Utopia

With 2013’s Utopia, Estonian pop star Kerli, now signed to Island Def Jam, gets groomed for international superstardom. Painstaking production was applied to this EP; it took nearly five years for Svante Halldin, Jakob Hazell, and David Taylor to complete mixing these songs. “Can't Control the Kids” opens, blending elements of house and electronic dance into a vast dubstep soundscape. Kerli’s commanding vocals soulfully soar over this as she champions the power and creativity that today's young people have with the technology at their fingertips. On a track laced with melodic hooks, she calls for modern youth to keep creating and sharing with the world. The following single “The Lucky Ones” is another dance-floor delicacy that’s less energetic but overflowing with a heartfelt and triumphant sentiment; Kerli muses on the strength of a friend who got a second chance at life after a cancer scare. That song's prominent piano seeps into the next track, “Love Me or Leave Me.” As the EP’s sole piano ballad, it’s a nice chaser from the two preceding party tracks.