Young Blood

Fifteen-year-old Bea Miller made the leap from aspiring actress in L.A. (by way of New Jersey) to pop idol by becoming a finalist on the second season of Simon Cowell’s X Factor. She may look even younger than her years, but she sounds like someone who’s lived a little, the way she belts out a lyric like “hot and hazardous, like playing with dynamite” with a dose of grit and what one imagines to be a sharply filed red fingernail. Her debut EP is entitled Young Blood, and it celebrates that very thing. The title track is a beguiling, hazy triumph of youthful spirit; the chorus “We’ve got young blood! Can’t destroy us/We make our own luck in this world!” is tempting to sing along to, even for the well over-15 crowd. Alongside the serrated rock edges of “Enemy Fire” and the cavernous, M.I.A.-style stomp of the first single, “Dracula,” those three tunes show an artist ready for prime time, with the promise of something a bit stronger than the average teen-pop purveyor. The formulaic sway and swagger of “Fire N Gold” is what Miller and her songwriting team may do best to avoid.