Thursday, 25 July 2013

Colbie Caillat- All of You Album Review


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Album- All of You

Artist- Colbie Caillat

Colbie Caillat, American singer songwriter and pop maestro is a person who is perhaps one of the best musicians in terms of her ability to craft breezy pop songs that are light but also emotionally touch you, and which you can just chill along into and bask in the strong energy of. Since bringing out her hit track ‘Bubbly’ back in 2007, Caillat has enjoyed a strong career in the American pop music market. After releasing a Christmas album, being transitioned onto the Republic Records label along with a number of other artists, and with a fourth studio album in the works, I thought I would reflect on Caillat’s latest proper studio album and see how excited I should be for more music from her.

Track 1- Brighter Than the Sun

The record opens with the second single release from this album, and a track that was co- written by current hit maker and the frontman of One Republic, Ryan Tedder. Caillat has spoken of how the song has a punch and is so up tempo and happy, and indeed this is an apt description of the track, where we find Caillat singing about falling in love, use a plethora of metaphors to express this sentiment. Her light vocal tone makes this s a refreshing summery tune and has that touch of believability, whilst the production is nice in its fast paced quality and the way that the different sections of the track are led by different types of instrumentation, which keeps you interested, and the whole track just has a tone of dance around and enjoy life that is infectious, if a bit clichéd.

3.5/5

Track 2- I Do

Track number 2 was the second single from the record and continues along the same light and quite summery tones of the previous track. The song has a finger snapping tone that makes it slightly more infectious in tone than the last track, and the hook of “I Do” is really strong and something that will get stuck in your head. The lyrics do suffer a bit from cliché as Caillat sings of not wanting to fall in love but this man has come into her life, and now she has totally changed and wants to actually marry him. However the light vibrancy of the vocal performance is strong enough to cover up the cliché, and the rise and fall of her voice in the chorus gives a catchy, she is in love quality to the track. The production is more acoustically arranged, employing folk sensibilities alongside the pop qualities through the great use of a ukulele in the transitions between sections, and the whole song is just built on these shuffling beats that makes it a great song to listen/ sing along to driving in the car on a lovely summers day.

3.5/5

Track 3- Before I Let You Go

Even though there is a finger snapping quality to this track and a slightly light edge, the happiness takes more of a backseat and instead we are treated to a more ambivalent Caillat, as she sings about this guy who she is a slight love triangle with and she has waited for things to change, but she is unsure whether she can handle it anymore. The fast paced quality of the lyrics and the vocal makes this song come across slightly as plea which suits the lyrical message, and although her voice is naturally light and so suits happier songs, this track does nicely show of the soft, fragile quality to her voice, and so the song gives a bit of artistic variation. The production is nice with the hand clapping beats and light acoustic guitar; however I wish she had changed up the sound a little as the song could have had more of an emotional impact.

3/5

Track 4- Favourite Song (featuring Common)

Chosen by fans to be the third single from the record, Favourite Song is a change in the record as the guitar driven pop tune has a slightly island tone and is a bit more of a hip hop jam. The lyrics focus on this metaphorical idea of wanting to be someone’s favourite song, which basically means you want to be in someone’s affections. The ‘la la la’ hook is catchy and the chorus is simple and light to make for a memorable, if not very unique, tune. Both Caillat and Common bring vibrant personality’s to the track, although I am not sure if they blend as well as they should within the track. However, the hip hop flecked sound really suits Caillat in a way that some people probably didn’t think it would, and so this is another great song for summer, particularly for beach/ pool parties.

3.5/5

Track 5- What If

Used within the 2010 romantic drama film Letters to Juliet, What If is a light song that finds the singer in a familiar loved up state that is extremely infectious. The song has a smooth vocal tone that is made very appealing in terms of the soft, lilting tone that the singer employing, with the slow emphasis on the last parts of each line making for a song that feels very light and chilled. And it’s a vocal performance that makes you more invested in what she is singing, as she tells us of how she believes that she is really in love with this guy and just feels so great, whilst the chorus centres on the singer asking the question of whether they were fated to meet and love each other, and whether this can be a real love. The happy, loved up spirit of the track is its most appealing quality, however the track is also great in terms of showing the singer pushing her sound a bit and offering a nice little bit of variation within the record, as her normally acoustic guitar based production is here changed in favour of electric guitar rhythms that really suit the song and give a vibrant edge to this track.

4/5

Track 6- Shadow

Shadow is another song that shows more of an ambivalent and slightly vulnerable quality to the singer as she tells her lover to leave if he wants to, as she isn’t really getting what she needs out of the relationship and has tried her hardest. The song has a punchy tone with the production that embeds a slightly more prominent pop rock edge within her music in terms of the acoustic guitar riffs being meddling with this forceful drum beat that makes you think that she is a bit more serious in what she is singing. The song has a simple honesty that is reflected in the catchy tone of the chorus, with the metaphorical basis of the song being a nice quality in the track, and the final moments of the song with the short electric guitar solo makes this song have a bit more of a statement feel. The only problem for me with this track is the vocal performance, as there is a sense of fragility to the vocal that is very nice, but I feel that if things were a little more aggressive or passionate with the vocal than this really would have made this track a standout on the album.

3.5/5

Track 7- Think Good Thoughts

Caillat brings a more universal message to the album with this track where she seems to perhaps want to inspire people as she things of how when she is feeling bad she just tells herself to think good thoughts, which acts like a weapon to lift her out of a dark mood. With references to peace, this is definitely a song designed to make the listener think about life and just try to make the world a better place by being positive, and the ‘na na na’ hook of the post chorus gives us a catchy tune that makes this song have a come together as one tone. The light tone of the singer gives us the sense that she does think of good thoughts, and the way that the track blends her vocals with the background vocals to create a chorus of voices in the final choruses gives the songs finish a bit more of an impact. The problem with this song is that the lyrics are marred by some clichéd images that suggest she is not totally invested in what she is singing, and whilst the light pop sound of acoustic guitar is nice, and the drum claps have slightly different tone to some of the other songs, the sound is still a bit too familiar.

3/5

Track 8- Like Yesterday                                                     

Things are kept light with this song that finds the singer telling us and this guy of how she remembers like it was yesterday that they were just friends, but now she has been saved by him and is truly in love with him. The fast paced tone of the chorus makes the singer sound loved up, and the lyrical content has a sweetness that makes this song feel ideal for teenagers in the throes of first love with a friend they didn’t expect to love. The vocal performance has a chilled swaying tone that wants again makes this a nice track to just sit and listen to, whilst the production is a little bit different as the drum beats are a little heavier and quicker, whilst the guitar strumming has a little bit more of a heavier tone and feels to me a little bit European.

3.5/5

Track 9- All of You

The records title track is a positive song that starts of as kind of an apology, and finds the singer preaching the message of loving your partner despite all the good and bad things that come with them. This message comes out in the honesty and simplicity of the track, and the singer brings a vocal performance that feels a bit more passionate than some of the other tracks whilst still having a light and appealing tone. The production is nice and chilled with the mellow guitar instrumentation, with the bridge being a particularly great section in terms of the stop and start rhythm of the guitar that allows for a potent finish to the tune.

3.5/5

Track 10- Dream Life, Life

Another universal message from the singer is shown with this light but lyrically fast paced tune where Caillat expresses the sentiment of forgetting the worries and stress we have and just live life, with the chorus centring on how she wants this dream life, giving an aspirational tone to the track. The vocal performance brings the dream life message and fun energy of the track out but perhaps doesn’t make us truly believe in what she is singing, whilst the ‘dream life, life’ hook becomes annoying after a while. The production has a slightly more pop rock edge with the use of electric guitar and more heavy drums, but the sound is a bit bland, although the way the song plays out at the end is a nice finishing touch.

3/5

Track 11- What Means the Most

The most mellow song on the record, What Means the Most is a very sweet love song that is an ode to the little things of life and a track that is lyrically embedding in the idea of finding peace of mind from just being with a loved one. The songs sweetness comes across in the vocal performance, with the softness of the verses (which sound a little like a teenager in love and so feels cute) contrasting nice with the more powerful quality of the chorus. The chorus has a lovely simplicity that is catchy, and the whole song is great in terms of the guitar instrumentation giving us a mellow tone that makes things more believable, with the drums and electric guitar being employed in places to simply add power to the words.

3.5/5

Track 12- Make It Rain

The final track is the only song on the record to be solely written by Caillat. Here we find the singer in a stereotypical mode musically in terms of the way the record finishes, but the stereotypical quality works in terms of the way that the album is embedded in the theme of love, and so this is a perfect song to finish the album with. The track lyrically finds the singer telling her beau of how they have grown together and that she does not care what others think, as there love is so strong. The lyrics work in the way that the singer directly addresses her love, although sometime the use of clichés such as ‘brown eyes’ makes the song feel a bit bland. The singer provides a smooth vocal performance that gives a swaying rhythm to the track and gives her love that she conveys this essence of purity, and so we can believe that she truly doesn’t care what others say. The production is nice, with the guitar rhythms having a simple tone that makes us listen to the words a little more clearly, with drums simply being employed to create a build in the songs sound that makes you emotionally invested in a way.

3.5/5

Final Review

With this album Caillait brings us a strong record filled with finely crafted pop tunes that have touches of other genres and a pure quality that is infectious, with the more vibrant numbers being offsetted nicely by the slower songs. Caillat’s voice has a soft and smooth quality that is very appealing, and is definitely strong in terms of the more summery flavoured songs. The issue with this record is that there needs to be just a little bit more of a variation in sound, as although some songs are markedly different, the final few songs on the record start to collectively let your interest go. A strong album but the singer perhaps needs to go and do something such as travelling in order to find some new musical inspiration, as her sound is perhaps becoming defined by her breakthrough hit.

7/10

Best Track- What If

Worst Track- Dream Life, Life

 

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