- Label
- Epic
- Release date
- 16th June 2008
- Genre
- Pop
- Buy this album
- Buy CD
But enough about me, now let's talk about me...
Californian singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles majors in Tori Amos-style personal-life confessionals rendered via the medium of quirky, piano-led soft rock. She has clearly struck a nerve, having to date sold more than a million copies of this debut album in her native US, yet her melodic musings, while frequently pleasant, lack both gravitas and any genuine flashes of originality or inspiration.
Bareilles certainly finds herself a fascinating topic, ladling thick dollops of earnest introspection over tunes such as the perky Love Song and overwrought Come Round Soon. Yet sadly her lyrical observations are tired and clichéd, her songs' emotional showboating too pat and soft-focus. Ultimately her pious, semi-strident dismissals of unworthy suitors and constant anthems of self-empowerment leave you feeling as if you are eavesdropping on the therapy sessions of a mildly neurotic woman whom you neither know nor, on the whole, greatly care for.
More to try: Tori Amos: Boys For Pele Fiona Apple: When The Pawn... Sam Phillips: Cruel Inventions
