Marie Miller - Letterbox (2017)

Marie Miller is a name you may not be too familiar with just yet, but that could all change after Friday, when the singer-songwriter and Virginia native releases her debut full-length album, Letterbox, via Curb Records. The 12-song record is quite the introduction, as Miller's sound meshes her singer-songwriter background with poppy country vibes almost like a combination of Shania Twain and Sara Bareilles. In fact, the album is so impressive that Billboard is premiering the album one day early.

Miller shows her versatility within the first three songs, starting off with the edgy "This Side of Paradise" (the album's lead single), leading into the piano-centric "Boardwalk," then flexing both her soft and more dynamic tones on the close-to-heartbreak tune "Lost at Sea." That kind of variety continues throughout the entire album, with slower tracks like "Glitter Gold" and "More" packing as much of a punch as the more bouncy, upbeat tunes like "Angeline" and "Sparkling" because of Miller's ability to connect her vocals with her storytelling – an element she highlights with the album's title.

"Call me old-fashioned, but I still write letters. We live in a world where everything is on a screen that contains basically all of reality in digital form, but we are physical persons," Miller tells Billboard. "I wrote this album Letterbox because these songs are my letters, pieces of paper with real things. This album is a collection of my true stories from 2011-2016, and now it's out for the world to hear. I hope they like what they hear."

TRACKLIST

01. This Side of Paradise
02. Boardwalk
03. Lost At Sea
04. Next Best Thing
05. Glitter Gold
06. Angeline
07. Story
08. Two To One
09. Stones You Throw
10. More
11. Sparkling
12. The Lonely Ends