Album- lovestrong.
Artist- Christina
Perri
After the major success of her song “Jar of Hearts”,
primarily through placement on a range of media outlets, people finally started
to take notice of Perri and her powerful musical style. Aside from the Twilight
saga track “A Thousand Years”, arguably Perri has not achieved the same kind of
success that Jar of Hearts solicited. But in listening to this album I ask
myself: has Perri created an album that is worthy of the public’s attention? Or
was “Jar of Hearts” just a bright musical gem in a sea of so so material?
Track 1- Bluebird
The opening track sets up the love based theme of the record
in a story like way. Lyrically the song is about heartbreak, with Perri singing
about this Bluebird (another girl) asking if she had seen this man who was once
Perri’s and now isn’t, and now she feels so heartbroken. The song is strong in
terms of the way that Perri kind of tells us a tale of love, although the
chorus of the song is annoyingly clichéd. However the clichés of this number
are helpfully dampened by Perri’s vocal performance, in which she applies a
light tone to the lyrics that gives the listener the sense of true fragility
and so makes the track more emotional. The production is simple but powerful,
with the track beginning with a simple piano melody before being joined by
guitars and drumbeats that allow the song to build towards a nice finish.
3/5
Track 2- Arms
Described by Perri herself as being about the fight between
your heart and mind, this song is really good in terms of the way that the
track builds in sound. The song starts off lyrically as typical ode to love in
which Perri sings of being really happy and conjuring up the image of being
swept off her feet by her love. However as the song progresses a lovesick
craziness is observed in how Perri begins to question the relationship, but
ultimately she realises it is great, emphasised by the repetition of the songs
hook. Vocally Perri’s natural tone brings the element of love out of the track
well, making it perfectly suited for a romantic comedy, and the background
vocals that are more noticeable towards the end make for great harmonization
that allows for a powerful finish to the track. And just as the lyrical content
progresses, so does the production of the record, starting off with simple strumming
of a guitar and a light piano melody that acts as the foundation of the song,
before developing into an up tempo number driven by kick drums and featuring
some clattering guitar riffs that shows the idea of Perri’s love just growing
and her truly feeling whole.
4/5
Track 3- Bang Bang
Bang
The venomous side of Perri’s personality comes out in force
within this track in which she lyrically sings of this boy who has caused her
heartbreak through betrayal and how she is going to shoot him down because at the
end of the day karma is a bitch. The song is strong in terms of the vocal, with
the bridge being a particularly great section in which Perri goes into a much
lower key that then rises to make for a big finish. But the best thing about
the track is the production, which provides a kind of old school, not quite but
almost soul like sound, with clunky piano melodies, a powerful drum bass and
aggressive guitar riffs. However the problem with the track is that the lyrics
and partly the vocal make it feel a bit too clichéd, with the repetitive nature
of the chorus wearing thin after a while rather than being catchy.
2.5/5
Track 4- Distance
The up tempo nature of the previous number is offset nicely
here by this down tempo track. But as usual Perri wants to emphasise to the
listener how love is not an easy thing, and here she lyrically speaks about how
she is telling her lover that she will keep her distance so as to not create a
kind of suffocating relationship, even though she does have strong feelings for
him. It’s a delicate ideology that is pulled off by the simple but catchy
quality of the tracks hook and Perri’s naturally light tone that brings a nice
touch of fragility to the song. The production is also really good in terms of
keeping a simple beauty to the track, but also creating a nice build in sound,
as it begins with a simple guitar melodies and then the drums begin and just
become more powerful with each moment, emphasising how Perri means what she is
saying, but is also questioning what she is doing.
3.5/5
Track 5- Jar of
Hearts
Perri’s most well-known to the track is a sweeping but
simple orchestral based pieces featuring a heartfelt vocal that holds a nice
slice of venom intermingled with hurt and fragility. The tracks lyrics feature
a powerful hook that taps into the human condition of being hurt and is one of
those hooks that is really memorable, with the track as a whole speaking of
shunning the advances of a former flame, as they were ungrateful during the
relationship and yet now want to rekindle that old flame. It’s a situation that
many people will be able to empathise with, which is perhaps not surprising as
Perri has stated that it was directly inspired by certain events in her life,
and so the sense of truthfulness and a relatable essence is perhaps inevitable.
The relatble nature of the lyrics is one of the reasons for the songs success,
but another reason is the powerful vocal performance of Perri, who brings a
palpable sense of sincerity in her voice and reaches into the highest points of
her register for a dramatic quality to be found in the song. The rock based
production also keeps things simple, with a nice piano melody and delicate
strings that allow for her words to really shine and get through to the
listener in an impactful way.
5/5
Track 6- Mine
With great drum beats that give a strong head bobbing groove
to this song, this up tempo number makes for a nice transition from the
balladry of the previous track. The fast paced and clunky piano melody
intermixed with gritty guitar riffs and strong drum beats make for an acoustic
but energetic sound to the track as a whole, with the more stripped back bridge
adding for a dramatic finish to the track. Lyrically the track doesn’t have as
solid a structure as her previous songs and so has a more powerful energy
because of it, although at the same time it is hard to understand what she
wishes us to take away from the track. But lyrically the track has a powerful
possessive quality, with Perri singing of how she has this guy in a her hands
and keeps getting together with him, but they can’t have a functioning and
healthy relationship because she can’t love him, even if she says she’s mine.
The only thing that weakens the track a little is Perri’s vocals, as although
they are nice, they don’t necessarily have enough of a deep and perhaps gritty
quality that is needed in order for the lyrics to be more palpable.
3.5/5
Track 7- Interlude
This song does what it says on the tin: it is a short,
emotional sounding interlude that features some haunting, gospel like “ooo’s”
and a dark piano melody that creates a powerfully dramatic listen. It is also
great in its simplicity in that it allows us in listening to the album to
reflect upon Perri’s perspectives on love that have already been stated, and prepare
ourselves for what is left to come.
3.5/5
Track 8- Penguin
This track finds Perri talking about the softer side of love
and is based around simple melodies that create a nice base for her delicate
vocals. Lyrically the track is about how this love only comes once in a
lifetime, with Perri comparing the relationship to the idea of penguins, who
mate for life, and speaks of the work of fate. The simple piano melodies and
the light guitar riffs give a lush acoustic feel to the track that emphasises
the idea of the simple nature of fate, with the twinkling outro being a
delicate sound of two lovers gliding off into the sunset for their life
together. Vocally Perri is also really on fine form here, with the changes in
key giving a nice chilled, lilting tone to the track, with the only downside of
the number being the section in which the production becomes more subdued and
Perri sings the line “Let go, let go of time, for you and I” repeatedly. This
is because this section is just that little bit too dragged out, and the track
would have just been better kept with the same production and vocal level for a
simpler but sweeter sound.
3.5/5
Track 9- Miles
Miles is a song that lyrically taps into the ideology of a
long distance relationship, with Perri asking her lover to forget about the
distance that keeps them apart but just think about the love that she holds for
him and expresses to him. However in the bridge she expresses how the
relationship could not last and how she is sad about the fact that her lover
felt he had to break it off. It’s a simple idea but one that feels very
familiar in today’s world, and so the tracks lyrics make cut a chord with some
listeners. However at this point the sound of the track as a whole is a little
too familiar, with Perri giving the same kind of vocal performance that we know
she is capable of, and the kick drums and guitar riffs and piano melodies
creating a production base that lacks some sense of originality. So whilst it
is a nice track that has a powerful end vocally and production wise because of
the bridge, the track also acts as a sign that she might need to start pushing
herself a little musically.
2.5/5
Track 10- The Lonely
This track acts as a sign of how Perri is at her best
musically when the production surrounding her is bit more stripped back and she
goes into a darker place musically, allowing for a dramatic tone to her work.
Here we find Perri singing of how she is consumed by her loneliness after the
break up off a once love fuelled relationship, and in the process implicitly
asks herself if she can ever really love again? The swirling, delicate strings
and simple but sombre piano melodies creating a great tone to the track that
builds with each tone and emphasises the seriousness of the situation, whilst
vocally Perri really shines as the natural fragility of her voice makes for an
impactful tune, particularly through how she can settle into lower and higher
registers seemingly at ease.
4/5
Track 11- Sad Song
The tone of this track is pretty much signified by the title
of the track, with the song being about another break up, and so if you’re a little
sick of the heartbroken Perri by this point in the record then you will join me
in saying she should have stopped the record on the last track. And although
she tries to interest us with the addition of heavy drums and cool guitar riffs
and music box kind of production to create a transition from a down tempo to up
tempo state, it’s just not enough to hide the fact that she doesn’t seem to
have much range of artistic material to gain inspiration from.
2/5
Track 12- Tragedy
The final track is a heartbreak based number that has a nice
venomous quality and although it is the same kind of ideology that we have come
to know of Perri, it is saved a little this time by the swirling productions
with is strings and powerful melodies that create a dramatic tone to the song.
3/5
Final Review
Perri is a good artist that can make really great music by
looking at her past relationships and turning them into songs. Yet the problem
with the record is that it is solely based upon this notion of love, and has a
dramatic feel overall that after a while can feel like it is suffocating the
listener with so much emotion, and so this record could have been much better
if Perri just pushed herself and put a bit more variation in there.
6/10
Best Track- Jar of Hearts
Worst Track- Sad Song
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