The Better Era

[Rachel]

Now that the album has been out a week and I've been able to fully soak it all in, here is my "review" and favorites and all that jazz.

First of all, yes I can't believe I ever *dare I say* "had my doubts", but this album is so much better than I ever anticipated. I don't know why. Maybe I was just worried about what the overall sound would be.

It's funny, because Haley's style is really not a style of music I find myself often listening to. But because it's Haley, I love it. I would say I was a bit worried every song might sound too "generic", if you will, with just the basic instrumentation's, such as the song "Better" for example. It has grown on me as a single, and now that I've heard the album I fully understand why it was made the single. It's in a way, the most "safe" song to make a single on the album. It's rock, it's catchy, it's a breakup song, you can't really go wrong there.

Now at this point, it's probably my least favorite song on the album! (It's still a good song, though). Come to find I was pleasantly surprised hearing this album for the first time. There are so many different components, sounds, instruments, harmonies, & just everything added to these songs that makes each one so unique yet the entire album is still so cohesive at the same time.

There is not one song I dislike. Here are my highlight tracks:

Behave - This one is so different for Haley, but the song itself is so unique and the twist at the end kills me (in a good way) every single time. I love the more sexual lyrics we've been given this time around .

Talkin' About - At first listen, I really thought I wasn't going to be a huge fan of this one. Now it has grown on me, and I almost want it to be her next single! Very Uptown Funk-ish for me. It showcases her voice so well. I think people could hop on the bandwagon because of this one

Bad Light - Freakin obsessed. The lyrics are totally not something I expected from Haley, but boy am I glad we got it. Love the rock ending, guitar solo, and then electronic breakdown that seriously reminded me of the TRON movie soundtrack. THIS SONG IS ONE OF MY FAVES.

Good or Bad - I feel like a lot of people might not be a huge fan of the arrangement, I think it's different than what we expected. But lucky for me I am IN LOVE with it. It's so different and unique. I can't get over the little guitar sounds, I think it's so dope.

Overall, it's an amazing sophomore album with just incredible sound, lyrics, variety, spunkiness, soul, jazz, disco, rock, anthemic songs. I am definitely a bigger fan of all of these songs than I was a fan of Listen Up!'s track list.

Since everyone else is doing it, I'll rank my songs from most favorite to least favorite. CHFIL & Better will most likely be at the bottom because I've heard them enough by now (also I'm not much of a ballad person) ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (ALSO I AM SURE THIS RANKING WILL CHANGE OVER TIME LOL)

1. Bad Light
2. Good or Bad
3. Talkin' About
4. Behave
5. Listen
6. Love Is Worth Fighting For
7. I Belong to You
8. My Cake
9. Check Please
10. Better
11. Can't Help Falling in Love

A few other notes:
-My Cake is good, loved the new opening, but it kind of falls into my "generic" sound category. Don't get me wrong, I love every song on this album, but I find myself liking the more unique songs even more than this one.

-I've read a few similar opinions, I do like Check Please, it's catchy, and I LOVE the bridge, but the overall song is not my favorite. Out of all the songs on the album Check Please sounds the most like a demo still to me. It's not bad at all, but the sound just doesn't do it for me as much as the others do.

-Better, (the song) like I said is really the most safe song on the album, which is kinda why it's one of my least favorites.

-Love is Worth Fighting For is beautiful, I think they captured the essence perfectly. At times I do feel her vocals overpower the instruments but they did a really good job.

-I Belong to You REALLY has grown on me. At first I wasn't too excited about it being on the album. I did hear it when it leaked a few years back. Now, I love belting out the anthemic chorus, it's amazing!

-Listen is great, and based off what I've read online a lot of people really want it to be her next single. It seems like a great summer song. Also now would be a good time to release it during all these political agendas, considering some don't believe in global warming, LMAO.

THERE YA HAVE IT. My full album thoughts . And in case you missed it, here is my reaction video to hearing the album for the very first time:


[Let me know what you think of my opinions, and if you agree/disagree with any of them, I'm curious to see how others feel about the album ]

[Miguel]

Bad Light - Freakin obsessed. The lyrics are totally not something I expected from Haley...

When you’re standing on top
you ain’t looking up

When you’re standing on top
you ain’t looking up

Somehow, I had interpreted this as...

Why are you standing here talking to me when you're lookin' at her?

[Rcul4u998]

Bad Light - Freakin obsessed. The lyrics are totally not something I expected from Haley...

When you’re standing on top
you ain’t looking up

When you’re standing on top
you ain’t looking up

Somehow, I had interpreted this as...

Why are you standing here talking to me when you're lookin' at her?

I interpreted it as the hollywood starlets who feel like they are so high and mighty that the only place they have to look is down... on everyone else.

[Rachel]

Bad Light - Freakin obsessed. The lyrics are totally not something I expected from Haley...

When you’re standing on top
you ain’t looking up

When you’re standing on top
you ain’t looking up

Somehow, I had interpreted this as...

Why are you standing here talking to me when you're lookin' at her?

I interpreted it as the hollywood starlets who feel like they are so high and mighty that the only place they have to look is down... on everyone else.

The way I am sort of interpreting it at least for now, is that Haley is saying when you're standing on top (when you're already at the best you can possibly be) you ain't looking up (you're not looking "up" at those who may be considered better than, over above you). There's no need to look up to be on top because you're already there. Hollywood can't change her

[Miguel]

By "interpreted," I meant "misheard."

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As for the meaning of the actual lyrics, I interpret the song as being about...

Young women come to Hollywood chasing their dreams. They might have plastic surgery to enhance their prospects. Men who can afford to live in the Hollywood hills take advantage of them. They're okay with this. Their sugar daddies tell them what they want to hear, pay their bills, and keep them supplied with drugs. They might possibly begin to think about marrying for money and living in the Hollywood hills. The Hollywood sign is a reminder of their discarded dreams.



Haley views that path as a trap and vows she'll never follow it.

[XAtlantic]

Now that the album has been out a week and I've been able to fully soak it all in, here is my "review" and favorites and all that jazz.
[...]
[Let me know what you think of my opinions, and if you agree/disagree with any of them, I'm curious to see how others feel about the album ]

Rachel, I was going to do the same, write my review about a week in - and if I did, I would have said exactly what you said! Your review reflects my personal views at this stage so completely, it is ridiculous. From "Behave" being a unique miracle with its many layers and sounds, and with its ending getting to me with a rush of feelings every single time. To being slightly disappointed with wonderful "My Cake", which I have always deeply loved as a song - but which I want with a lot more aggressiveness to it and now it is pretty laid back - still great, still very worth it, but not as I had hoped and expected, not with the drive I want from it - but I actually do think that many if not most of these songs lend themselves to a variety of really different potential interpretations, I can imagine them in very different styles and they'd be convincing. I noticed thinking about looking forward to some covers of some of them and what they might do. Sultry My Cake is certainly a possible and legitimate version of demanding My Cake. Maybe Haley is ahead of me in the power game genre. Also yes, I find little to say about CHFIL and LIWFF, they are just gorgeous and beautiful and perfect as they are, nothing more needs to be said, they just are.

I am fully enjoying this magnificent album. The thing is, there is no gap, no isolated peak, it is peaks and layers and more layers and alleys and avenues in the best sense of the word, it is a journey with so many possibilities, a progression and yet a network, it is a whole and yet individual songs - it is a huge thing that is difficult to dissect because it does not lend itself to carving out chunks.

I also share your feeling about not exactly knowing what to expect before we had it, sound-wise, how much electro, how much funky, how much pop and all, and now it is all there blended together with a lot more, and so Haley and music and knowing how to make sounds real in a way that only great musicians can. Still digesting it all!

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I interpreted it as the hollywood starlets who feel like they are so high and mighty that the only place they have to look is down... on everyone else.

In strategy discussions at work we've sometimes reflected on: When you're on top, it really is downhill in whatever direction you look. The thing to do is look for the next peak, i.e. the next challenge, the next opportunity for development - the next mountain to scale, one valley over = the next opportunity for "looking up". In that sense you're not looking up when you're on top ... you're just established, boring and on your way down. The ideas and the movement come from the challenge of still being on your way to somewhere ...

[john]

I'm still soaking up the riches that the Better album offers and can't get my head around the concept of ranking the songs at this point. Haley has put together a creative masterpiece for us to explore.

I love what she did with all the songs we have heard before (thanks to the live videos that Tusk and others have posted). I find LIWFF enhanced by the lavish music that surrounds her vocals, Good or Bad turned out great, and I'm delighted with My Cake (the bass is very cool). The songs Better and CHFIL are tough because I have heard them so much already and I think I need to let the rest of the songs catch up a little before I know where they stand. Of course, the vocal on CHFIL is incredibly delicate and beautiful. Listen and IBTY are great and powerful songs and the psychedelic elements are brilliant. At first, I was not sure about Check Please and Talkin' About but they have both grown on me as I listen to them more. To quote Harry Burns of Lyon "C'est l'heure de fonque ." And, last but definitely not least, my enjoyment of Bad Light has been climbing steadily -- another awesome and unique song, and I really like her live performance of it with Midnight.

[Miguel]

The Laundry Design Works
15 mins

Happy to help our beautiful friend @haleyreinhart with her new album artwork ? ‪#‎haleyreinhart‬ ‪#‎americanidol‬ ‪#‎talent‬ ‪#‎voice‬ ‪#‎album‬ ‪#‎motiongraphics‬ ‪#‎artist‬ ‪#‎ole‬ ‪#‎anthem‬ ‪#‎motionart‬ ‪#‎artwork‬ ‪#‎idol‬ ‪#‎inspire‬ ‪#‎hamont‬ ‪#‎music‬ ‪#‎song‬ ‪#‎feelbetter‬ ‪#‎livemusic‬ ‪#‎studiolife‬ ‪#‎thelaundry‬

https://www.facebook.com/thelaundrydesignworks/?fref=nf

I assume this is an -ole- connection as they're located in Hamilton, ON.

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Gerald GI Griffin shared Haley Reinhart's video.
35 mins ·

Was a pleasure engineering for this young lady. Congrats on her Sophomore album!

He did some sound mixing at one of her radio station gigs... http://haleyfans.com/showthread.php?tid=...3#pid55163

[Jastal]

I love all the comments on this forum about Better with the dissection of each song separately and the incredible collection of all these songs on a single album. In my non-objective opinion, it is certainly a Grammy-worthy effort. At the least deserving of a nomination.

That said, without a big name label promoting her it seems a long shot that it will be part of the Grammy conversation. I wonder if those who decide the nominations will even hear it? Haley has stated that being in the Grammy conversation is a goal for her, so I wonder if the next 6-7 months will be her test to determine if signing with a label is/is not a next step.

[Tusk]

Next time you go to haleyreinhart.com a pop up will play #Better video, which has finally been added to the site

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while trying to figure out LIWFF, for fun, I put the album audio down along w/ video from Palatine...remarkably, where I placed it, the video synced almost perfectly w/ the album audio

https://twitter.com/HaleysTusk/status/72...7614862336