My Story, the first album from Anni Zola, is different from most albums targeting the tween audience. For starters, the music focuses on positive messages like living your dreams, volunteering, and taking care of the environment. But then there’s also the fact that she doesn’t exist. That’s right; Anni Zola is a digital creation.
My Story (and Anni herself) is the first project by Generation Z, a company started to increase awareness of social and environmental issues among kids nine-years-old and older. The company founder, Zuriani Zonneveld, is the voice of Anni on the songs and her 12-year-old daughter voices the album’s audio book tracks). An impressive list of music industry professionals also contributed to the album.
How’s It Sound?
The songs are well-produced and are very similar in style to other tween-targeted music, like Hannah Montana. Depending on your musical tastes, this could be a good or bad thing. My 4-year-old daughter loved the songs. Two of them, “Share My Dream” and “Come On Out And Play” quickly became part of our family drive time. In fact, we recently caught her performing “Share My Dream” in her room, complete with her own dance routine.
However, what sets My Story apart from similar-sounding music is the overall presentation. Between the songs, you’ll hear Anni’s story. These spoken tracks were beyond my daughter, but should appeal to the album’s target audience of nine- to 15-year-olds. The album also features some instrumental tracks as well as a poem that was submitted to the Anni Zola website. The various pieces types of tracks work well together, but some may be disappointed that the album includes only four “traditional” pop songs.
Enhanced CD Features
In addition to the audio tracks, the enhanced CD includes a video for “Share My Dream” (also viewable for free on YouTube), some “making of” videos, contest entries from the Anni Zola website, desktop wallpaper images, and some calendar graphics. These are a nice bonus, but I wouldn’t recommend buying the physical CD over the version iTunes version just for these features.
Beyond the Album
Because Anni Zola is a modern performer (and a digital creation), it makes sense that she would have an online presence. The Anni Zola website goes beyond the typical “fluff” of most children’s performer’s websites and features a community where kids are invited to participate in challenges, share stories of volunteering, and become “agents of impact” to help make the world a better place. For example, currently kids are encouraged to enter designs for a water bottle that will be sold in Anni’s online store.
Generation Z is also using social media to extend Anni Zola’s message beyond her music. Anni’s fans are invited to connect with her, and each other, on a variety of channels including:
Currently, Facebook appears to be the most active of these, although some of these sites have very little activity, perhaps because the CD has only been out since June 29.
Interestingly, because Facebook and MySpace have a minimum age of 13, a good part of Anni’s targeted 9-15 year-old audience are too young to use some of these services without their parents.
Summary
At $15, My Story is a good deal if you’re looking for something new for your tween to listen to. The album is an interesting mix of audio formats. For those uninterested in the enhanced CD content, My Story is also available on iTunes for $9.99.
I like the idea behind Anni Zola and am curious to see how the project evolves. The goal of encouraging social and environmental awareness among tweens is admirable and Anni Zola’s music and stories are an creative way to reach it. However, it remains to be seen if Anni’s community will continue to grow beyond this album and become a way for her fans to share their experiences changing the real world.