Chupacabra by Imani Coppola

Chupacabra, the debut album from singer-songwriter and violinist Imani Coppola, came out on Columbia on October 28, 1997, while she was still a teenager, and it's named after the legendary creature said to drain the blood of livestock in parts of the Americas. That tells you something about the sense of humor here: this is a playful, quirky pop record with a violinist's ear for melody and a voice that slides from sly to sweet.

"Legend of a Cowgirl" was the breakout: it cracked the top 40 in America, Britain and New Zealand, charted across Europe and landed in heavy rotation on MTV. The follow-up single, "I'm a Tree", barely charted anywhere but later turned up in several movies. Critics were mostly kind, and the album made the US Heatseekers chart and the UK albums chart.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.