Meet Justin Timberlake's latest protégé, Esmée Denters. The 21-year-old Dutchwoman's debut album was produced by JT, but it's only his interventions and guiding hand that will save this record from the bargain bin.
Esmée Denters is already something of a familiar name to many, thanks to her ties to Justin Timberlake. The pretty Dutch singer made a name for herself by uploading her cover versions of pop songs to YouTube; Timberlake saw them and immediately signed the 21-year-old to his Interscope imprint Tennman Records.
Timberlake also produced this, Denters' debut album, as well as co-writing and guesting on several of its tracks. With a co-writing credit for Ryan Tedder, you can probably already guess what 'Outta Here' sounds like; it's polished r'n'b spliced with soul-pop, and it's therefore largely forgettable. Even Denters' voice, while certainly capable of holding a tune, is overtly glossy – it could be anyone singing the slick chorus of 'Love Dealer' or the verging-on-naff-Eurotrance title track.
It says it all that the most listenable songs are the ones with Timberlake's stamp firmly branded upon them. 'Admit It', 'Getting Over You' and 'Casanova' make good use of quirky time signatures and the zooming effects often used by Timbaland on his records, while the latter even features Mr. JT's voice, instead of his numerous 'uhs', 'yeahs' and 'heys' that line several other songs.
Overall, though, this is another bland r'n'b album with horribly trite lyrics supposedly about love ("You put the 's' in 'selfish") and uninspiring vocals. Will ol' Esmée be huge, though? Of course she will.
