Review: Lizzie Marvelly EP Showcase

Lizzie Marvelly performs in Rotorua. PHOTO/Ben Fraser

WHAT: Lizzie Marvelly's Collisions EP Showcase
WHERE: The Concert Chamber, Civic Theatre, Rotorua
WHEN: Wednesday, July 16

It takes a great deal more than a semi name change and switch from ball gown to the tightest of tight leather pants for an entertainer to successfully embrace another genre.

What it does take is guts, heaps and heaps of it and Lizzie Marvelly (previously known by her far more formal Christian name Elizabeth) has guts by the truckload.

She could easily have gone horribly wrong trading in her previous classic cross-over persona for writing and singing pop. She hasn't, she's flown through her transformation, landing super-smooth in the new grove she's carving out for herself.

What we learned at the newly-minted Lizzie's home-town EP Collisions showcase is that hiding behind her previously classically attuned vocal chords has been a pop performer dying to get out. Her escape's pretty darn spectacular - and bold.

Image 1 of 11: 160714bf9 Lizzie Marvelly peforms in Rotorua Photo/Ben Fraser

Any singer who dares channel the even-younger Lorde's Royals and reprise Madonna not only has to have guts (that word again) but the vocal smarts to succeed - Ms Marvelly does.

As mayor Steve Chadwick said introducing "our Lizzie" she's swapped sugary sweet for raunchy. That twitching right thigh and ever-so subtle hip thrust would have had Elvis begging for tuition.

The general consensus across the age groups was Lizzie's got the pop world in the bag.

Nicole Williams, 11, is hooked. "She's very, very good, my favourite song's Generation Young, I like it because it relates to a lot of people."

But all was not pitch perfect for Lizzie's return home, a big black mark to the sound man who let thumping acoustics override her normally excellent diction. Many complained they struggled to hear words that, thankfully, are crystal clear on the EP.

Local man Peter Guilford didn't mince words: "The background sound was crap, what a shame it ruined such a talented person's voice."

Talent was a word heard many times over, Lizzie's blessed with it, Collisions proves the point; debuting at 14 on the country's music charts it's trajectory's assured.