brooklynsfate

Okay, today I really want to talk about Corinne Bailey Rae’s debut, self titled album Corinne Bailey Rae. You know at least one song on this album, even if you don’t think you do. You know the windows open on a sunny sunday morning while you’re flipping pancakes, girl put your records on. Throw this album back into your rotation and tell me your favorite song. 

Corinne Bailey Rae who is currently in the middle of her 20 year anniversary tour of Corinne Bailey Rae, titled the ‘Like a Star’ tour. Sharing the name of the first song on her debut album. She also recently released a children’s book called ‘Put Your Records On’, stating she wanted to share her love of music with the new generation. 

This album came to me in a time of blossoming love and a newfound grounded outlook on life. So really it was perfect timing. I listened to this album on repeat for months and months with a particular gravity towards ‘Breathless’, track number eight, and ‘I’d like to’, track number nine. This album is still my go to for sunny days of peaceful stillness. 

The whole album is laid over a beautiful soulful R&B backdrop with some jazz and pop influence. Today though, I want to talk about her lyrics. Track by track, I want to pluck out some of my favorite lines and my overall interpretations of the songs. Let a girl nerd out real quick, will you? 

Like A Star– To me this opening song feels like the feeling of realizing that someone in your life has changed you, on a fundamental level. Like knowing them softens you, and clings to you.

“Just like a song in my heart, just like oil on my hands, honor to love you”. 

”You’ve got this look I can’t describe, you make me feel like I’m alive”.

This song is about love in its purest form. It feels like dancing in the kitchen with your partner while cooking dinner.

Enchantment– about a love so overwhelming and all encompassing that it takes you over. Feeling like an enchantment, a love potion. 

“I can’t escape, or so it seems, I’d run away, he’s in my dreams” 

Put Your Records On– an absolute classic feel good song. It’s hard to pick lyrics that stand out because they’re all so good. There’s the obvious, make you want to shake your hair out and sing into your hairbrush,  “Girl, put your records on, tell me your favorite song, you go ahead let your hair down…I hope you get your dreams, just go ahead let your hair down”. But we also get these comforting lines throughout the song, “You’re gonna find yourself somewhere, somehow”. Everyone wants to hear that they’re going to figure it all out someday.  

What I want to point out the most are the pre-chorus’  “Maybe sometimes we’ve got it wrong, but it’s alright, the more things seem to change the more they stay the same, don’t you hesitate” and “Maybe sometimes, we feel afraid, but it’s alright, the more you stay the same, the more they seem to change, don’t you think it’s strange?”. I love these two phrases so much, because YEAH the more things seem to change, the more they really stay the same! And YEAH the more that you stay the same, the more things and people around you seem to change!! It’s just so ugh. Don’t be afraid of change my friend. 

Till It Happens To You– We’ve got a dip in the happy vibes here, we have stumbled upon a song of heartbreak. This song will understand you when the people closest to you don’t. 

 “I know what I said was heat of the moment, but there’s a little truth in between the words we’ve spoken, It’s a little late now to fix a heart that’s been broken, please don’t ask me where I’m going” 

 “you won’t believe what love can do, till it happens to you”.

Trouble Sleeping– The resistance to falling in love after being heartbroken. A feeling I hope you aren’t familiar with but I’m sure you are. 

“Ive got my eyes shut, won’t look, I’m not in love”

 “Could it be I’m suffering because I’ll never give in? Wont say that im falling in love” 

The tug-of-war between knowing that you’re starting to have feelings for someone but not wanting to go through the heartbreak again. It is just such a scary vulnerable position to be in, it will definitely give you trouble sleeping. 

Call Me When You Get This– We’re back on the up and up, we’re in love again! The song itself does such a great job of portraying the excitement of finding someone that you click with, someone that you’re just happy to be around.

 “I just want you to know how I’m touched deep in my soul, just being with you”

 “Guess I had never seen anything beautiful till I first saw you asleep at night and I have often wondered who could love you the way I do?”

This song is the feeling of knowing that you love someone so much that it seems impossible for anyone to match it.  

Choux Pastry Heart– This song includes lines from a british nursery rhyme of counting magpies as a form of predicting the future.

 “One for sorrow, two for joy” 

“three for a girl, four for a boy”

I always think references like this are super fun. Sometimes when it comes to love, I’m always looking for signs. Do they like me back? Are they the one? Will this end badly? Etcetera etcetera, so I like to think including this nursery rhyme is a little like that. Except in this case it’s ‘will this hurt me?’. 

A choux pastry chef is a chef that bakes pastries that need very specific conditions to come out right, so they’re quite fragile. Maybe, like someone’s heart can be. And sometimes, once the final blow has been dealt, there’s nothing left to do but feel it. 

 “I just wanna stay right here until never dawns”.

Breathless– This song has a straightforwardness in its lyrics that can’t actually happen in the situation itself. Because- take it from me- having feelings for your best friend can be a very scary and hard to navigate situation. But this song describes it all perfectly. The curiosity, the understanding that your friend might not feel the same way, and the fear that comes along with it. 

“We have such a good time my best friend, but sometimes, well I wish we could be more than friends”

Nothing gets me moving like this chorus does! It truly has the grooviest, hip swaying beat off of this whole album. I’ve always loved the chorus line,

 “There’s a chemistry, energy, a synchronicity when we’re all alone so don’t tell me you can’t see what I’m thinking of”

Because there’s certain things you can’t explore casually while in the public eye when you are already established as good friends. The energy is different when you’re all alone.

I’d Like To– The first verse of this song paints a perfect picture. One of community and the simplicity of what it used to be like growing up. A time I crave more than anything, because I was pretty young when technology first started infiltrating our daily lives, and this verse takes you back to life before all of that.

 “me and candice waking up to a heat wave, mothers in the garden inviting everyone, we cut up our old jeans and go outside, neighbors always smiling with the baby on her knee, rhea sat on the front step getting her hair combed out and greased, music the bass boomin’ from the car parked in the street, go that new song on repeat”

An upbeat, catchy chorus just trying to get you to understand.

 “sometimes you don’t understand where I’m coming from, I just like to make you see I desire the simple things”.

Butterfly– a song about a mothers love, or something similar. Someone who nourishes you and pushes you to grow. Someone who supports you while you find your way out of your cocoon. 

 “you make the milk-gold sun shine on me, lift me up so high, watch me fly away, and you give me life, like a butterfly”

 “said that I’d be fine, gave me all your time, and I left your side like a butterfly” 

Seasons Change– Two lines that stand out for me in this song are,

 “don’t you know that peace must be nurtured and all the money in the world can buy you nothing”, and,

 “all these things happen for a reason, don’t you go and throw it all away, get yours when the seasons change”

 Because peace does have to be nurtured. You can’t obtain peace and expect it to stay. There will almost always be something around the corner that will challenge that peace. All the money in the world can’t buy you anything that’s worth something. Money can’t buy you love and understanding. 

I have- in the past- wanted to believe that everything happens for a reason, but there are too many things in the world that are unjust and unwarranted. Too many lives lost and destroyed for that to ever be something that I believe in. But I like when she says “don’t you go and throw it all away” because we can always be learning and growing. Even if the only thing you can take away is to love your people harder. On a smaller scale, if someone wrongs you in your life, or if you hurt someone close to you, you can change and learn and grow. You can harvest the fruits of your labor when the seasons change. 

All in all I think everyone should listen to this album in full at least once. Everyone should open the blinds and dance in their living rooms to get the full experience of this album. If you made it this far, thank you for letting me nerd out. I’ve been wanting to write something like this for a while so I hope you enjoyed it! Go listen to the entire album right now!