chance's sound evokes quite a Disneyesque feel, and the video of Unfriend You reminded me instantly of David Archelletta's Crush. However, there is an originality with Greyson Chance's style that makes his music worth listening to, even if you aren't an eleven year old girl. Although, Greyson Chance's voice is already exceptional for his age, he also displays a maturity beyond his years, often taking the melodies and emotion of his songs to places where the listener might not expect. In his interviews, Chance sites artists such as Journey and John Lennon among his influences, along with Lady Gaga. I personally detect a little Bruce Hornsby in his sound as well.

Although his sound is basically upbeat, Chance is not above including a bite of teen angst in his lyrics every now and them. Unfriend You contains the lyric, "I should've known right from the start. You didn't have a human heart." Heart Like Stone has a dark almost etheral feel to it, along with a driving dance beat with Greyson's voice coming through strong-- without any electropop that is present in so much of today's new music. But there is plenty of optimism too, especially with Waiting Outside the Lines -- a song about reaching for your dreams, an area where Greyson Chance sets an excellent example.

Good job, Greyson. From the sound of things, you're only going to get better.

Hold on Til the Night, (Track Listing)
1. Waiting Outside The Lines
2. Unfriend You
3. Home Is In Your Eyes
4. Hold On 'Til The Night
5. Heart Like Stone
6. Little London Girl
7. Cheyenne
8. Summertrain
9. Stranded
10. Take A Look At Me Now

http://www.greyson-official.com/default.aspx#!all
http://www.beatweek.com/music/musicianinterviews/7267-greyson-chance-interview-waiting-outside-the-lines-debut-album-and-more/
http://www.greysonchanceweb.com/tag/interviews/
http://www.metrolyrics.com/greyson-chance-lyrics.html