Jennifer Day - The Fun Of Your Love (1999)

Forty years ago Jennifer Day would have been wearing a ponytail, bobby socks, and saddle shoes instead of slinky black halter-tops and skintight denims. On her debut album, this Florida-born singer mostly serves up heartthrobby, teen-angst love tunes--musical juvenilia with titles like "Yeah Right" and "Somebody Else's Guy." She sings in a sultry, purry, radio-friendly voice that's unremarkable but sweet and earnestly persuasive all the same. Most of the tunes on The Fun of Your Love have the evanescent quality of unfocused beginner's exercises, yet there are a couple selections that cut deeper and stick to the bone. "Fearless" (a particularly impressive Day original) is a powerful anthem of self-realization. "Gone by Dawn" (cowritten by producer Robert Byrne) is a clear-eyed, resolute kiss-off to a former lover who's no longer worth his weight in heartache. This pair of songs gives listeners a hint of Day's potential, once she takes off the training wheels and hits her stride.