Kaleidoscope Heart is Sara Bareilles sophomore album, and within a week of its release on September 7 it was #1 on Billboard’s Top 200- with good reason. It’s full of a wide range of music; songs that make you laugh, make you cry, or make you want to dance. Though Bareilles stayed faithful to the piano-centric pop rock of her previous work, it’s definitely not a repeat of what’s she’s already done.
The CD begins with Uncharted, a feisty ballad that you just have to tap your foot along to. Keeping the up tempo going, Gonna Get Over You is a breakup song that isn’t remotely sad. The philosophical lyrics are wrapped up in sugary sweet melodies, which shouldn’t work but really does. The next track, King Of Anything, was the first single released from Kaleidoscope Heart. Much like her first hit, Love Song, she pairs an upbeat tune with sharply clever lyrics: “Who cares if you disagree? You are not me, who died and made you king of anything?”
Not all the album is straight pop though; there are a few slower tunes that really showcase her amazing voice. Hold My Heart, The Light, Breathe Again, and Bluebird all display Bareilles’ fantastic vocals to their full potential. When given the chance in more emotional songs, she really pours out her feelings with such strength- in Breathe Again, her voice is so sad it sounds like she’s physically wounded.
The other few songs on Kaleidoscope Heart are just plain fun. Basket Case is full of casual strumming and simple lyrics: it sounds like something you’d hear around a campfire. Machine Gun is not a serious piece of art, but it’s playful and Bareilles’ vocal performance is mind-blowing.
That leaves Let The Rain. This was my personal favourite from the album, and I can’t sit still while listening to it. With an infectious beat and perky melody, it gets into your head and stays there.
It’s hard to get overall impressions of the album as a whole: you can’t say that it’s all sweet sugar pop, but you can’t say that it’s a profound piano record. The best I could do would be to take each song as it comes: you’ll like at least one of the tracks on Kaleidoscope Heart, and probably more. If you’re like me, you’ll like pretty much all of them.
Hmmm, this doesn't seem like a very interesting post. Maybe I should add some random facts! But happy, cheery, uplifting facts. prepare to be awesome-ified.
In the last 100 years, the human lifespan has increased by over 35 years. 100 years ago the average lifespan was only 45 years. Now it's almost 80. And that number is increasing every year. If it keeps increasing at that same rate, the average lifespan of a child born in 2008 will be 98 years old.
Teen pregnancy, smoke and drug use have all decreased significantly since the 1990s
Rates of cancer have decreased steadily in the U.S. for 20 years and it's not just because people aren't smoking as much, though that's certainly part of it. It's also because new screening techniques that can detect pre-cancerous lesions in the colon and also because of the HPV vaccine which prevents the virus that causes cervical cancer.
Small Pox once killed millions of people per year, now it has been completely eradicated. It literally does not exist anymore.
Since 1990, global poverty rates have decreased by more than 30%. And they're on-track to have decreased 40% by 2015.
Divorce rates are much lower than people assume, and have consistently dropped since the 1970's in America. Only 20% of people who got married in the 1980s got divorced.
Violent crime rates dropped 5% between 2007 and 2008. And violent crime rates have been dropping consistently every year since 1993
The Red Cross collects 15 million blood donations per year. No one is compensated for those donations, except with cookies and juice. People just like helping other people.
In 1970 there were only 400 breeding pairs of Bald Eagles left in America, but the Endangered Species Act effecively saved the species. There are now more than 10,000 breeding pairs. During the same time Whooping Cranes returned from a much more serious 50 birds total in the entire world. There are now over 500.
What's red and smells like blue paint.
Red paint.
YOU LAUGHED! When you're laughingyou burn 20% more calories than you do at a resting state. So make sure you laugh as often as possible.
Teen pregnancy, smoke and drug use have all decreased significantly since the 1990s
Rates of cancer have decreased steadily in the U.S. for 20 years and it's not just because people aren't smoking as much, though that's certainly part of it. It's also because new screening techniques that can detect pre-cancerous lesions in the colon and also because of the HPV vaccine which prevents the virus that causes cervical cancer.
Small Pox once killed millions of people per year, now it has been completely eradicated. It literally does not exist anymore.
Since 1990, global poverty rates have decreased by more than 30%. And they're on-track to have decreased 40% by 2015.
Divorce rates are much lower than people assume, and have consistently dropped since the 1970's in America. Only 20% of people who got married in the 1980s got divorced.
Violent crime rates dropped 5% between 2007 and 2008. And violent crime rates have been dropping consistently every year since 1993
The Red Cross collects 15 million blood donations per year. No one is compensated for those donations, except with cookies and juice. People just like helping other people.
In 1970 there were only 400 breeding pairs of Bald Eagles left in America, but the Endangered Species Act effecively saved the species. There are now more than 10,000 breeding pairs. During the same time Whooping Cranes returned from a much more serious 50 birds total in the entire world. There are now over 500.
What's red and smells like blue paint.
Red paint.
YOU LAUGHED! When you're laughingyou burn 20% more calories than you do at a resting state. So make sure you laugh as often as possible.
*P.S. I totally just used my school newspaper article and copy+pasted it here. Rebellious.
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