11/30/2023 0 Comments Sarah mclachlan vox meaningIs this 2001? Are you Britney Spears? Is it a hip image makeover attempt to appeal to the cool new kids? I have a strong hatred for using flimsy msn-speak in song titles, and I’m not just being a grouchy 30-year-old fogey. What I CAN’T see past is the stylization in the song’s title: “U Want Me 2.” While I don’t think the song itself is very strong, I can see past it and just accept it as one of her few misses. I’d be remiss not to mention my disdain for the final track, one of the two new songs debuting on this album (and a reason why I figured this album was fair game to rank). Unless of course the story the album is telling me is one of world success and domination, then yes girl I hear ya! I know these songs, and I know the stories they tell, but they don’t make sense to me in this particular arrangement. It’s a great album for a team sing-along, but Sarah’s soul is noticeably absent in the narrative. Its body & legs are waxed with Grammy-winning gold, but it doesn’t really seem to have a heart. Alright, her sound hasn’t changed ‘ so much‘, but it grew enough to make the song flow feel disconnected. (CLICK FOR MORE)īecause Sarah’s sound has changed so much from her beginning days into the Y2K+, the Closer collection feels inauthentic as a standalone album. My criticism of this album doesn’t come at the prowess behind its songs, but at the album’s overall feel. The track listing even goes in order of original release. #17 – Closer: The Best of Sarah McLachlan (2008)Īt first glance, Closer is the penultimate Sarah nerd album: A legitimate collection of her greatest hits spanning her entire career. The sooner we all get back to shedding puppy dog tears, the better.īUY HERE from Amazon using my affiliate link if it’s your jam While I hate pigeon-holing artists, I can’t help but proclaim that this album’s sound is very un-Sarah and that it feels more like a counterstrike to her 90’s sadness-stigma than a product of pure artistic expression. There are no catchy lyrics, no emotional arcs, and just no feats of musical genius that make me go “yass!”. Perhaps to compensate, a lot of the tracks carry over-the-top, almost fairy tale-sounding titles, such as “Rivers of Love” and “Illusions of Bliss.” But, like a store-bought pack of meringue cookies, they lack any depth to go with the fluff. What wants to be a happy, heartwarming tune ends up sounding confused and unsure of how to represent itself. The vocal performances don’t complement the upbeat tempos and I am left feeling emotionally unsettled by their disarray. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work out in her favour. As such, I can’t help but listen to Laws of Illusion as an attempt to break-brand. So she can take the joke, but she’s also cognizant of what the kids are saying about her. I’ve seen her live a handful of times, and she quips about said reviews in a tongue-in-cheek / self-deprecating way. I remember hearing years ago that Sarah didn’t particularly consider a lot of her music to be as depressing as pop culture branded it to be. Suffice to say, for the mistress of moody music, an uplifting tune would classify as doing much the same. Kelly got darker for My December, Britney got dancier for Blackout, Gaga got jazzier for Cheek to Cheek…even Bif has dabbled in a strange other genre. For singers, it can involve taking an ‘alternative approach’ to their sound. Artistic people crave creative output, and it can take various forms. Laws of Illusion marked the introduction of….happier….tunes into Sarah’s repertoire. *Head’s up – Amazon affiliate links are sprinkled throughout to help me pay my billzesses yo! Get your ugly crying face ready, cuz u’s about to be Sarah-naded □□ (ba-dum ching) Some of the rankings pained me, others were pre-ordained, and still few surprised even me, the Sarah-est of Sarah fans. Objectivity can be easily clouded in the face of constant eminence, but I’ve taken an oath to see these evaluations through fairly and squarely. I rejected a comparative ranking system, because it’s simply not fair for 80’s ethereal folk Sarah to be held to Lilith Queen standards. Each album carefully weighed against itself track listings scrutinized song-flows mulled. I’ve strained to remain as impartial as possible. Rarely can one singer check all the boxes all the time, but Sarah is exceptional in that way. In considering a ranking of her albums, perhaps one of my greatest personal challenges to date, it is a battle of the fantastic vs the lesser fantastic. She is songstress, she is temptress, she is goddess.
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