Kate Hudson spent much of her career orbiting the center of rock & roll so the transition from acting to singing doesn't seem awkward in the slightest on
Glorious, her debut album.
Hudson spends the record on comfortable ground thanks to her chief collaborators
Danny Fujikawa -- the onetime leader of
Chief and
Hudson's domestic partner since 2016 -- and
Linda Perry, the superstar producer who encouraged the actress to follow her dream of writing and performing music after hearing
Hudson sing for a charity event at a school both their children attend.
Perry's schedule didn't allow for her to complete
Glorious, giving
Hudson and
Fujikawa the opportunity to work with
Johan Carlsson, an associate of
Max Martin who found success co-writing with
Ariana Grande. Having two prominent producers as collaborators winds up putting the spotlight on
Hudson herself, as her passionate, full-throated vocals -- raspy without seeming ragged, powerful yet controlled -- are the focal point throughout the record. Unsurprisingly for an actress who became a star playing Penny Laine, the chief "Band Aid" in
Cameron Crowe's album rock epic
Almost Famous,
Hudson is firmly rooted in classic rock, displaying clear debts to such '70s titans as
Linda Ronstadt and
Stevie Nicks. The trick
Hudson pulls off on
Glorious is that her classicism never seems staid: it's bright, lively, fresh and fun, tuneful, and knowing without succumbing to rote, respectful tropes of traditionalism. Part of the reason
Glorious sounds so engaging is that she's working with
Perry and
Carlsson, pop producers who are keenly aware of fashion but who also know
Hudson isn't gunning for the Top 40. Instead, the team knows how to give the insistent "Romeo" and pulsating "Fire" a New Wave sheen and how to let the power chords of "Gonna Find Out" settle into a blues-rock groove that's as slick as it is earthy. Similarly, there are both dimension and depth to the quieter moments -- "Live Forever" builds from a hushed acoustic guitar to a lovely shimmer of harmonies and strings -- that emphasis emotion instead of overwhelming it. The suppleness of the production mirrors
Hudson's range -- she not only adeptly handles the shifts in style and tone, but provides the music with a dynamic center. Perhaps
Hudson is indeed a bit of a throwback to another era -- not so much the '70s as the dawn of the 2000s, when
Sheryl Crow made this kind of colorful classic rock a radio staple -- but
Glorious shows she's a rock star in her own right. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine