Courtney Stodden is no stranger to alter-egos, and she will soon be releasing her first EP as one of them. The 23-year-old aspiring singer has chosen to eschew her trademark blonde hair in favor of red to become Ember, who will be releasing the EP Off the Record later this summer. But fans of Courtney need not wait for a sample as she has posted the first song from the EP online!
The song is titled “For You” and it is available now on SoundCloud. Unfortunately, it is not embeddable, so you will have to head over there to give it a listen. I highly recommend that you do, and I don’t mean that in a “Mistletoe Bikini” train wreck WTF T&A everywhere elves with whips kind of way.
“For You” kicks off with a simple electronic beat, and Courtney comes in with a VERY Lana Del Rey-ish atmospheric voice that is…pretty great!? At least I think so.
About a third of the way through, the song shifts gears as Courtney goes with more of a raspy, not-as-much-singing hip hop delivery. Personally, I prefer the Ember in the beginning more. Thankfully, she returns to that soon enough.
#Ember #DebutAlbum #comingsoon pic.twitter.com/ARFxFvROpU
— Ember (@CourtneyStodden) April 30, 2018
In Touch‘s Mary Grace Garis wrote a fantastic on-the-record piece about being off-the-record super excited for the new EP, and I am 100% with her on that! I believe Courtney has actual talent, and I’m hopeful that she and those around her will take her talent serious enough to not bury it in autotune and Courtney’s Ember’s downright distracting physical assets. Do I think Courtney is the next Adele? Of course not. But, she is certainly good enough to be given a serious shot to find success within her range — which I think is evidenced by the first track from the EP.
This quote from Mary Grace Garis is perfect:
I already regret saying this out loud, but here goes: Courtney is great when stripped down. In “Glass of Wine” she only has her lingerie, a piano, a…full face of makeup and the aforementioned glass of red. And without being tampered with, she really sounds lovely, light, and pure. If you put her in the right hands and don’t make her sound like a p0rn robot, Courtney is a true siren.
Unfortunately, it looks like the marketing team is taking the other “stripped down” approach as the cover art for the single on her website features a backside view of “Ember” completely naked. And I say “unfortunately” as one of the biggest fans of Courtney’s bare pin-up physique! (It’s a little too not-SFW for inclusion here. The photo above is just something I whipped up from a promo shot of Ember hanging out on a road somewhere in her underwear.)
Normally, I am all for a musician (male or female) embracing their sexuality to help promote their music, but I think it can sometimes be distracting — especially if you are someone like Courtney who is trying to overcome the perception that she is just a very sexy young woman who is famous because she got married at 16 to a man almost three times her age. I’m as big a fan of Courtney’s astounding assets as anyone, but if the rest of the songs are anything like “For You,” I think that if people feel like they are being motor-boated by the cover art and/or the music video, that it’s going to be hard for them to give it a serious listen.
That being said, it does appear that the project is still in the early stages, and it sounds as though they are still working on what the final product will be — so perhaps that includes the marketing. I base that on an open call video posted recently by Courtney in which she solicits the help of any producers, engineers, etc. who may be interested in working on the EP.
Here is Courtney’s request with directions on how to apply:
Did you see that Rick Nowels?
I am all for sexual empowerment and positivity, but I have my fingers crossed that this EP will help Courtney find another viable outlet of expression beyond shaking her literal money makers on social media and OnlyFans.com. Oh, and if there is an official release party, perhaps Mary Grace Garis and I will both be able to attend and tip our wine glasses to Courtney Ember together.
???
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm.
