Alex Henderson of AllMusic concludes his review with, "Fearless is not an album that goes out of its way to push the smile button; at times, Noble's observations can be dark and melancholy.

But if Fearless is less than optimistic on the whole, it is also impressively honest and sincere – emotionally, Noble really lays it on the line, and she shows a great deal of promise on this superb debut.

"Rarely will you hear an artist go from tender apology (as in "A Dream About You," in which Noble takes the blame for fumbling a relationship) to no-nonsense anger (as in "I Won't," which, she said, some people have called her "Alanis Morissette song").

It added up to a profound emotional ride – and here's some further news: Noble's album is even better, because it has a band behind her and some string arrangements tastefully done by Mardin.

Right now, Noble is being marketed as a "hot adult-contemporary" artist, whatever that means, but if you like piano ballads from the heart and don't care about labels, then she's worth discovering.