Confessions of a Nice Girl

Emerging from her teens on her third album, Katie Armiger is still looking for an identity as a country singer with Confessions of a Nice Girl. The album title suggests a theme, even when the traditional definition of a "nice girl" may have long since gone by the boards. Armiger, who gets writing or co-writing credit on ten of the 13 tracks, fills out the concept by revealing that nice girls can get upset ("Cry Cry Cry," "Scream"), that they "Ain't So Sweet," but are "Strong Enough." But the disc's lead single, "Best Song Ever," emphasizes the "girl" over the "nice," and Armiger may be at her best when exploiting her youth, notably on "Leaving Home," a ballad sung by a departing college freshman to her mother. Armiger has a good, if standard-issue voice for a contemporary country female, and she is given by-the-book arrangements on these songs, with the choruses sometimes arriving bombastically, the better to corral the ears of radio listeners (though, with seemingly every song on country radio using the same gimmick, that doesn't seem likely). But the problem, as ever with country performers, is material. Armiger needs more individual material well tailored to her persona, and if she isn't able to write it herself, she should go looking for it.