Love Star, a Los Angeles-based indie-pop trio, recently made their first Latin Alternative Music Conference appearance. Formerly known as Grito Mutual, the newly renamed Love Star is comprised of Jorge Torres (bass), Will Alves (guitar) and Adriana Fernandez (vocals). Their new Happiness EP is composed of four solid pop songs both in English and Spanish.
The EP’s lead single, “Felicidad,” is a pop-en-español, radio-ready dance track that will appeal to fans of groups from Belanova to Paulina Rubio. Its synth-heavy backdrop is a great compliment to frontwoman Adriana Fernandez’s infectious vocals. “Sin El” is a more pop-rock track with heavier guitar sounds backing Hernandez. “Ay Nino” is the third Spanish track and where Fernandez and company keep it ’80s.
The lone English track on the Happiness EP is “You.” While it is great to see a Latin band keep it bilingual, this is a situation where they should stick to the lengua madre where their songs seem to flow much better. Remember when those ’80s freestyle/Latin hip hop artists used to come out with a rock ballad to be different and it just didn’t work? “You” is kind of like that. Nice try Love Star, pero no.
Love Star’s Happiness shows great potential, but it isn’t anything we haven’t heard before. It’s fun bilingual pop music that will appeal to many. It should be interesting to see what, if anything, we see from Love Star in the future.