When it comes to comeback stories, it’s doubtful that many have a story as daunting and hopeful as Kiesa Rae Ellestad, professionally known as Kiesza. Prior to 2017, things were looking like she would be one of the biggest pop stars of the decade, culminating in a 2014 album “Sound of a Woman,” which received attention from the likes of Madonna. In the years that followed, she collaborated with everyone from Duran Duran to Rihanna and Skrillex. She was a performer in high demand, whose song “Hideaway” promised to bring in a wave of amazing new music.
If you asked Kiesza, this would only be the start of a more successful story. With plans to work on a second album, she prepared for the road ahead. Only, that’s not how things went. During one fateful night in 2017, her Uber ride was t-boned by a taxi that resulted in a variety of personal issues. The most prominent being a brain injury that forced her to live for six months in a darkened room and have high sensitivity to sound. Even when she began playing again, she found that a ukulele was the only thing that her ears wouldn’t find grating.
Living in producer Chris Malinchak’s house during recovery, she was slowly inspired to write music again. While she would suffer a variety of brain-related instances (seeing colors, burning arm sensations, etc.), Malinchak’s collaboration may have been key in getting her to believe in the possibility of making music again. It was the hope at the end of a story that could’ve been way sadder. Instead, she followed her passion back in and created the retro charmer “Crave,” which feels like an album directly plucked from the 1980s from its atmospheric production to Kiesza’s ability to channel the free-spirited joy of the era in every note.
While this isn’t a masterpiece, it is an album that doesn’t need to be called a miracle to like. Very little about the record reflects a weakness, instead presenting the singer with a vibrant passion, able to create joyful songs that deserve to be danced to. Over the course of nine songs, she brings to life the potential of a career to restart after a roadblock. It’s a wild trip just on a sonic scale that becomes all the more impressive in context. If anything becomes clear by the end of “Crave,” it’s that everything will be all right.
If there’s any carryover from her recovery, it’s this deep insight that comes from a woman experiencing internal struggles that few people will understand. It’s as much an emotional journey as it is a physical one, coming to terms with the changes in her body while continuing to have this underlying hope. It results in moments that are brooding, allowing her to reflect on those six months in a dark room and come out seeing something more encouraging about the experience. She understands what makes life special because in a lot of ways hers was threatened in a terrible game of happenstance.
Evidence to the entendre nature of her lyrics come through in the catchy opening song “Run Renegade,” which proudly introduces her independence while drawing from images such as cages and feeling trapped:
Maybe you don't approve of the way I am
Or maybe you do
Either way, I'm not giving an excuse
Because I'm not changing for you
On the surface, it’s another love song about how Kiesza is going to be true to herself. In that way, it’s another upbeat anthem crying for self-respect. However, it can also be seen as her grappling with her brain, potentially crippling her condition and deciding to fight through it. Either way, he’s a fighter who wants to come out stronger than she was before, eager to make the world see her potential, and it becomes clear how much she means it.
While the record doesn’t have nearly the same dark ambiance of The Weeknd’s “After Hours,” it definitely belongs in the same camp as far as style. Both have spent a significant amount of time in the neon-colored corned of the music department, taking in the flamboyance and trying to parse through the melodies to figure out what’s heartache and celebration. The instrumentation is electric, capturing the synthesizers swirling in such a way that it complements the singer. You can feel the weight of every note in Kiesza’s register, pushing through with an urgency that makes you believe that this music means the world to her.
Most of all, it’s an album that exists to bring positivity to a dark and negative time. When the world has beaten her down, she decides to see the best in the world, and it comes through in every song. While they may seem brisk and straightforward, they all work as small moments to smile to remember what matters in your life. There is gratefulness for the power of music, and it captures it well without falling too deeply into the cheeseball nature of the style she’s pulling from. Every song is personal and yet universal, able to understand how a melody can improve someone’s day.
With her title song, she brings energy reminiscent of Whitney Houston, singing to the rafters with a jubilance that makes you feel it. Much like the title suggests, the craving brings out something greater inside of us, and it comes with something as simple as a touch, believing that the human condition is enough to make the world a better place:
You came alive in a dream that I had
Ain't no way this could be
Real, real, yeah
But when I realized you were right there
And something I could
Feel, feel, yeah
Felt a change all over me
Gotta say that I kinda hope it
Lasts, lasts
As much as this is an album looking into herself for all of these deep and profound answers, there’s also desires to return to a former life. She claims to be a lot more mellow following the injury, but there’s the sense that she still has the desires that any 31-year-old woman would have. She wants to have a social life, go to the club and have a great night out. After all, she is making an electropop record that vibrates with intention, desiring for bright lights to beat down on a dancefloor as her songs start up.
It comes through in “Love Me When Your Lie” where she recounts a night of looking into someone’s eyes as the music plays, wanting the moment to last forever. It’s a sensation that everyone does so well and Kiesza is no different. She gives off a radiance that makes you believe in her obsession with the dance. It becomes spiritual, like the colors she sees in her head. Everything is cerebral and emotional, managing to overwhelm her body and force her into these blissful states that are symbolic of music’s bigger charm.
This idea comes back in the closing song “Dance With Your Best Friend,” where she brings in her friends for guest spots. The style is more comical, reflecting something cheesy and welcoming. When Kiesza steps aside, she has Cocanina recall a night of wanting to just have fun without a man looking into her cup. Just have a good time and enjoy each other’s company. By the time that Lick Drop comes in on the chorus, it booms through with a simple but precise thesis for what this album is supposed to do for the listener:
Dance with your best friend
On the weekend
In the evening
You say it's alright
Yeah, alright, so I'll
Dance with your best friend
It helps that everything spins with an urgency that makes you feel like you’re there with Keisza and Cocanina, enjoying the sights of a club that is in motion. While it may seem awkward from a 2020 standpoint, the general census is for everyone to have a good time. Almost nothing else matters so long as the energy is brought to life, capturing good feelings that give Kiesza a reason to keep on living. She could cry that she isn’t who she was, but instead, she’s going to push ahead and dance the night away.
As mentioned, this isn’t a flawless record. It works better as one that is played in the background of a party, eager to get the crowd moving. Even then, songs like “Love Never Dies” never quite breaks through with its high-drama and an operatic pop chorus that is a bit too much. As a whole, it’s a record that promises to leave the listener in a good mood, constantly bouncing from beat to beat. The issue is that it isn’t much else. Taken outside of the bigger story of Keisza’s life, it’s fine. It’s by no means a bad record. If anything, it highlights how talented she is as a vocalist. The only issue is that her music doesn’t always have a distinct enough personality to stand on its own.
“Crave” is a good album. It’s sure to enliven anyone’s day who wants to just dance. Everything is big and loud, capturing the mood of a singer recalling a moment in music when everything was less concerned about problems. It may be a bit simple in its message, but it works with the bigger context of Kiesza’s career. She will bounce back and hopefully continue to make really good music, collaborating with all of today’s best artists. She clearly has so much more to offer and we haven’t seen everything she has to offer yet. This is the start of something greater, and one can hope that the next thing will be a more resonant masterpiece.
Comments
Post a Comment