Hollywood Gypsy is the debut album by Twinnie, a British singer-songwriter who has been making huge waves in the music world recently.
By Jane Howkins
It’s always exciting to listen to the debut album of an artist, especially one who has been releasing singles for a few years. Twinnie is one such artist, and considering that she’s been releasing music since 2015, it’s surprising that it’s taken this long for her debut to be released.
Hollywood Gypsy is quite a poppy album (to the extent that we can see many of these tracks bothering the charts for months to come), but there’s also something of a country-rock feel to things. The tracks still have something of a mainstream pop sound to them, but you can tell that Twinnie has had quite an impact on them herself, with a lot of the songwriting on the album being credited to her as a whole. It’s quite rare for modern pop singers to have anything to do with the actual writing of their own songs nowadays, so it’s great to hear an artist that can write and play her own instruments, instead of just singing along.
Despite being a British artist (she’s originally from York), Twinnie’s music has an undeniable American feel to it, and we’re reminded somewhat of Taylor Swift’s music when she first started out. Lyrically, the tracks here are all standard country-pop fare, with most of the tracks featuring lyrics about lost loves and failed relationships. There are also some great melodies contained within these songs, and it will be interesting to see which direction Twinnie goes towards in the future.
With all this said, there were some places in which we felt Hollywood Gypsy could be improved. The production was a little too slick for us, and at times it felt ever so slightly soulless. We also felt like some of the songs leaned too far towards the mainstream pop scene, which makes you wonder how much input other people had into the album. It still makes for a good listen, but she’s such a talented singer that it seems a shame for the result to be something so commercialised. Nevertheless, Twinnie has a bright future ahead of her, and who knows what that future may hold?