The Unique Start of Emily Kinney

This lovely lady got her startup in stardom by playing Beth Greene on AMC's the Walking Dead. Prior to her time on the show, she already had musical talents that were yet to be discovered by an audience. Now in-between her acting roles on TV shows and movies, she'll shell out a new song or an album for her long awaited audience to enjoy.

The show even co-operated her singing abilities to her character Beth Greene to sing on the show once in a while, which did help bring an awareness to her future albums to create.

I'm not one to generally listen to indie songs because of my strict taste in music back then. I'll admit I only gave her songs a shot solely because of her time on The Walking Dead. I looked up her name on YouTube to find song she did titled "Rock star", which came out around the time she was on the fourth season of the walking dead. It's a sweet indie song with some soft rock ballads. In the music video, she does have a natural vibe that she's enjoying having the dream to do music in her own way. I do enjoy the modern twists with social media references, It's not my favorite but I do enjoy the shout-out she makes to her beginnings on The Walking Dead by singing the lyric-

"I'll send him unreleased Walking Dead episodes, so on the plane he's not bored"

Not many artists find ways to reference themselves, and in the current time of her role on the show. It makes it worth the listen just for that lyric line.

After Rock Star, I found her album This is War. This album is the start of experimenting with different ideas in musical content. The sound of her musical had more of a mature sound to it then her singles. The third song, "Mess" on the album was the one that had me officially impressed. It had her usual style of the harmonic vocals with her peppy lyrics, but with a mature route. I was hooked by the concept of the song wanting to know more of why she is with this man she's annoyed by, but she misses the nuances about him. The relatable concept of relationships or friends with benefits with messy sex, the idea of being hung up on someone that you just can't forget. We've all been that girl that just can't forget about someone and their imperfections. I love how well she enraptured that. Give it a listen for yourself to see what I'm praising about.

The rest of the album had varieties of different songs she's made that had a sassy edge to it about not buying someone's bullshit (Molly), a sweet song about spontaneous telling a love interest to let loose and forget about the heartbreak he experienced (Last Chance), and other songs that you'll just have to listen for yourself.

I hadn't heard anything from her for a while until November of 2017 when she released the single, "Mermaid Song". As a fan of mermaids, I wanted to see what her song would be about with mermaid in the title. It is in my opinion , a signature song of the summer. I loved it from the first time I listened to it and already had to have the song to myself and bought it on iTunes. I was so happy to see that she hasn't changed her style, but continues to impress and improve over time with different musical styles. It's a song using herself as the mermaid, to express that frustration in finding love but seeing it was too soon. (Kind of like a famous Disney mermaid we know and love). It's a personal favorite of mine to play during the Summer or a comfort to myself to a love I thought would flourish.

The song, Boy Band Hero, from her album Oh Jonathan, is a love letter to the girls that had their crushes. She's taken us on a trip to our past of daydreams of what never happened but it was nice to think about it. We all think of the 'what if', to think what it would be like in a saga we've already thought about in our heads. The music video that was made was a nice connection to use her own middle school pictures to take us to her past.

Love songs are a main part of the songs she's created, she originally started out with sappy sweet songs, and it has expanded to a mature, moving sound and I'm always excited for her next creation in her discography. After listening to her songs for the past five years, I can defiantly say that I'm a fan of her work.

I credit her for forever changing my perspective on music. I used to be very strict with my songs that it had to have many musical instruments playing, (mostly because of growing up with rock and roll). Listening to her style of limited instruments, focus on the lyrical content, and sole carry of her voice. I've begun to expand my chances in music to see what else there is in different platforms. She's an underrated staple in making the kind of music that was missing from your music library.