(03-14-2012, 03:40 PM)john Wrote: it is only after a few listens that they fall in love with it.
I think "Free" will strike a chord immediately with people who can relate to the lyrics.
It will probably end a few relationships.
figure8 found this PopDust review:
Quote:The first post-Idol single is when former contestants have to prove their following exists outside the built-in audience and controlled situations that Fox gives them. It’s when they become either a viable (if possibly midlist) recording artist or someone mentioned only by recappers. Which will happen for Haley?
[song sample]
To “Free”‘s immense credit, it actually sounds like a Haley Reinhart song, not something a songwriter rummaged up from his demos folder. The latter is depressingly common. Early front-runner Pia Toscano’s debut single, “This Time,” while performed well enough, sounded less like Pia than what you’d get if you fed “midtempo pop-R&B track” and “woman scorned” to a songwriting machine. It flopped. Country kids Scotty McCreery and Lauren Alaina’s singles did better, but they too seemed rehashed–in Alaina’s case, literally; “Like My Mother Does” was originally a Kristy Lee Cook album track.
“Free,” on the other hand, doesn’t make Haley more anonymous but more distinctive. The track’s jaunty piano and torchy vocals are closer to say, Fiona Apple, Adele or possibly a funkier Jason Mraz than nameless radio fodder. No, these aren’t exactly outre or uncommercial artists; Apple and Mraz are both either currently having or poised for comebacks, and Adele’s commercial appeal is so seemingly boundless that finding the “next Adele” is almost mandatory for talent scouts and singing competitions. But Reinhart happens to do this jazzy, slightly retro thing well. On “Free,” she gets to growl a bit, coo a bit, and trip along the syllables in the bridge in a way that’s close enough to scatting. She gets off a pretty good hook, too, with her delivery of “want to be, want-you-to-be… free.” As a showcase of Reinhart’s vocal strengths, the single could hardly be better.
...the percussion’s a bit tinny, the production a bit too slick; the backing vocals don’t enter for the chorus so much as butt into the mix. “Free” is most compelling when Reinhart gets to emote unencumbered on the verses or–again–the bridge.
...there’s nothing stopping Reinhart from stripping things back down live. She’s at least got one song that can stand alone.
http://popdust.com/2012/03/14/haley-rein...ng-review/
They gave it 3.5 out of 5 stars but tweeted:
Quote:Popdust @Popdust
@HaleyReinhart Popdust thinks "Free" might be the best Idol single to date (ever)... http://bit.ly/yNJAtC
