Sweet, soulful sensitivity
THE month of May is turning into a banner one for album releases from young, good-looking, sensitive singer-songwriters blessed with awesome falsettos. First came Charlie Puth and now comes his tour mate Shawn Mendes.
Mendes’ self-titled third album follows the successes of Handwritten and Illuminate, which both topped the Billboard 200 albums chart. The new one should do that as well, with ease. He deserves it.
Like Puth, Mendes has a knack for pop hooks, but Shawn Mendes has a quieter, funkier and more soulful vibe. On the sensitive scale, Mendes might actually beat Puth: The 19-year-old is more introspective, fragile and yearning here than the more cocky Puth’s first-rate Voicenotes.
The album opens unconventionally for a pop collection with Mendes fighting depression in the Kings of Leon-sounding rocker In My Blood (“Laying on the bathroom floor/Feeling nothing/I’m overwhelmed and insecure”).
Mendes gets in a welcome R&B groove for the lovely, aching Lost
In Japan and goes on to admit self-consciousness in Nervous and vulnerability in Where Were You In The Morning?. The quirky song Particular Taste shows a Mendes ready to experiment with song form – and romantic partners.
He’s unsure of a lover’s commitment on Mutual and asks “Why can’t we just get over ourselves?” in the spare Why .It might be wise not to irk Mendes, since you might be on the receiving end of a spikey song like Queen.
Mendes gets songwriting help from frequent collaborators Teddy Geiger, Scott Harris and Geoff Warburton and perhaps their best song together is the aching Because I Had You.
If Fallin’ All In You sounds very much like an Ed Sheeran jam, that’s because Mendes co-wrote it with Sheeran and Johnny McDaid of Snow Patrol. The ballad even has Sheeran’s distinct cadences, but yet, stubbornly, doesn’t really stand out. Two duets – one with Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic and the other with Julia Michaels – also both underwhelm, especially with such strong writers aboard.
That’s certainly not the case when Mendes teams up with Khalid on Youth, a stunningly beautiful union of two of the most exciting millennial voices pushing back against the old order, singing “You can’t take my youth away/This soul of mine will never break.”
It’s a song as timely as you can get and a defiant step out of Mendes’ fragile world. But he quickly jumps back into it. It’s a world you’ll enjoy spending time in, too. – Mark Kennedy/AP EVER since Jessie J burst into the music scene with Price Tag in 2011, she has been steadily churning out catchy, danceable hits like Domino,
Bang Bang and Masterpiece.
The British singer’s fourth release, R.O.S.E., sees her going in a completely different direction.
The 16-track album, which was released in four parts last week, favours slow-tempo, jazzy, soulful sounds – a far cry from the head-bobbing pop tunes we’re used to hearing from her.
The searing ballad, Think About
That, hints at the possible reason for this drastic shift in her musical identity. The song details a close associate who used her and betrayed her over the years she spent building her career.
Now finally free from the mysterious figure she calls “a shark, a cheat, a traitor”, perhaps Jessie has realised her true potential and is finally coming into her own with the new sound.
Jessie gathers all the pain and disappointment she has harboured all this while and channels them into the scornful, explosive track to great effect.
Elsewhere, the singer sings about female empowerment, relationships and motherhood. Many of the tracks here don’t have strong, melodic hooks and take a few listens to get into save for Petty, Play and Glory.
The album’s lead single, Queen ,is a powerful anthem calling all women out there to embrace their body. There’s a hardness to Jessie’s voice usually. On R.O.S.E., that steeliness is dialled down substantially. Make no mistake, this by no means suggest her voice lacks strength or power, it’s just a lot sweeter.
R.O.S.E. is decidedly less radio-friendly than her previous works, and it probably won’t produce as many hits.
Then again, while her earlier songs may have been more infectious, they have a manufactured quality to them. This one has more heart and soul. – Kenneth Chaw
PORT Saint Joe may only be The Brothers Osborne’s second album, but T.J. and John Osborne have already established a country sound all their own.
T.J.’s warm baritone has only grown more inviting since the duo’s Grammy-nominated debut
Pawn Shop, showcased on the spare, but swaggering, opener Slow
Your Roll and the wistful country waltz Tequila Again. John Osborne’s virtuoso guitar work has developed as well, whether it’s on a big solo like the Allman Brothers-influenced one he reels off in Shoot
Me Straight or on a pretty acoustic number like While You Still Can.
And when the Brothers Osborne put those two stunning talents together, as they do on the epic
Shoot Me Straight or the poignant
ballad I Don’t Remember Me (Before
You), as John’s lilting guitar plays off T.J.’s gruffness, it shows why they are among country’s fastest-rising stars. They balance the intense moments with some goodtime anthems like Weed, Whiskey
And Willie and Drank Like Hank, but even those have a lyrical depth that sets them apart from the country mainstream. Port Saint Joe is sure to rack more hits and more awards for the Brothers Osborne. –
Glenn Gamboa/Newsday/Tribune News Service