Amelia Scalies: I Should Have Known Review: Youthfully Stellar

The first thing that comes to your mind when you hear Amelia Scalies sing is that she is the possessor of a beautiful, elegant power.

Then you find out she’s just 14-years-old and another word is jettisoned through your brain- prodigy.

“I Should Have Known” isn’t the type of album that will be a huge mainstream success, with no dance-worthy tracks or super catchy pop hooks, but it is a “welcome to the world baby” moment from a talent we are sure to hear more off for the next few years, at least.

More of a sampling of what she can do, “I Should Have Known” has a few rock tracks and a few folk ones and even a few ballads. Real music aficionados will appreciate her diversity, even if a record producer or stiff radio listeners will think she’s a country artist or someone trying to cash in on the success of acts like The Lumineers and Mumford and Sons.

The power of her words is evident several times during “I Should Have Known,” but it’s her guitar work and vocal chops that grab a hold of your heart. So much more than a teenager with talent, Scalies is an old-soul that at times sounds like Avril Lavigne at times, and Fiona Apple at others, but writes consistently like a Carly Simon or Carol King.

Songs such as “Phoenix,” “Rose Blossom” and “Macey Brown” make those comparisons easy ones. Just her and the guitar for the most part, Scalies is often joined by light percussion and a slide guitar in some cozy acoustic rock that feels like poetry with sound. It is here where Scalies proves she’s got the talent as a singer and writer that will serve her well in the future. These are the sounds on the album that will get stuck in your head, in spite of their simplistic nature and tone.

Tracks the likes of “Memory” and “Bottom of the Ocean” show off a grungier version of the teen that fans of Nirvana and Queens of the Stone Age will appreciate rather quickly. In spite of her youth, this kid makes rock work for her pretty easily. The guitar work on these tracks, as well as her silky, but tough vocals, she proves she can let her hair down anytime she wants.

Simply put, talents like Scalies are rare. She can shred, she can croon, she can write. This kid deserves a record deal and doesn’t have to stick her tongue out and sit on a wrecking ball to do it. All she has to do is be herself.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14262 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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