Okay so I’ve gathered my thoughts on Harlequin after giving it a few spins for the last couple of days. It is so frustrating to see this untapped potential because I do think the source material is so stale. Even though I didn’t think I knew a lot of these covers, I realised that most of these covers have been sung to death by countless artists. The idea of her taking jazz songs and turning them on their heads, turning them into rock songs was genuinely exciting for me. So hearing the album and finding out it’s mostly the same big band jazz made me a bit disappointed. I understand people being turned off by this album. Taking lesser known songs would make this at least marginally more exciting.
Now to the positives. I really think ‘The Joker’ is the rare instance where she manages to create something exciting. That cover feels alive, fresh and urgent, I really love it. And ‘Happy Mistake’ really is a fantastic song and already up there with ‘Joanne’ as her best ballad for me. It’s such an honest and naked reflection, with fantastic vocals and a soaring chorus (also when her voice breaks in the second chorus, actual chills). Those two make the album worthwhile for me, but they also make it so apparent what I want her to do moving forward. I want her to challenge herself and try and break out of the box. I know she has it in her. I do think she sounds great on every song. It’s definitely her most accomplished jazz album with hints of some much needed experimentation. It would be interesting to see if she dares to write her original jazz songs in the future, mixing it with soul, rock and funk. ‘Folie à Deux’ shows that she is more than capable to write her own jazz songs and succeed. It’s gorgeous and I believe it would be so much more interesting than reheating old covers that’s been sung by every other artist throughout the decades.
Now to the positives. I really think ‘The Joker’ is the rare instance where she manages to create something exciting. That cover feels alive, fresh and urgent, I really love it. And ‘Happy Mistake’ really is a fantastic song and already up there with ‘Joanne’ as her best ballad for me. It’s such an honest and naked reflection, with fantastic vocals and a soaring chorus (also when her voice breaks in the second chorus, actual chills). Those two make the album worthwhile for me, but they also make it so apparent what I want her to do moving forward. I want her to challenge herself and try and break out of the box. I know she has it in her. I do think she sounds great on every song. It’s definitely her most accomplished jazz album with hints of some much needed experimentation. It would be interesting to see if she dares to write her original jazz songs in the future, mixing it with soul, rock and funk. ‘Folie à Deux’ shows that she is more than capable to write her own jazz songs and succeed. It’s gorgeous and I believe it would be so much more interesting than reheating old covers that’s been sung by every other artist throughout the decades.
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