I have been a long time Michelle Branch fan, to knowing her unreleased scrapped albums. Admittedly, Hopeless Romantic was a huge disappointment for being a come back album. When I heard lead single "I'm a Man", I got optimistic. It sounded more like her again.
I mean ultimately, album release came at a rather controversial time for her. Producer and husband Carney and her get into a heated exchange about his infidelity. Definitely not the ideal promotional tool.
I will be honest about Michelle. Her musicality is always a little lacking. Instrumentally there are no arrangements that make you just scream how creative she is. It is her vocals and her lyrics that stand out. It makes a dull track have life. So how good her albums are really hinge on her own passion vocally and her lyrical concepts.
The album begins with "Closest Thing to Heaven", which lyrically is honestly a bit bland. The song is an okay opener.
We shift to "You Got Me Where You Want Me", which...sounds like a better version of the first track? There's actually a smidge of musical experimentation here. Good for her!
"I'm a Man" was the lead single and also captures her capabilities. This sounds like a good classic Michelle track. It is nice to hear her original form.
"Not My Lover" is okay. I feel like the chorus melodic choice was a mistake. A very strong run. It sounds so disjointed from the messaging and the rest of it.
"When That Somebody is You" sadly went to the school of Imagine Dragons level of cheap basic songwriting. That really, really hurt me to type that. In case you feel like I only ever trash your favorites, I just shamefully tarnished my own. Michelle what the heck.
"You" is definitely getting us back in the right direction. It is a basic cheesy love song but they always stand the test of time.
I have mixed feelings about "Zut Alors!" It sounds very different yet familiar at the same time. I think it was close to being a solid track but didn't quite reach its potential.
"Fever Forever" is a melodic disaster. That is the best description. She sounds like nails on a chalkboard on this melody verse wise. It is so choppy. Who thought this mess was okay to release?
"Beating on the Outside" is similar to Zut Alors. It was a few production edits away from being good, but they absolutely drowned her in the chorus part of this song. I hate that.
The album closes with "I'm Sorry", possibly the best track on this mess of an album.
LYRICS: 5/10 - There's sadly...nothing spectacular here. Which from my intro should tell you more.
MUSIC: 3/10 - I appreciate some of the new ideas, but this album ended up a mess. She chose on some of these songs things her voice just doesn't do well. It really hurt the album.
OVERALL: 4/10 - Wow this is painful to write. The album is just not great. She needs to MUSICALLY divorce Carney. He does NOT know how to work with her voice. I am convinced, two albums now. Beyond that, I truly don't think better production would have saved this. All her scrapped material sounds stronger than this. Hopeless Romantic had more to say. Overall, this was a huge disappointment for me.
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