Artist: Kate Nash
Label: Interscope
Copyright: 2008
ASIN: B000V3L0ZK
Description and Critical Evaluation
Kate Nash was just 20 when she started topping the charts in her native England. Her first album, Made of Bricks, is a frenetic jumble of catchy tunes and talky lyrics. Her scathing observations on dating and rapid-fire delivery make for some laugh-out-loud moments. Like Regina Spektor, Nash uses a lot of piano, often combined with electronic accompaniment. She also plays the guitar on several tracks. Her singing voice is solid and expressive, but limited in range and not especially resonant. An unusual characteristic of her style is that her British accent comes through quite clearly in her singing.
After the short, forgettable, and irritating first track, “Play,” the hit single “Foundations” gets the ball rolling with a driving beat and bitingly funny lyrics: “You said I must eat so many lemons ‘cause I am so bitter/I said ‘I’d rather be with your friends, mate, ‘cause they are much fitter.’ ” Track 4, “Dickhead,” is much mellower, with slow finger snaps in the background and a repetitive (and profane) chorus. However, it’s no less caustic: “Think you know everything/You really don’t know nothing/I wish that you were more intelligent/So you could see that what you’re doing is/So sh***y to me.” “Birds” is a happier and even sillier song. Unless you pay close attention to the words you may not notice this—the soft strumming of the guitar makes it sounds contemplative. But if you stop to listen, you’ll hear this ridiculous chorus: “Like birds can fly so high and they can s*** on your head/They can almost fly into your eye and make you feel so scared/But when you look at them and you see that they’re beautiful/That’s how I feel about you.” Track 6, “We Get On,” is another great story of dating pitfalls. Nash sings about a man she doesn’t know very well, but with whom she thinks she would just “get on.” She goes to a party hoping to see him and walks in on him kissing another woman. The way her friends comfort her is pitch-perfect: “My friends were like, “Whatever, you’ll find someone better/His eyes are much too close together and we never even liked him from the start/And now he’s with that tart … /He’s not worth your time, ‘cause you deserve a real nice guy.” “Mariella” is one of the most original pop songs I know. It’s the story of a girl who refuses to conform, by gluing her lips together. (“If I want to play, I can play with me/If I want to think, I’ll think in my head.”) Nash uses a range of vocal styles, including talking, shouting, and a very impressive feat of fast articulation—something like 20 repetitions of the word “ever” in a row. “Nicest Thing” is a song of longing, complete with (sometimes out of tune) violin and tongue-in-cheek lyrics: “I wish you knew that when I said two sugars, actually I meant three/Basically, I wish that you loved me.” The album closes on a peppy note with “Merry Happy” (a sarcastic title). Best line: “Don’t try and tell me that you never loved me/I know that you did ‘cause you said it and you wrote it down.”
Why is this title included?
Kate Nash's tales of relationship woe will strike a chord with young women everywhere, from teens through thirty-somethings. Her music is so infectious and her lyrics are so funny that boys will probably like her, too, if they give her a chance.