Jessica

With a fresh face and pink packaging, youthful country pop star Jessica Andrews has avoided the sophomore slump by knowing who she is. \nComing right off tours with Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and Trisha Yearwood, Andrews' vocal strength testifies to years beyond her age. In 2000, Andrews was named the Academy of Country Music's top new female vocalist.\nThe first single and title track of the 17-year-old's newest endeavor speaks with the summertime sweet country girl charm. Andrews' breezy attitude continues throughout all 12 tracks with more self-aware optimism, innocent love songs and smug "I'm a woman now" ballads. Her simple style hooks the unassuming ear. \nWith truthful and comprehensible lyrics, lightly energized guitars and fiddles in the background, Andrews' songs fit her apparent personality. She doesn't try to sing beyond her years and creates an album of comfortable music. \nWrapped in warmth, Andrews' voice mixes the style of LeAnn Rimes with pureness worthy of Faith Hill's younger sister. And evidently learning from both, Andrews also jumps angel-eyes-first into the ever-expanding country crossover market.\n"Helplessly, Hopelessly," a lyrically mild starry-eyed ballad, and "Now I Know," a fiddle funk-backed version of the girl growing up after a lost relationship song, are lemonade-spiked gems. "Who I Am" and "Karma," meanwhile, leave a little too much lemon in the drink.\nOn her Web site, JessicaAndrews.com, Andrews describes the new album as evidence of the change she has experienced in the past few years.\n"Everything I'm doing now is new, from the types of songs I'm singing, to the musicians I'm working with, to the way I see the world. This album is a reflection of all that change."\nFlowing like a flowered skirt with the rhythm of the feet beneath it, Andrews takes many of the best elements of pop country in for her second album. Let's look past the annoying single and see the music Andrews is truly capable of.