I'm always skeptical of conceptual music projects. As much as I love a good narrative and thoughtful character development, things can quickly turn absurd or pretentious when they are so calculated, especially when an artist is playing a character (beyond the character that every performer plays). One of my least favorite characters is the creepy cute girl. This usually involves some kind of spooky synth and a baby voice, which ugh. Baby voice is one of the most annoying approaches to singing. Can't stand it.
That's the main reason I gave for not liking Dani Shivers when I was talking about her with a friend recently. I wouldn't call her music conceptual, but she is definitely playing the creepy cute girl in a way that feels lazy. There doesn't seem to be a real reason for the act, nothing that would make me want to know more about this Dani Shivers character. She's boring and one-dimensional.
Fifteen Years Old, however, is far more deliberate. The voice is essential to the character. Over the course of a six-song EP, thanks to some top-notch storytelling, we learn the compelling story of a teenage girl infatuated with images, who creates her own world through these images and lives in that world. This song, which is mostly a spoken conversation, would normally turn me off. Instead, I find myself utterly captivated every time I listen. There are so many elements that would, under most circumstances, make me roll my eyes and move on, but I keep coming back to this EP. I like it when music challenges me like this.
