By Cameron Conant, contributing writer, www.watchgmctv.com

The third full-length album from Francesca Battistelli saves the best for last: “Hundred More Years,” the title track and final song on the album, is a gorgeous meditation on life’s fleeting moments and our desire to see them last forever, or for a hundred years as the case might be. While the song is conceptually far from groundbreaking – it’s a mash-up of Five for Fighting’s “100 Years” and Steven Curtis Chapman’s “Cinderella” (and sounds like an Andrew Peterson tune) – it’s a wonderful ballad, and a song that immediately suggests multiple listens.

Beyond that, the jury is still out. Battistelli has a Carrie Underwood-caliber voice, and she’s especially remarkable on the slower pop-country tunes (“Worth It,” “Angel By Your Side,” “Motion of Mercy”). However, things get weighed down time and time again by surprisingly weak (though faith-centered) lyrics, which often come off as overly instructive or trite. Musically, the second half of this album leans pop-country, though there are straightforward pop songs too, some with saloon piano or organ. “So Long” is gentle yacht-pop that nearly recalls Christopher Cross (“Sailing”).   

But it’s “Hundred More Years” that steals the show and will make listeners wish that the moment could last, if not a hundred more years, at least about 40 more minutes.