Tissues and Issues

by

Charlotte Church

Edit

Charlotte Church is well known as the soprano from Cardiff who belts out the classics, selling millions of albums of hymns and light opera to crossover classics buffs. She's also pretty well known for her extra-curricular activities too, from blabbing boyfriends, weight related gaffes and other classic foot-in-the-mouth incidents.

She re-invents herself on this album, casting aside the classical façade, and releasing her inner pop star. The album lets Church show her pop, funk, rock and even flamenco talents, but she sounds like a different singer with almost every track. The opening track (and second single) "Call My Name" could have been mistaken for a Shania Twain song, and the same can also be said for the first single "Crazy Chick". They're both buzz-worthy songs, but a long, long way from "Voice of an Angel", especially the lyrics.

There's no filler material here, but listen for tracks where she sounds like Wilson Phillips, Madonna, Amy Lee and even Olivia Newton John. Slightly ballad-heavy, other tracks to watch are "Moodswings", "Finding My Own Way", the dance ready "Let's Be Alone", "Casualty of Love" and the grand finale "Confessional Song".

If this experiment pays off, it'll be extremely interesting to see which direction she goes in next.

Amanda Richards, August 9, 2005

Call her "crazy chick." Charlotte Church debuted as an angel-voiced soprano in her early teens, belting out opera and hymns alongside more seasoned singers. But like many other young stars, she's become a tabloidal darling with her partying and blabby boyfriends.

Now she has joined the pop choir. In "Tissues and Issues," Church completely drops the crossover-classical sound; instead, we get a slew of vaguely funky-Latin bubblegum. But the teen-angsty sound keeps it mediocre rather than amusing, as does the fact that Church hardly ever uses her pipes.

It kicks off with some funk-flavoured pop tunes, which sound perfectly suited to radioplay and clubs. This also disguises the fact that they are outrageously bad -- the tunes are catchy and not too bad, but the lyrics stink: "I may like the rain, I may like the symphony/I may like the feel of your frame on my frame..."

At least nobody can claim that Church is only doing a few kinds of pop music. She also tries out some overwrought piano-pop, overproduced synthpop, and finally some "confessional songs," focusing mostly on rotten relationships. As a result, the whole thing feels very scattered, with nothing to unify them.

There are a few good ones -- "Confessional Song" has a restraint and quietness that the other songs lack, and "Easy to Forget" is an expansive flamenco-pop tune. Unfortunately, these are almost the only ones on the entire album that don't feel like a pop grab bag.

It's actually rather entertaining to hear Church's poorly-written efforts to sound more mature -- lots of quasi-sexual lyrics, with a nod to S&M. It's such an obvious effort that it's actually funny. "I like the sound of your shirt ripping/My will slipping under the table/I like the sound of your hand slapping/Your whip cracking, this could be painful!" Church is completely in earnest, but that only makes it funnier.

What isn't funny is the sad misuse of Church's voice. Though she overworked it in the past, it obviously still has powerful depths. They simply aren't used -- she croons virtually all the songs in a one-note manner that is more worthy of Britney Spears than a trained soprano. Only a few, like the hyperangsty "Even God," make use of her smooth, strong vocals.

"Tissues and Issues" is unintentionally funny, but it lacks any real good points. With her voice and background, Church could have done better than halfhearted imitations of Britney Spears.