On the cover of her debut CD First Love, 16-year-old Karina Pasian looks terribly precocious. Grasping an old-timey microphone and with a big red rose in her hair, Karina looks like someone who sings sappy ballads or old cover songs. But First Love is nothing like its cover photo implies. Karina is bold and dynamic delivering sugary sweet vocals on some ballads as well as sounding like a gritty pixie stick on others. And she has skills: Her piano prowess are already igniting Alicia Keys comparisons, and she can sing in seven languages (English, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French, Italian and Arabic). After winning Star Search in 2003 and catching the eye of Quincy Jones, it appears everyone is betting their chips on the new girl. But the question is not if she has what it takes, but whether First Love is a true example of her full potential.

The best thing about First Love is that Karina doesn't try to pretend she's anyone but an average Dominican teenager from Brooklyn. Upbeat track "90s Baby" has Karina talking about "back in the day" of the decade she was born and sings about corner stores and watching Spike Lee's Crooklyn. But other times she's spewing teen angst with songs like her first single "16 @ War," an honest look into current teen struggles and never-ending drama:
— "Around here cool is not the word for fool / if he smoke and she smoke I gotta smoke too."

"Slow Motion," a simple love song accompanied only by a piano and Karina's emoting voice, wins for being the most sincere. The other ballads, "Winner" and "The Love We Got," are almost creeping into school recital territory. "The Love We Got," which sounds like the equivalent of holding someone's hand and swaying, has lyrics that are cringe inducing — "I love him / he loves me / and this is how love should be" — but fortunately this is the album's only weak point. The song is followed by "They Ain't Gotta Love You," a powerful, unique pop track that has to be heard again and again. Karina sings over a pounding beat about forbidden love:

— "I don't care what my mama says / because she's not always right / forget what daddy says / I'm gonna live my life."

"Can't Bring Me Down" is the most Keyes-esque of all the tracks, with back-up singers and a piano loop accompanying Karina who sounds her most soulful here. It's followed by "First Love," a love song dedicated to her love for music, which echoes the same soulful energy "Can't Bring Me Down" has. But what does Karina want to be? Tracks like the Lil' Mama accompanied "Baby Baby" and "They Ain't Gotta Love You" are Rihanna-lite, but does she want to steer toward a more soulful sound a la Alicia Keyes? Fortunately, Karina has plenty of time to think about that. "First Love" probably won't conquer the world, but it is an impressive debut for a rising talent.—Tiffany White