Unspoken

iTunes Review

“I can be a blessing…I can be a curse,” admits Jaci Velasquez in “The Real Me,” a key track on Unspoken. After achieving early success as a teenaged Christian hitmaker, she was ready for a little self-revelation. Along with confessions of imperfection, Velasquez uses Unspoken to add darker colors to her zesty mix of Latin and pop sounds. It’s not that she’s turned away from expansive praise numbers — tracks like the buoyant “You’re My God,” the swirling “He” and the slow-burning “Jesus Is” are unambiguous expressions of reverence. What’s new this time are songs dealing with ordinary disappointments and heartaches, like the slightly mysterious “Something." Though Jaci asserts her emerging talents as a songwriter here, she also includes material by others, including the stirring title song, co-written by — no kidding — U.S. Senator Orrin Hatch. As on past albums, her vocals range from soaring to sultry, adding a sensual grounding to even the most heaven-directed lyric. Unspoken is ultimately a very mainstream Christian pop release, but by showing a few scars, Velasquez makes the album’s declarations of faith all the more powerful.