Charlotte Sometimes

Before I pursued my passion for music I was a dancer. All throughout junior high and high school I took dance classes and competed on our dance team. It was something I was never able to truly excel at for a variety of reasons such as the demands financially and physically. I was tall with lanky, long arms and a woman’s body at fourteen. My instructors did not know what to do with me as they were used to the petite girls who never seemed to go through puberty. That world, so consumed by body image and staying as thin as possible, never appealed to me and I began to focus more on music where I was freer to be myself. This week’s artist had the same start in dance. Charlotte Sometimes was a dancer for thirteen years and left because of the pressure to be thin. She instead picked up a guitar and went about creating her own music. I know its the best decision I ever made and I think Charlotte just might feel the same.

Charlotte Sometimes is the stage name for Jessica Charlotte Poland from New Jersey who renamed herself after a book by Penelope Farmer. She released her first EP in March of 2008 and quickly followed it with a full-length album in May of 2008 titled, Waves And The Both Of Us. Charlotte is just 22 years old but has been writing music and playing guitar since she was fourteen. Before releasing her solo album Charlotte was part of a five-man band known and J. Poland and The Pilots. They self-released an album, I Promise I Won’t Be Released, which is also available on iTunes.

Charlotte’s sound reminds me a little of Natasha Bedingfield with a little Lily Allen thrown in to add uniqueness. Her personal style adds a vintage feel to her look which is even evident on her myspace page. Make sure to check it out because its probably the best myspace layout I’ve seen and if I could get this blog to look like that then I would be over the moon.

Charlotte has based herself in New York, New York and if you are nearby you can catch her playing several shows this March.

http://www.charlottesometimesmusic.com/

http://www.myspace.com/charlottesometimes

Photo 1 by Carolina Palmgren

Photo 2 by Robbie Michaels

Photo 3 by Jeremy Balderson