With her adorable candied vocals that are sweet and smooth like honey, Imani Coppola of Little Jackie sweeps you off your feet on dangerously catchy tunes that are sugary pop, but loaded with substance. She, along with multi-instrumentalist Adam Pallin, are back as Little Jackie for their third album, Queen of Prospect Park, and it’s certain to brighten up dreary autumn days and wintry nights with summery beats.
Queen of Prospect Park glows as soon as you hit play and you won’t be able to help but sway your hips from beginning to end (seriously, we dare you to stay still). As its name implies, “Sweet” is a fizzy, dizzying single where Coppola croons “keep on falling in love.” It’s the instant moment of discovering someone who makes your stomach do jumping jacks, your brain go on a sudden vacation to Aruba, and your concentration become nothing more than tumbleweeds. It perfectly displays that sudden feeling of being heads-over-heels for someone and having no fear of tumbling down.
Prefer to take a step back in time? Fast forward to Little Jackie’s lovely rendition of the 1931 classic, “Dream a Little Dream of Me.” Bursting with cartoonish glee, it’s an animated lullaby that starts off like a jewelry box being opened in a circus tent. Coppola breathlessly coos about craving her lover’s kisses against a wonderfully tantalizing composition of twinkling xylophones. No matter how you feel about romance, this simple melody is certain to woo with ease.
While “Oprah Winfrey” is a shameless promotion for the “richest bitch in the world,” its too-clever lyrics overpower the music as a whole. Fortunately “Cheating On You With Me,” with its sultry, ferocious heat, is a refreshing single dedicated to taking care of yourself first. In the words of drag goddess RuPaul, “If you can’t love yourself, how the hell you gonna love somebody else?”
Truthfully, Little Jackie is guilty of causing cavities to listeners with its almost sappy singles of self-love, being fabulous, and crushing hard. However, Coppola makes no apologies for luring you with her feel-good pop. And really, who doesn’t love some sugar every once in a while? -Stephanie Nolasco
The Queen of Prospect Park is available now on Plush Moon Records! You can download it on iTunes here.
