Hilary Weaver - Tell The Next Girl

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Hilary Weaver – Tell The Next Girl
2009, Hilary Weaver

Hilary Weaver might just be the next big thing.  The 19-year old singer/songwriter from Toronto writes pop music full of positive messages, infectious hooks and the sort of melodies that stay in your head for weeks at a time.   Weaver’s already won a Best Female Vocal nod at the 2009 Hollywood Music In Media Awards, is a two-time nominee for the Los Angeles Music Awards, and has been a finalist in such competitions as Anthem International’s Music Festival Competition (December 2010), 100% Music Songwriting Competition and British Music Week’s Rising Star Awards.  Weaver also took top honors in the 2009 Great American Song Contest for Best Pop Song while placing two songs in the Finalist category.  All of this from a six-song EP Weaver self-released in 2009 entitled Tell The Next Girl.

Hilary Weaver has the sort of uncomplicated, girl next door voice that drove popular music from several generations.  Weaver’s sense of pop rebellion comes in being a stand-up person who sings about real issues for real people and eschews the cynical mire that is pop music today.  Tell The Next Girl opens with “We’re Smokin’ Hot”, a highly danceable piece of pop music built on a killer hook.  Weaver’s message of self-assurance is notable, making the point that “hot” isn’t about the air-brushed look that we see in magazines.  Here hot is more of an innate, internal quality, and Weaver demands respect for who she is rather than someone’s day dream of what she should look like.  This is honestly one of the catchiest pop tunes you’re likely to have heard in some time.  “Put Your Hands Up” is pure girls’ night out pop.  Weaver shows off an unforced vocal sound that is refreshing.  Weaver manages in two songs to prove that she’s everything Avril Lavigne ever claimed in her early marketing efforts but never quite lived up to.

“It Can’t Be With You” a mature song of moving on, telling an ex that he broke her heart and will never have the opportunity again.  The song is sung is a solid pop ballad style.  Vocal effects are apparent, which is disturbing only insomuch as Weaver has such a nice sound without them.  “Tell The Next Girl” is a more upbeat take on saying goodbye.  The pop arrangement here is solid and compact; the sort of thing that back in the 1980’s would have had radio programmers drooling all over it.  “Never Made It Home” is a song of heartbreak over a love affair that ends abruptly when the guy goes out and never comes back.  The strings are a nice touch here, and Weaver tells the story in well-crafted lyrics against a melody that just won’t quit hanging around your brain.  Weaver closes with “When I Found You”, a positive pop love song with a catchy, sweet melody.  This one won’t set the pop charts ablaze, but it’s a solid pop album track with some marketing potential.

Hilary Weaver apparently knows what it takes to write a hit pop song at the age of nineteen.  What’s most impressive is that Weaver isn’t trying to write hits, she simply writes what she knows in a fashion that’s honest, pure and unaffected.  The melodies and hooks that Weaver puts forth on Tell The Next Girl speak very well for her future as a pop songwriter and performer.  Lyrically Weaver is solid with room to grow, and her star appears to be steadily on the rise.  Tell The Next Girl shows what pop music should be, returning some of the sense of innocence to a genre that has badly missed its core quality over the past decade.  Hopefully Weaver can keep that sense of wonder blended with the intelligent understanding of the world and sense of self she displays here as she ascends the pop ladder.

Rating: 4 Stars (Out of 5)

Learn more about Hilary Weaver at www.hilaryweaver.com or www.myspace.com/hilaryweaver.  Tell The Next Girl is available digitally from Amazon.com or iTunes.