The Original J.Lo Gets BareNaked For Us: Break Out The Singles Boys!

I’ve been a fan of Jennifer Love Hewitt since her days on mini-Melrose Party Of Five. When I first saw the petite teenager, I was immediately drawn to her. She was gorgeous, intelligent, and had talent oozing out of her ears with a style that was not overbearing and completely down-to-earth. I’ve rooted for her in the campy I Know What You Did Last Summer series of slasher flicks (a lot of good that did, huh?), laughed at her in the sexy and hilarious Heartbreakers and gained a new found respect for her in the Audrey Hepburn bio flick she did. The 20-something multi-tasker kept sharpening her skills and has gained some cred although her sex kitten image has seemed to drag her down. All that withstanding, Love (as she is affectionately known and how I will refer to her in this review) was always the very normal and quite goofy girl-next-door who just so happened to be a knockout as well as very talented at what she does. Of her peers (the 20-something females), she has the most class, flexibility as an actress, and sparkling personality. But who’s her competition? Tara Reid? *laughs* Now you see my point.

One thing that she has never gotten any respect for is her musical career. Originally, the delectable Miss Love was a triple threat; singer, dancer, and actress as displayed on her stay at Kids Inc. when she was a pre-teen. But, when her show came calling, Love had to give up on the musical aspirations, at least for the time being. In 1995, she put out her double entendre laced debut Let’s Go Bang; the “bang” was supposed to be a dance but video and any sort of promo never occured. We were left with a rather naughty view of the virginal sweetheart. The album got “banged” (eek, I know, rather bland cliche) with poor record sales and very dismissive reviews. The next year, her mellow eponymous sophomore album dropped to similar results. After that album sputtered, Love put off her music for a few years because that’s when I Know What You Did Last Summer first hit and she started to catch fire. But for the not-so-good sequel, she contributed a karaoke performance in the movie as well as the highly (I can’t stress that word enough for this track) overlooked How Do I Deal. It had a spark to it that along with aggression and powerful vocals, made me anxious for her next album. The song ended up being Love’s only real hit, making it to the upper 50 of the singles chart but wasn’t close to where it should have gone. Keep in mind this was when teen pop was just getting underway so I guess there was no room for a song that’s not peppy and optimistic. To put it in perspective, if this was released now it would probably go top 20 just because it sounds a lot like the Michelle-Vanessa-Avril three headed monster of rock tinged pop.

Flash forward around 4 years and guess what I found out. C’mon guess. You’re right, Love was giving it another go around on teen pop friendly Jive. Word spread her sound had changed for the better and she was the new Jewel. I ended up loving the single, and seemed to be the only one, really. Yet again, Love failed. This album debuted at #37 but then just died on the charts.

Tracklisting:
BareNaked (**** 1/2)
Can I Go Now (**** 1/2)
You (*****)
Hey Everybody (***)
Where You Gonna Run To (*** 1/2)
I Know You Will (**** 1/2)
Rock The Roll (***)
Stand In Your Way (**** 1/2)
First Time (****)
Stronger (*** 1/2)
Avenue Of The Stars (****)
Me And Bobby McGhee (****)

Hold me now
Stop the morning light from breaking
Something’s coming over me
Don’t know what it is I’m saving
You, one of the few pure ballads on the record, also is one of the 8 tracks Love had her hand in. It has one of the stronger vocal performances on the album as Love drops the poppy coffeehouse chick tone and adopts a very stark and vocally pushing performance. She has a very soft and vulnerable thing going in the verses while the chorus picks up strength and shows off her range in a very nice way. She has plenty of control in her vocals and without all the production elements sounds amazing. The vibrato is perfection and her vocals just rise and fall with the track. The music to this track is also my favorite on the record. It doesn’t change that much throughout the song but nonetheless ends up being dramatic, elegant, and just the right volume to compliment Love’s voice. All three people who play on this track (Paul Lindermuller on piano, producer Meredith Brooks on guitar and Abraham Laboriel Jr. on drums) do a superb job of not fighting for air space. Each goes for a more understated approach and blend in a magnificient way. Never does one instrument overpower or outshine the other two. The track also has a Dawson’s Creek-y kind of vibe to it with the whole dramatic hook and slow piano kind of thing going on. Definite WB potential. The lyrics are rock solid. They’re more involved than other songs with an emphasis on the verses rather than the hook. The subject matter is kind of questionable because there’s some lines that seem to be about virginity (If I saved it all for you/ I would have my faith again, then) but are of the ‘I don’t know if I need you’ kind of persuasion. They’re more adult than a lot of the lyrics by the “new schoolers”, especially because of the bittersweet tone Love uses for most of the song. Overall, You is an amazing track that’ll shock you if you only knew her as an actress.

Baby baby drive me crazy walking on the edge
The way you touch yourself has got me hanging on a ledge
The polar opposite to the previous track I Know You Will is a very deceiving track. The first :10 or so implies an Avril-esque track with the darker opening but once the rest of the song comes (country-ish acoustic guitars that fade into the background, a few effects, and soulful back-up, among others) you get the gist of the song. The bassist (David Darling) deserves the credit for this song because without the blues vibe it brought, this song wouldn’t be nearly as good as it is. The music is sensational; a bluesy folk track is brilliant. The guitar work is really smart, during the verses its like a mini battle with kind of a call-and-response thing going on. Around the two minute mark, the track goes a bit more rock as an electric guitar takes over and Love ad libs the heck out of the part. Its uberly catchy and the melody will most certainly get stuck in your head. When the chorus hits, the sound comes together and produces a great hook with a very full sound. Love’s vocals are pure attitude on this track, especially on the verses. She has some of the coolest ad libs as the song ends (definite rock chick vibe) so if you doubted she could sing , this is the track for you. She sounds surprisingly strong on the track, really flexing her versatility. Her light and feminine albeit viciously soulful vocals are a great match for the music as they both contrast each other to the point that they make each other better. The lyrics match the song with their spunk (Mister mister I’m the sister/ That you couldn’t play) and individuality. Love seems to shine on the tracks where she just freestyles rather than the tracks where she sounds stuffy and emotionless and this track is one to prove that claim.

So you wanna say goodbye
You know that's gonna make me cry
It doesn't even matter why
I want you to stay
Stand In Your Way, the soul tinged breezy track 8, also has one of the most hypnotic vibes to it on the record. Its just got that certain je ne sais quai (thanks Kim!) to it that makes you want to listen to it several times in a row. You really don’t get all the elements of the song in the first few listens but once everything falls into place, it really works. It kind of reminds me of a campfire song as well because of the clap along baseline. This song is very reminiscent of an 80’s soul ballad with its earthy mesh of prominent acoustic guitars and light electric piano. The string section toward the end of the song is a welcomed addition and should have been used earlier. The electric piano is stripped away and the guitar is fantastically demure with the strings. The music really is more poppy than the vocals and the lyrical content. They’re on the bittersweet side; Love’s vocals aren’t all that way, though. For the most part, they’re really sadly sung and pleadingly honest and desperate. They really vibe with the music because her vocal range suits these kind of folky, soul influenced midtempo stuff the best. But during the hook, her demeanor changes. She really has come to terms with what’s going on and changes her vocal tone to a more ‘oh well, I’m going to be ok’ kind of feel. Her more low range vocals on this glide across the song with a confident ease. The lyrics are the real masterpiece of the track as they mix confidence, coming to terms with something (If that’s really what you want/ If that’s really what you’ve been looking for/ If that’s really worth losing all we had before) and a sweet vulnerable side to Love is shown. They are smartly written but bring up some memories because I know some girls who really think like this (Gonna make you wanna love me like/ Used to every single night). Overall, a soulful jam session that’s just a great track for Love to show her stuff on.

What’s the point in trying to meet
You in the middle
You got your point of view
There’s nothing I can do
Can I Go Now is the second single off of the album (check out the video on Launch) and with good reason. It reminds me a lot of No Doubt’s Underneath It All with the reggae rhythms and light acoustic guitars. It opens with Love crooning a little bit to the basically non-existant beat. Its a very hollow opening with not pizzazz or anything but doesn’t take away from the song. During the verses, the guitar playing is rather staccato and doesn’t have any shape or form to it but in the chorus it gets a much fuller tone and has more bulk to it, at least melodically. During the song, Love’s vocals are strongly complimented by the percussion. They’re really laid back and relaxed (almost lazy) but at the same time you can sense a low growl to them, like a cat ready to pounce. They, along with the lyrics, are pure attitude with such a dismissive, ‘oh whatever’ kind of vibe to them that is rather poppy but such a rare find on the record that is works and doesn’t sound stupid. The hook is very sunny/ poppy (you pick whatever you prefer to call it) while the verses are aggressive and powerful. They don’t have power but they’re powerful. Think and you’ll get it. This song is more about the whole package (vocals, lyrics, style) rather than one specific area. The lyrics are very, very cheeky but kind of subtle about the way its done. The subject is so true, regardless if you’re male, female, gay, straight you‘ll agree. Basically, its that guys are completely clueless when it comes to relationships and dealing with the female mind. (Can I go now/ Said what you had to say/ Happy got your way/ Nothing to discuss) The hook repeats a bit much but all is forgiven for a quality song.

We’ve all got troubles
We all make mistakes
But let’s not take a little river
Turn it into a lake
Hey Everybody, one of the more spunky tracks on the record, is the only song I’ll delve into that I gave a negative rating to. There was just nothing about it that was special and what was there had several flaws. The music, while being great to rock out to, doesn’t really pack enough punch to really aide the blah lyrics. Its a usual pop track with a bit more of a rock edge (note the rocking out) but just doesn’t deliver. Its not really the most organic track, to say the least. Its got way too many effects; you’d think this was a teen pop song. It starts out very similar to John Mellancamp’s Peaceful World but goes a complete different direction after those first two or three seconds. By the 2:25 mark, the track shows promise with the inclusion of a light string section but its not enough to save the track. There is a two line block in the song that is just grating to me and drags the entire song down. (She’s got not chocolate in the bank account/ No cheese in the purse) The overall message is the song is very positive; its one of those ‘forget your troubles and jam’ type of songs but doesn’t have enough of the carefree-ness these songs should have. There’s a pot shot at a certain pop star (We can get it dirty/ While we’re keeping it clean) but maybe that’s just my overanalytical mind going into warp speed. Remember I wrote this with total writer’s block so I’m not responsible for my words. This is one of the weaker lyrical moments and reminds me a lot of new Shania Twain, kind of. That sing-a-long-ish, hook laden kind of thing. The vocals are a bit ordinary. On the few lines where she lets loose and shows some life (particularly the bridge) she sounds amazing. This song seems like its a filler to bridge the gap between You and Where You Gonna Run To. At times they’re a bit distorted (a bit too much if you ask me) and don’t have that chick rock angst thing going on. I like her energy but that doesn’t mean I like the vocals. The back-up is great; soulful and fun but they tend to drown Love out. This song just lacks her natural charm.

As you can probably tell, I really enjoyed this record. I think it got a lot of flack it didn’t deserve because a lot of people just assume that since she’s a prominent actress, her music must suck. I enjoyed that she didn’t take herself too seriously on this record but openly admitted its importance to her numerous times. I enjoy the fact she incorporated several elements into her music including reggae, pop, and soul and just made it work. This record really does have a nice flow to it with no one song staying a whole way away from the earthy, raw and natural vibe of the record. Love’s vocals, to me, are like Sheryl Crow meets Mandy Moore only a level or two deeper at times. That’s what a lot of people underestimate; her voice. If you just listen to her vocals, you’ll be rather surprised. She doesn’t do a lot of riffs or anything that heavy hitters throw at us. She stays well within her range, not trying to be someone she’s not. She’s not Britney or J.Lo nor is she Mariah or Whitney. She has some of the least produced vocals from a pop female I’ve heard in a while. You will rarely hear any sound effects and when you do its to the music only. Her vocals get a bit distorted in some tracks but she’s one of the more natural vocalists you’ll hear in the pop world. Now soul music is a different story but that’s another review. Love’s lyrics aren’t anything complex but then again what is complex nowadays? She is definitely no slouch and it shows on certain tracks. If you are open minded and willing to give anything a shot, I suggest you buy this. If you’re a Love fan, I suggest you buy this. However if you don’t like the “new school” of pop music you shouldn’t buy this. Save your money, kids and buy something you’ll like.


Until next time!

4.0 stars

If you enjoy this record, I suggest you buy Sheryl Crow, Michelle Branch, or older Jewel records.