artist will find them­selves in the spot­light (or, rather, semi-spotlight) for only a few short months, or even weeks, before the light shuts off, often­times for good. After being dropped by Geffen (despite a phe­nom­e­nal debut), it looked like this would be the case for New Jersey singer-songwriter Jessica Poland, who is bet­ter known by her stage name: Charlotte Sometimes. However, instead of giv­ing up, Jessica decided to screw the major label that dropped her over in the best way pos­si­ble: by self-releasing a free EP that con­tains some of the best songs of her career to date. The Sideways EP kicks off with the acoustic strum­ming of “Bad Bad World,” which, it turns out, is a good, good song. Noticeably lack­ing of the sex­ual frus­tra­tion that per­me­ated much of her debut, the song sum­ma­rizes all that is great about Charlotte Sometimes. In the same song, she man­ages to chan­nel such var­ied enti­ties as Taylor Swift and the Quinn sis­ters, and the ulti­mate prod­uct is a stun­ning piece of mature, adult pop that belongs on Top 40 sta­tions as much as any Train or Lady Antebellum song. Fortunately, the EP fol­lows up this momen­tum with “Better Than This,” and, while the song may not be bet­ter than “Bad Bad World,” it is much bet­ter than most of the wail­ing songstresses try­ing to make a mark on the scene. Every song in the EP con­tin­ues in a sim­i­lar fash­ion, with every song set­ting forth another pop gem that should be trea­sured for years. However, no song demon­strates this bet­ter than EP closer “Hurt The Good.” While it may stray to the over­dra­matic, it truly rep­re­sents Jessica’s bril­liance at its best, com­bin­ing beau­ti­ful har­monies, near-sultry singing, and haunt­ing wails and hums set over a med­ley of piano and vio­lin to form a solid, 3-minute masterpiece. With Sideways, Jessica (aka Charlotte Sometimes) has released some of the best songs of her career (to date). Needless to say, she deserves a sec­ond chance. With such gems and clas­sics as “Bad Bad World,” and “Hurt The Good” now in her cat­a­log, it seems the only thing she is now miss­ing is a hit. Of course, for that, all she needs is some pro­mo­tion. Her music can eas­ily say the rest.