Jennifer Love Hewitt

Jennifer Love Hewitt was teen pop before teen pop was cool, but she sat out its glory years of 1999-2001, concentrating on her film career and transition from adolescence to adulthood. Her 2002 musical comeback, BareNaked, is the culmination of her journey to womanhood and, appropriately, it doggedly avoids any comparisons with teen pop. Where Pink chose Linda Perry as the collaborator, J-Love hired Meredith Brooks, who certainly does move Hewitt far away from teen pop, firmly planting her into adult alternative pop with a record that wants to sound like Michelle Branch but can’t shake the fact that it sounds like Meredith Brooks. This is not a bad thing, since it’s well-crafted, appealing melodic acoustic pop, not nearly as provocative as the coy cover art and title, all earnestly sung by Love. If it doesn’t ring as authentically as, say, Branch or Vanessa Carlton, it’s because at her core Hewitt is a show-biz kid, and she still sounds a bit like she’s putting on a show. But, thanks to Brooks’ sturdy craftsmanship, it’s a pretty good show all the same, with plenty of good MOR tunes and a winning, warm production that is only ridiculous on the hippy-dippy voice-and-bongo interpretation of “Me and Bobby McGee.” Many critics have laughed this off because it’s Jennifer Love Hewitt and because it is unabashedly square mainstream pop, but it’s very good in its style and is a nice new beginning for a singer/actress that seemed to be stuck in dance-pop.

Barenaked

BareNaked (Video Version)

Can I Go Now

Hey Everybody

Where You Gonna Run To?

I Know You Will

Rock The Roll

Stand In Your Way

First Time

Stronger

Avenue Of The Stars

Me And Bobby McGee

Just Try

Christmas Magic

Islands in the Stream (From "9-1-1")

Jennifer Love Hewitt is one of the most overlooked vocalists of the nineties. Vocally, the girl has more talent than Jessica Simpson, Mandy Moore, or any of the other young teen stars in the business today. Heck, Jennifer launched her musical career while Britney was still trying to make it in the Mickey Mouse Club ... but sadly, her album fell flat on arrival. One wonders what things would have been like had she released a record circa 1998/2000, the time of the "young female teen singer" explosion ... the success of her rocky "How Do I Deal" single from 1998 would certainly suggest that perhaps she would have done better around that time.
Technically, this was Jennifer's first album (I don't count the abominable Japan-only release "Love Songs", comprised of mass slaughterings of classic tunes such as "Dancing Queen" and "Heart Of Glass" with MIDI-sounding backings). Understandably, this makes the overall sound of the album quite inconsistent. We can't be sure whether she wants to be the next Janet or Celine Dion. The opener, "Kiss Away From Heaven" is certainly very "Rhythm Nation", but quite an average attempt. Further into the disc, "Can't Stand In The Way Of Love" is somewhat better (very catchy, but less-inspired vocals), but it all comes off sounding rather tripe. Jennifer's attempt at an interlude ("The Garden") is a blatant rip-off of the spoken word part of Janet's "That's The Way Love Goes" ... hmmmmm, not good so far Jen.

Then of course, we have the bluesy Jennifer. Whether she had been listening to too many Frank Sinatra records, we don't know, but it certainly created some interesting results. The first single from the album, "Let's Go Bang" ("bang" being a style of dance) is very catchy with some great vocals (but rather silly lyrics). "Free To Be A Woman", however, is a poor version of "Let's Go Bang" with cringe-worthy lyrics ... and don't even get me STARTED on her butchering of the David Gates classic "Baby I'm A Want You". Elsewhere, she tries her hand at some Celine Dion material with varying degrees of success. "In Another Life" is a gorgeous piece, with a string-based introduction and easily the most amazing vocals Jennifer has ever captured on record. She soars and swoops in true diva style on the chorus, and sounds angelic to say the least. Quite a masterpiece, that track. However, "Couldn't Find Another Man" (also a single I'm lead to believe ... good choice Atlantic Records, NOT) is quite possibly the most vomit-inducing song I have ever heard. Laden with "I'll love you forever" lyrics and a sentiment about as deep as a paddling pool, this song is why stereo manufacturers invented the "skip" button.

There are two very good reasons to buy this CD though. "You Make Me Smile" is a 50's-styled jazz tune with a doo-wop influence. The result is something of a divine experience. The lyrics are simple but heartfelt, the melody inspired ... absolutely brilliant. Also, "The Difference Between Us" is quite possibly Jennifer's best song. A nineties-styled funk number, it comes off as both quite sweetly sentimental but a little dark and mysterious at the same time. Very atmospheric, and worth the price of the album alone.

So what went wrong, Jennifer?? It's fairly simple. The girl couldn't work out where she wanted her music to go. The styles on "Let's Go Bang" don't gel particularly well, and the overall sound is somewhat patchy and inconsistent. There are some really great songs on this album which highlight Jennifer's surprisingly high level of vocal ability, but there are also some clunkers. For Jennifer fans, this is a must-have just for the sake of completeness, and for fans of pop music in general it is certainly very listenable and still more sophisticated than Britney's first effort, but for everyone else perhaps this is not your bag. Luckily, by the following year Jennifer had well and truly perfected her sound, churning out one of the best albums of the nineties. "Jennifer Love Hewitt" is a soulful, R'n'B-tinged affair with much better songs, almost tailor-made for Jennifer's vocals and sound. That album is a far wiser purchase. 




Lets Go Bang

Actresses who try their hand at singing has always been a fascination of mine. Most of the time, they do a very average, verging on sub-par job ... Alyssa Milano's musical efforts, anyone?? ... and they all seem to go for the terrible, bubblegum pop "Hit Factory" sound. Puh-lease. The majority of these so-called "singers" are probably handed B-side material from established acts and jump around with joy, thinking these so-called "songs" are incredible. I'm not sure what's more unfortunate, that, or the fact that record company executives actually think they'll be a success with sub-par vocal ability and sub-par material...
Anyway, I digress. Knowing my love of actresses-turned-singers ... rather like looking at roadkill, you know it's gonna be icky and make you wanna puke, but you just can't help yourself ... I was very surprised when, in 1998, I saw Jennifer Love Hewitt's two mainstream albums in my local record shop. I had been rather impressed with her soft rock / pop effort "How Do I Deal", and figured that the albums would be just as good. Well, perhaps they weren't quite as good as the afore-mentioned hit, but they were surprisingly good. Her first album, 1995's "Let's Go Bang", is a fairly patchy work ... some great songs (namely "You Make Me Smile" and "The Difference Between Us"), some reasonable ones ("Let's Go Bang" and "In Another Life"), and some absolute clunkers (her diabolical cover of David Gates' "I'm A Want You", being the main offender). On her second album, though, she seemed far more relaxed. "Jennifer Love Hewitt" offered Jennifer material which not only suited but enhanced her vocal abilities. She's quite a natural singer, but the jazz / bluesy sound of "Let's Go Bang" really didn't suit her ... on "Jennifer Love Hewitt", there is a far mellower vibe, offering light breezy pop tunes with a little touch of R'n'B.

The best tracks are the single "I Believe" ... an almost indie vibe happening here ... the "so commercial it hurts" pop tune "Never A Day Goes By" (in its original and acoustic forms), the gorgeous acoustic track "Cool With You", and the Deborah Cox-penned "No Ordinary Love" (how did JLH afford Deborah Cox?!) Also notable is the smoochy ballad "I Always Was Your Girl" and my personal favourite, "Don't Push The River" (great message here, if you're into that sorta thing). There are a few flaws with the album, mind you ... on first listen, many of the songs sound the same and seem to meld together, but after a while the songs really realise their own identities. Also, whoever told Jen to cover the Bee Gees' "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" was quite brave; she pulls it off, adding a sort of R'n'B vibe to it, but honestly, that was a fairly big risk to take!

Overall, "Jennifer Love Hewitt" is a great CD. It's, in fact, my "I'm stressed, I need some downtime just to pleb out and replenish my mind" CD ... very calming. Soulful, mature, and far better than anyone has given her credit for. After listening to this album, Jennifer comes out relatively unscathed ... and so does the listener. 




BareNaked

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Barenaked

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Barenaked

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