Kaleidoscope Heart by Sara Bareilles
As reviewed by Tim McCleskey
Kaleidoscope Heart is the sophomore album of pop singer-songwriter Sara Bareilles. Before going into the album itself I would like to briefly talk about her previous work in order to set some things in place before talking about the album itself. Sara Bareilles is perhaps most known for her hit single “Love Song.” Her first album, Little Voice, contains both energetic pop songs such as “Love Song” as well as slower ballads. As a whole, Little Voice is a fantastic piece of work that shows off Sara's prowess with a piano and her lovely voice. It also shows off the magic that good production can work when it is compared to her pre-label album Careful Confessions which contains most of the same songs but simply lacks the flair and diversity of Little Voice.
But perhaps the most significant difference between Careful Confessions and Little Voice is that the songs from the former sound a bit more jazzy. More like the sort of piece one would expect a woman in an elegant blue dress with a pearl necklace and gloves to softly croon from atop a piano while a dapper man politely touches out a nice tune. In contrast, Little Voice transforms these songs from that of a woman who is this sort of gentle soul into one who is happy, free, and independent. The addition of “Love Song,” which Sara wrote for her record specifically as a rebellion against her record label's request for her to write a love song, has a number of layers and meanings to it which make it a fantastic start to the album. Not only this, but it embodies this sort of free and independent woman without coming off as overly preachy or insincere. And, of course, it is quite catchy.
And it is with these things in mind, these expectations and hopes and anticipation that I was eager to hear Kaleidoscope Heart. To put it simply, I feel let down.
Kaleidoscope Heart feels sloppy a number of levels. The title itself is actually pretty well chosen – it is reflective of both the diversity of styles encapsulated within and the numerous songs that deal with matters of the heart. But both of these things are actually the very reasons that the album is simply not as good as Little Voice.
The album starts off on a good note with the minute-long introduction simply titled “Kaleidoscope Heart.” The vocal effect makes it sound rather like Imogen Heap's “Hide and Seek,” but despite how ridiculous that sounds it really works as an introduction. It also flows pretty seemlessly into the wonderfully energetic and catchy “Uncharted.” Even better, this strong start continues into the next song “Gonna Get Over You” which channels some of the best aspects of Careful Confessions with a snappy, piano-heavy tune. But it's here that the worries start to set in. The lyrics for this, and “Uncharted” for that matter, sound a bit more dependent and clingy. But okay, sure, some of Sara's previous albums talked about love and desires and disappointments without taking it too far. I'm sure the next few songs will put her right back on track. But the next song is “Hold My Heart.”
“Hold My Heart” is one of the lowest points on the album. It is precisely the sort of desperate and mopey song that I was happy to escape from previous. More than that, it's boring. The lyrics are boring, the tune is boring, it has an awkward build-up phase which makes it interesting the first time around but the kind of song that goes on too long and really tests your patience on repeated listens to the point that it's very easy to just hit the skip button and move on to the next song.
“King of Anything” was released as the first single from the album and is easily the greatest song on the album. It captures the essence of Little Voice so well by blending together the upbeat energy, the message of independence, and addictively catchy sound. Unfortunately, from here on out the album goes into a slump.
The rest of the songs are all pretty forgettable and continue in the footsteps of “Hold My Heart” and reveal this new vulnerable and needy Sara Bareilles who is too trusting, too dependent, who dwells on her pain and who feels she needs someone to put her life in order. What the hell happened? It's like she went from Beyoncé to Taylor Swift. Actually, perhaps the Taylor Swift comparison can keep going, because she even throws in a wonky country-esque pop song, “Basket Case” complete with a really corny train simile, which easily makes this my vote for the worst song of the album.
But in addition to all this mess she has songs like “The Light.” It could just as easily be about wanting to have some perfect man make her life all better as it could be about Christianity. It is awful. The most disappointing aspect of all this is that she did a complete 360 from her attitude in Little Voice. Here she is writing love songs left and right.
The last song I want to talk about specifically is “Machine Gun,” which Bareilles has said in an interview she wrote to steel herself against the negativity of critics. This whole attitude and the lyrics themselves are all very childish. It reminds me of what Jack White said about title of The Dead Weather's Sea of Cowards and how it was derived from the way people on the internet use of anonymity to spew hatred from a comfy position. The problem here is that these are very narrow and incomplete views. Just as anonymity on the internet can result in worthless and venomous abuse, it has also given birth to some of the best aspects of the internet. In the same way, harsh criticism should be dissected and understood not tossed aside as purely baseless hatred. It is often the harshest critics who bring out the truths we need to hear. So to bring this all back to “Machine Gun,” Sara's lyrics here essentially say that if you don't like her then it's because you weren't loved enough as a child or some similar pseudo-psychology bullshit. It's completely ridiculous, childish, and actually pretty embarrassing to listen to it.
As a whole, Kaleidoscope Heart has a couple good moments that in the end do not really make up for the rest of the album. She experiments with different sounds – super slow and almost entirely vocal tracks, the twangy accent and lyrical influence in “Basket Case, a return to the jazzy sound of her pre-label album in “Gonna Get Over You,” the strangely wonderful intro – but they all feel rather disjointed rather than natural counterparts. Quite honestly, the fact that the best song on the album is one that sounds like it was ripped straight from Little Voice shows that this new album and approach simply is not as good as her last. I don't know if she was trying to progress as an artist with this album via some slight experimentation, but it feels more like she just caved in to what her label wanted and wrote some sappy garbage. Just buy “King of Anything” as a single.