Joy Lippard, 19 years old and just out of high school, is here with her self-titled national debut. This acoustic-pop album draws from Joy's life experiences, from first dates to self image, and aims to share these experiences with teenagers who have been, or will soon be, in similar situations.

The album opens to the song "Hey There Stranger." The song goes through the story of a boy meets girl situation. Throughout the song, Joy emphasizes how important it is to know someone's heart, not just what the person appears to be at first sight. Another standout from this album is "Hole in my Pocket," which opens with a strong acoustic guitar riff and as a whole is very catchy. It speaks against the current culture of relying on popularity and money, instead stating "What I have is not my own, gotta give it back to you."

The highlights of the album are the tracks "Stronger" and "She's a Diamond." These speak more about how God's view is so radically different to that of today's society. Joy hopes that these songs echo the lives of other teenagers, and that her music can reach them.

Her first effort is a rather solid pop effort. The songs are strong both lyrically and musically, but I can't help but feel that this is just the start of Joy's career, and this album is just barely scratching the surface of what can be much more to come from her in the future.

Throughout this Joy Lippard, I kept thinking of all the mainstream pop that many young teen girls listen to. It's interesting to see how Joy Lippard's debut is so similar in sound but so different lyrically. This is definitely one of the best new albums you'll find in the acoustic-pop genre. I look forward to hearing future projects from this talented young artist.

- Review date: 3/26/09, written by David Couch of Jesusfreakhideout.com