Kat Perkins - Fearless

Kat Perkins

Fearless
self-released; 2015

3.3 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Kat Perkins was a contestant on NBC’s The Voice and took some of the popularity she gained from the show and used it to propel her career. She is touring the Midwest, hosts a radio show and is changing lives for students across the US by giving over 300 presentations this year and has reached over 50,000 students with a message of anti-bullying, setting goals and reaching for your dreams. In 2014, Perkins worked to combine her love of music and children and developed a program, which encourages youth to “Dream It. Do It.”

She recently released a five-song EP entitled Fearless. It’s an odd mix of song choices and styles ranging from a song that has the some motivational feel as her youth program to a cover of the song “Barracuda.”

The album starts with “Fearless” which is more or less a motivational message that sounds about as mainstream and pre-packaged as any song you would hear from The Voice. There is a Christina Aguilera vibe here between orchestration and piano melody. In fact this song reminded me of the song “Beautiful” in that they are both grandiose and extremely positive. She sings, “What would you do if you were afraid, what crazy chances would you take” during the verse and when the chorus hits sings “If you live live fearless if you love love fearless.” Make no doubt about it, Perkins can belt out a tune. Her voice really carries the song. That being said, the song follows a predictable structure that fits into exactly what you expect from a song on the radio. The intention for this song seems to be as palatable and appealing as possible to a very wide audience.

The song “Paris (ohh La La)” has a similar Christina Aguilera vibe but veers towards her Lady Marmalade era. This song has guitars but make no doubt it this is a pop song. It’s fairly catchy but still has such perfect production and delivery that it lacks any imperfections that are attractive in rock.

Perkins’s third song is a cover of the song “Baracuda” which sounds almost identical to the original. I love this song and I’m sure it sounds good live. The part that baffled me is why you would record a cover song that sounds exactly like the original. Wouldn’t you want to try to interpret it as your own or least do it in a slightly different style?

Perkins’ music unequivocally fits into the mainstream arena and works with the current trends of FM radio. It shouldn’t take you very long to figure out if this is your cup of tea.

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