Wildfire Reviews

"I have sent a thousand ships to you, but my messages never seem to make it through", sings Rachel in "1,000 Ships"-- before "Fight Song". "Fight Song"-- named after the rah-rah go-home-team songs played at sporting venues that have mascots-- is about a girl who chooses not to be weak, a story she tells in a surprisingly sensitive way. She takes the theme of empowerment from the general culture, and returns it in a more sentimental way, full of life, but also full of hope. And in "Stand By You" she reminds us that she is not actually about fighting, not actually about separation. 

Track-by-track:

1. Stand By You 

One of the surprising things about this song is how it uses spiritual imagery-- Heaven, Hell; truth, belief; faith, reason-- in an almost casual way which makes it seem the most natural thing in the world, and not off at all. Also note that this is the lead song on the CD, and not "Fight Song". "Love, you're not alone!" "And I'll be your arms; I'll be your steady satellite...." Rachel Platten is not too proud to be supportive. 

2. Hey Hey Hallelujah ft. Andy Grammer 

He really likes her, and she really likes that. 

3. Speechless 

She really finds him to be impressive. 

(IMO 2 & 3 are a pair.)

4. Beating Me Up 

Perhaps a lead-in to "Fight Song". Notice how the line is, "I wish my heart would stop.... beating me up." It is possible to rule the heart, and it is our heart that beats us up, and not other people.

5. Fight Song 

The first verse is so pretty that I'll just quote it: "Like a small boat, on the ocean, sending big waves, into motion-- like how a single word, can make a heart open: I might only have one match, but I can make an explosion." It's not her only song, but it was her breakthrough: "prove-I'm-alright-song!" 

6. Better Place

Some troubles are more persistent than others, but there are still things that give us hope. And there are songs that are about the world, in addition to being about two people: "I'll tell the world; I'll sing the song-- it's a better place since you came along." Like the idea that "Everything Has Changed", like Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran, some things are kind to us. Sometimes there are worse, deeper problems than the ones we see improving, but sometimes too the darkest night gives us but an incomplete sense of the whole day. Sometimes we must believe; we must see how we have been blessed far and above what was given to our parents in the old day. This is now a better place. 

7. Lone Ranger

Some things are shared between brothers and sisters. Women are social creatures, but the girl with too much social anxiety, too much fear of people, can never develop all of her gifts. "But I'm calm as can be, in a room full of strangers." The party can be a frightening organization, but sometimes you must just "drink in sound, meditate". 

8. You Don't Know My Heart 

I guess it is something like a breakup song, but what's striking is how positive it is-- no whining, nothing. 

9. Angels In Chelsea 

"I've got to admit it's getting better, a little better all the time." Allow me to have a little fun with those who disagree with our thesis. In "Labyrinth of Lies", a modern German film about prosecuting SS Nazis in the 60s, one of the old timers tells the young hero, "Your generation knows nothing of loyalty.".... You can't always be peering into Hell though; you've got to see the Angels around you. 

10. Astronauts 

I hate to compare girls, (which is why girls don't really do bands-- they couldn't take it, being mistaken, one for the other), but I love Rachel Platten for that happy innocent girl Taylor Swift-ness. 

11. Congratulations 

A song for haters, dare I say, a song for the Internet. Wayne Dyer constantly quotes Maslow as saying you've got to be "independent of the good opinion of other people". You've just got to let other people be crazy sometimes; the way they were going to "react" was never really about how you treated them; let them go, and you can walk away saying, "I really don't think you get it now". 

12. Superman 

"You don't have to be Superman." People talk about how in the modern world a man doesn't have to take over the earth anymore, but this is what it sounds like when a kind person tells you that there's nothing that you need to do, that she isn't waiting for an excuse to call you an idiot. (It's a very social song, like 11, but about a very different situation.)

13. Lonely Planet 

Isn't it lovely to meet people? 

14. Stand By You-- acoustic 

I think it's repeated to reaffirm that this and not "Fight Song" was the lead song. 

15. Speechless-- acoustic 

Given the title, it's the perfect fade out. 

So that's that. Anyway, people talk about pop, which I'm not ashamed to say is young, but really only tracks 2 & 3 were about sex.