NextUp: Francesca Battistelli
Captivating. That’s the first word I came up with when trying to think of something that could describe the beauty of Francesca Battistelli’s voice. When I first heard her major label debut, My Paper Heart (Word Entertainment/Curb Records/Warner Brothers, 2008), I honestly didn’t pay much attention. But then one day, I saw the song “Beautiful, Beautiful” on a friend’s MySpace playlist. I thought, “that name sounds familiar,” and gave it a listen. The song’s title couldn’t be a more accurate description of the song itself, which is still my favorite by the 22-year-old Broadway-style play actress-turned-musician. In the song, which I find to be her best piece vocally on the album, the vocals and lyrics (co-written by Battistelli) are just that- beautiful. The song paints a picture of the beauty of a life changed by God’s grace, best illustrating it with the line “like sunlight burning at midnight.”
Since she was young, Battistelli had her heart set on being an actress on Broadway. Having with both parents involved in musical productions, it was really a no-brainer- until the Lord introduced her to the guitar at a youth ministry after a short stint with a pop group at only age fifteen. In 2004, she released an independent album, which she entitled Just a Breath. It must have generated interest where it counts-Nashville- because in 2008, she released an EP exclusive to iTunes on Fervent Records (a subsidiary of Word Entertainment and Warner Brothers) titled I’m Letting Go, Battistelli’s first radio single on a major label (also the first single written by the up-and-coming star after her move to Music City). She followed up the four-track EP with the release of My Paper Heart, which continued Battistelli’s iTunes success, debuting at #1 on the sales charts- but this time it wasn’t exclusive to the online music retailing giant. The album was in the top ten on Christian Music charts for a solid month, and “I’m Letting Go” hit the #3 position on radio charts.
Meanwhile, the songstress began touring with names like Aaron Shust and NewSong, and became part of Christian music’s biggest tour, Winter Jam, which includes acts such as Hawk Nelson and tobyMac. While it seems like she’s definitely at a good starting point, only time will tell if Battistelli has what it takes to stand out in an industry where it takes more and more effort every day to do that with new names surfacing all the time who are all in competition for labels’ attention. But with songs like “Beautiful, Beautiful” and “Forever Love,” (yes, I’m completely looking over “I’m Letting Go” and “Free to Be Me,” because the other two are better in my opinion), she’s headed in the right direction.
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