Is pop music ready for a facelift?

Signs are pointing that way. Nl acts are slowly being ditched in favor of garage rock throwbacks. Boy bands are finally fading from the charts. And the teeny-bopper dance machines like Britney Spears and Mandy Moore are surrendering to more “musical” female stars.

Vanessa Carlton recently released her debut album, Be

Vanessa Carlton knows a little something about this last fact. The 21-year-old songwriter has just taken her piano-powered opus “A Thousand Miles” into the Billboard Top 10. Already she’s noticing that younger audiences are moving away from costume-changing divas to embrace genuine songwriters.

“They know the other stuff is fake,” Carlton said. “As opposed to seeing the super pop star that is marketed in a way that you should WANT to be them, I think kids desire to hear music that is coming from someone that they ALREADY feel that they’re like.”

Speaking from a tour stop in Indiana, Carlton reacted to the fact that so many critics have christened her debut album “Be Not Nobody” as “mature” and “intelligent.” Do people underestimate the capabilities of most 21-year-olds?

“Absolutely,” she replied. “Especially compared to the images that are portrayed by other girls my age, like Britney we’re basically the same age. To only see her as THE example of a 20- or 21-year-old girl is (inaccurate). She seems like a type who likes to dance around and stuff, but I don’t think all 20-year-olds are like that. I don’t think that’s the norm.”

So does Carlton, a former ballet prodigy, believe she can out-dance the writhing Britney?

She answered, “To be completely honest with you, I have to say I could.”

	The showWhat: Vanessa Carlton at Red, White and Boom No. 7When: 2 p.m. SaturdayWhere: Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Bonner SpringsTicket information: (816) 931-3330

‘Nobody’ does it better

It was not very long ago that the Pennsylvania native was on a totally different career path. Raised in a family where her mother stressed classical music and her father favored classic rock, Carlton was taught piano at an early age. But then she began to display an interest in dance, and at 14 was accepted into New York’s School of American Ballet, taking up residence at a Lincoln Center dorm.

By 17 the pressure had gotten to her.

“The discipline of ballet is so rigid,” Carlton explained. “It’s unlike any other art form; it’s boot camp. Because of that experience I can deal with whatever I have to in music. Like I have a stamina and a work ethic that I don’t think I ever would’ve had if I hadn’t trained at the barre every morning for 15 years.”

Frustrated with the high-art lifestyle, she retreated back to her first love: piano. Taking a job at a restaurant in Manhattan’s fabled Hell’s Kitchen, Carlton wrote songs while supplementing her income with waitressing and babysitting anything to pay the rent.

Eventually her demos made their way to A&M Records President Ron Fair, who decided to personally produce the tracks that would become her first album.

“It was exciting the day I left work, but I have to say I was kind of fired so it was sort of forced upon me,” Carlton laughed. “When I stopped waitressing, the label wasn’t really supporting me (financially), but I had to keep recording. So it was a very difficult situation.”

Her intimate piano compositions mutated into giant productions, with a rock band and a full orchestra fleshing out the tracks. Surprisingly, the tunes gained even more strength from the complex arrangements, as her distinctively youthful voice seemed to rise above the material rather than get buried by it.

Soon the first video for “A Thousand Miles” was gaining airplay on MTV. Rolling Stone selected her as one of the “Top 10 Artists to Watch in 2002.” Inevitably, making a sonic splash as a new artist led to comparisons with other performers:

“A more pop-oriented Fiona Apple, minus the stormy melodrama.”

“Crosses over into the territory owned by Tori Amos.”

Carlton responded, “I understand every comparison that’s been made on me. But a lot of comparisons aren’t thought through. It’s very easy to do ‘all the girls who play piano are the same.’ Then there’s such a small group of girls who are playing instruments, it’s become, ‘She’s now like Michelle Branch.’ It’s dividing the pop world with one line: people that play instruments and people that don’t.”

Nothing to fear

Carlton can attest to how much difference a year makes.

Last June she was an unknown artist playing piano (whenever she could locate one), and refining tunes that would eventually lead to an A&M release. Now she’s a regular on radio and television, and on the road, where appearances at cavernous venues such as the one this Saturday at nearby Verizon Wireless Amphitheater are becoming more frequent.

Whether she’s performing solo at the piano or backed by her “incredible” four-piece band, the singer is comfortable presenting her emotional material before any audience.

“If I’m playing with just me and the piano, it’s nicer to see it closer up,” she said. “But I think it gets across both ways … It definitely comes across powerfully, even in front of 20,000 people.”

Although her conversational vocal style makes the words she sings seem that much more confidential, Carlton doesn’t see any danger of revealing too much of herself through her lyrics.

“If you’re what I call ‘going public,’ you have to let go of those fears and insecurities. When I first started writing songs I had a hard time playing them for people because it’s such a direct root into your brain and your heart. I say things in lyrics I would never say in real life. But I just don’t fear it anymore.”

That fearlessness has taken the blossoming artist from her tiny hometown of Milford, Pa., (population 1,104) to a stadium-sized venue in Kansas City. Like her hit single attests, she literally is ‘a thousand miles’ removed from where she started.