SPOTIFY – I hope some people still remember last year’s big stand out performer, who we talked about regarding her great new EP in 2015 called Fight Song. Well, the lady since then continued with her work and refuted those who said that following her weak performance she would give up. While the young Massachusetts singer last year could not provide us with too much or good quality material, she has decided to release a new album for 2016 that will change the opinion of her.

Wildfire was released in January, and it is the third studio album Rachel Platten has released. In 2003, she released her first album called Trust in Me, and her second album was released in 2011 called Be Here. While the first album was a failure due to the demo sounding songs, the second album had mediocre success. She gained more fame with Fight Song released last year, which was a great song and no wonder it got a spot on Wildfire compared to her first album.

Better than the first…

While Wildfire has one or two great songs, including the already mentioned Fight Song, we still cannot say that this album is a new milestone for the singer. Her first song Stand By You which is an energetic piece, and might be one of the best songs on the album. Next up is Hey-Hey Hallelujah recorded with Andy Grammer, and is a complete one-eighty from Rachel regarding style, but it is not a good song. Not catastrophic, but neither the melody or the lyrics are that great, and goes against her style.

The third song on the album is called Speechless is a much more restrained, slower rhythm song, that knocks out the listener from the built up ambiance. Coming up in fourth Beating Me Up is another excellent production that was written about last year during our review of the Fight Song EP. Next comes Fight Song, the lovely ladies’ most successful song.

Worse than the previous

Better Place is the sixth song on the album that pulls back too much from the tempo, and the light piano provides a catastrophic backdrop for the song. The Lone Range and You Don’t Know My Heart tries to rebuild the ambiance from the previous good songs, but is not too successful, as Angels In Chelsea is another misstep on this album.

If Angels in Chelsea did not ruin your image of Rachel Platten, then Astronauts will, with its ear killing melody. The next song Congratulations heals these ear injuries, but not before Rachel decides to trip over our ears with her last song called Superman. The last song is horrendous with its lyrics and melody.

That is all that Rachel Platten could provide us with 2016. Suffice to say that the quality songs are from the Fight Song EP, and we might even dare to say that Wildfire is the previous album’s extended version, where they packed the bad songs next to the good. Oh well, maybe next year.…

-Kese-