neither. just skanky schmanky. like what happened to her? she used to be the waify cherubic granola girl with a compelling/repelling edge Like a Tori Amos car wreck you can't turn away from. Now she's gone all pre-fab. Why? Why? Maybe she's really the love child of Cristina, Britny and that Jessica chic who wear skimpy american flags cuz darn it, if ya don't (wear skimpy american flags) you're "against".
...that she is making some kind of statement about women using their bodies to distract us from their lack of talent? I know Jewel can write a song (I have heard 'em), when the other pre-fab (good term!) chicks belt out something by their writing teams I can tell they have nothing invested in their songs. I have not heard the song (Jewel's new one), but I saw a snippet of an interview with her on E! and she seemed to be being all like "You figure it out, I'm just doing what I want." Good for her.
I think it's a marketing ploy. Jewel hit the big time just as the other earnest, earth-goddess granola types were hitting too - ie Sarah MacLachlan, Joan Osborne, Alanis Morrissette, etc. The market for that kind of music seems to be waning a bit, so, as countless other artists have done before her, Jewel has re-invented and re-packaged herself to appeal to the current popular mode.
I'm not saying that Jewel is a no-talent, crass self merchandiser. I think she has talent - as Marney says, she sure can write a song (I haven't heard the new one either). I liked a few songs off her first album, but I find her voice too "tic"-ish and mannered for my tastes.
I guess there's two ways to look at it when artists reinvent themselves - you can either condemn them for being a cynical self-promoter who would sell their scruples to make a buck, or you can applaud them for changing and growing with the times - and it seems as though Jewel is still writing good songs. She's just pitching them to us in a belly-shirted, lipglossed package.
Depending on the way they change. If they make a change to fit in more, and in a less musically challenging or groundbreaking way, that's selling out. If however, they change, and they head in new, exciting directions, it's more likely to earn the respect of me and Marney. Same as seeing more of her.
chico (no login)
Song Name?
July 4 2005, 2:00 PM
What Jewel's new song named? And when is this cd coming out? Does anybody know. Thanks.
Mr CC (no login)
New Album due out in Feb.
November 3 2005, 9:26 PM
Last word was that her next album is due out the spring, perhaps February. She's been quoted as saying that it's almost all recorded.
