From California to Toronto, Mandi Perkins' music is spread throughout the continent. The rising star has had her songs featured on hit shows such as The Hills, Laguna Beach, Real World and Girlfriends. I was fortunate enough to get to hear her newest album, Alice in No Man’s Land, which was released in August of 2008.

The CD starts strong songs such as “Why Pretend” and “Why (You Confuse Me)”. The songs are full of emotion, and they pertain to her real life situations. They have an Alanis Morissette sound to them. Mandi has one of the strongest female vocals I have yet to hear. “Why Pretend” is my favorite song on the CD. The song is about loving someone who is pretending to love another. It is extremely catchy and most teenage girls can easily connect to it.

Later in the CD comes “Who I am” and “Everybody Knows”. Mandi slows things down with more impacting words that help her meaning get across easier. “You disgust me / repulse me.” The songs show hatred toward another person. Most artists use metaphoric terms that takes hours to unveil and understand. Mandi is the exact opposite. Her words are bold and easy to understand.

Mandi must have really liked her song “Alice in No Man’s Land” to name her album after it. But who can blame her, with lyrics such as “I’ve come this far / Can’t stay in no man’s land” Mandi takes the Disney classic “Alice in Wonderland” and relates it to her life experiences. The song is very calming, with using only piano throughout the song.

Mandi starts to change her sound a bit with the songs “I Fall Down” and “Crawl”. “Crawl” is a song you would expect to hear on shows or the radio. “You can’t learn to run before you crawl” The song has a lot of feeling, and although it has an upbeat tempo, the lyrics are the opposite.

After this song, the tempo goes downhill. Alice in No Man’s Land is formed like a hill. The tracks start out slow, and song by song the tempo almost become upbeat. By “Crawl”, the CD slowly goes back to how it started. I found this to be an interesting track list.

Altogether, this CD wasn’t that bad. The lyrics are very unique and easy to connect to. Mandi’s vibrato and change of tone makes the songs worth listening to. This CD is not something you should listen to if you are in a slap happy mood, but something you should listen to if you are feeling angst or depressed. Genre wise, it is more emo than pop music. The songs all blend together, but it is definitely something I would keep on my iPod.

Name: "Breakout"
Label: Hollywood
Release Date: July 22, 2008
My rating: 4.5 out of 5

Leila Mustafa is a staff writer in the Midwest region for Musiqtone.com. You can contact her at leilamustafa@musiqtone.com or fill out this feedback form below.