Album Review: Nina Diaz Comes Of Strong In Rock N’ Roll Debut “The Beat Is Dead”
Can music make you physically connected? Nina Diaz’s debut album The Beat Is Dead throws the gauntlet at this idea by creating a record that makes you want to dance in your passions, like they were a pool inside of you. It is rock-pop galore that is reminiscent of 80’s/90’s garage grunge, where women wore tight leather and yelled into microphones words of female empowerment. This 13 track album is artful in its mastery of lust and light in relationships.
Not many realize that life is one giant relationship. We have the tendency to only see relationships as the ones made between your partner, i.e. your boyfriend or girlfriend, but Nina Diaz reminds listeners’ that even your day to day decisions are measurements in how you see and embody life. Whether you love or hate life, it is, technically, a relationship. From a lust for a lover to a lust for drugs Diaz sees our bonds with the material entities that extend beyond our spirits as deeply telling of how we connect with our souls. Desire moves/ motivates people’s actions, and Diaz lyrically analyzes she has not always made the best moves, which she means she has not always wanted the best for herself. The songstress even goes as far as to question her generous role in building others without building herself to which every listener will say “Hallelujah” in relation.
Nina Diaz lays everything before her listeners from her instances of self-sabotage, “Screaming With A Sound”, to her moments of self-empowerment, “Queen Beats King”. She is lyrically unfastened like a woman whom has taken off the safety belt we all put on our lives and decided that she is going to drive to whatever destination she heartfully wants. Yet, she does not mind going to the dark, seediness of being human, and she has the rock n’ roll voice to do it. Like Janis Joplin or Joan Jett, Nina Diaz captivates with a raw, raspy voice that can go from a beautiful serenade to a call to arms. Songs like “Star” and “Fall In Love” are ardent displays of her rock n’ roll influences, as she never quivers her voices or makes it sound anything but firm and strong. Even in songs like, “For You” and “January 9th”, where she more delicately displays her inner fragility, she never loses the image of being able to fight anyone or anything that tries to tear her down.
Body and spirit are deeply connected. What goes on in your soul can be revealed in just the slightest movement of your body. Rhythmically The Beat Is Dead moves your body with a liberating force. Even the most coy, dance-challenged person will want to jump on the dance floor and use their physicality to express ever inch of their mentality. Nina Diaz has created a debut that delved right into the emotiveness of music. From her beats to her words, she never stops showing listeners that music is a multi-sensory experience, to which each person will have their favored track that ignites their desired experience or the relatable/ soulful introspection Diaz offers. . For More Information On Nina Diaz and to Buy The Beat Is Dead Click Here.
