BWW Album Review: Mandy Gonzalez Is Fierce and FEARLESS

Mandy Gonzalez has been one of Broadway's favorite divas since she burst onto the scene in In the Heights. But alongside her powerful voice, she's always given off that vibe that she could be your cool big sister. In her new album Fearless, Gonzalez exudes that same kind of warmth and wisdom on upbeat, inspirational tracks.

"Fearless," the lead-off song, sets the tone for the album as a whole. With simple yet effective lyrics such as "We crawl, we walk, we run until we fall, begin again," it tells a story of growth and gradual empowerment that speaks to a much-needed mood of hope. Penned by Lin-Manuel Miranda, the song is contemporary and anthemic and a burst of positive energy to kick off the album.

After such a strong opening, the second track can't help but pale a bit in comparison. "Starts Right Now" reuses much of the same imagery as "Fearless," but lacks the driving energy that made the latter what it is. However, the following song, "Que Sera Sera" picks things right back up again. A little bit bluesy, it really highlights the strength of Gonzalez's vocals, and it has a narrative arc that builds from verse to verse, bringing the listener more into a story than the more non-specific lyrics of other songs on the album.

The back end of the album features a pair of sweetly uplifting songs that focus on the division between what we see and what's really going on beneath the surface. "Everyday," though somewhat similar to the earlier songs, draws an interesting lyrical contrast between the ordinary "everyday" and the more extraordinary moments. "Smile," meanwhile, is a little gentler and more reflective. With lyrics such as "we're all waging our own battles," it's a bit softer and more outwardly focused than some of the more anthemic songs earlier in the album.

And for some fans, that's one of the draws of the album: getting to hear "Nina" again. For many listeners, Gonzalez will always be inextricably linked with her Heights character, which makes a pair of tracks on this album all the sweeter. "Life Is Sweet," a romantic, country-tinged duet, would have been a highlight nonetheless. But the fact that her duet partner is Christopher Jackson, reuniting her with her Heights love interest, makes it all the more charming. And the final track on the album is "Breathe," Nina's ballad of fear and longing and doubt. I've always connected strongly to this song, as I suspect many women (and men) of my generation have, and I found myself getting chills when Gonzalez soared through the song's bridge ("When I was a child, I stayed wide awake...") with as much power and emotion as ever, but with an undercurrent of wisdom and hindsight that wasn't there ten years ago.

One could say that's the theme of this whole album: growing up and getting stronger and wiser, but never forgetting from whence we came, and when times get tough, to push fear aside and, well, just breathe.

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