Orrico's revival

DEBORAH EVANS PRICE, BILLBOARD
The Record (Bergen County, NJ)
01-16-2007

Orrico's revival -- Two-year break brings a fresh perspective
By DEBORAH EVANS PRICE, BILLBOARD
Date: 01-16-2007, Tuesday
Section: ENTERTAINMENT
Edtion: All Editions

In March 2004, Stacie Orrico walked away from it all. Feeling overwhelmed by the global success of her multiplatinum sophomore album, Orrico exited the business, returned to her family in Seattle and took a waitressing job at a neighborhood seafood restaurant.

With today's release of "Beautiful Awakening," the 20-year-old singer-songwriter returns with a fresh perspective. "I knew if I didn't step away and build a life outside the music industry that I'd always be holding on too tight," she says. "So I went away and shut down the machine for a couple of years."

Orrico had earned the right to take a break. She was discovered at a Christian music seminar in 1998 in Estes Park, Colo. She entered a competition and won, gaining the attention of an A&R executive from EMI Christian Music Group, who offered her a development deal with ForeFront Records. She was only 12.

Her 2000 debut, "Genuine," was certified gold and debuted at No. 1 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart. Soon she was attracting mainstream attention opening for Destiny's Child on the trio's "Survivor" tour.

Orrico's self-titled 2003 album was issued on Virgin and EMI CMG's ForeFront label. Her career as a mainstream pop star exploded with the hit singles "Stuck" and "(There's Gotta Be) More to Life." The "Stacie Orrico" album has sold 498,000 units, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Orrico soon found herself on the music business treadmill, performing at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, MTV's "TRL" and the tree-lighting ceremony at Rockefeller Center. To make life more hectic, her career started exploding overseas as well, and she began heavily promoting the album in Asia.

Exhausted and burned out, Orrico opted to return to Seattle. "I spent a couple of years building a foundation, reconnecting with my family and the friends I had since childhood, meeting new people and having normal life experiences," she says. "It was healthy and very vital to me being able to come back and do this again."

Eventually, she began writing songs for a new album and wound up with 55 new tunes. She enlisted some noted producers to craft "Beautiful Awakening," including Dallas Austin, Dwayne Bastiany and former Naughty by Nature DJ Kay Gee. The result is an album that leans more toward the R&B of Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill than Orrico's previous polished teen pop.

The first single is "I'm Not Missing You." "It's the most pop song on the album," Orrico says. "It bridges the gap between where I left off to where we're going on this album, which is more soulful."

"Beautiful Awakening" was released internationally in August. It already has been certified gold in Japan (100,000 copies) and is making waves in Germany and Australia.

Though her previous albums were also pushed in the Christian market, Orrico is signed strictly to Virgin now, and "Beautiful Awakening" will be marketed as a mainstream record.

Orrico has been blogging on the Internet, and her MySpace site features videoclips of her discussing the album. "People hear her and instantly get onboard," Duncan says. "We are casting the net wide, because we have the luxury of having an artist that can touch so many people."

On the Web:

stacieorrico.com

Illustrations/Photos: * *
Keywords: MUSIC

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