In comparison to Meiko’s self-titled debut, originally released in 2007, The Bright Side is well ... brighter.
Meiko included the songs “The Piano Song” and “Heard It All Before,” two of her more popular songs, and overall had a much more serious and contemplative tone.
On The Bright Side however, with a few exceptions, Meiko’s soft and smooth voice, combined with her bright, cheery melodies will either fill you with the same happy feeling as her songs or make you sick.
Meiko has the soft and sultry voice of Norah Jones, with the tongue-in-cheek, whimsical lines of a Sara Bareilles song. Meiko’s voice and melodies bounce from one note to the next on her 11-song album in a way that conjures images of little girls jumping rope and spinning in circles, while at the same time using lines like “I’m not sorry for saying that I want you, for waiting naked in my bed all day.”
The catchiest songs feel a little too short (as all of the best ones do) and feature a lot of "la la la’s" and "da da da's." But I guarantee after one listen of “Stuck On You” and “I’m Not Sorry” that they will be the ones stuck in your head all summer long.
“Leave the Lights on,” her lead track on this album, is one of the exceptions to what is otherwise a peppy and positive album. Although a lot of the songs on it suggest a stable, loving relationship, “Leave the Lights On” alludes to a secret affair and possibly some uncertainty. Although it’s the positive songs that I predict would be hits on the radio, it's the songs like “Leave the Lights On” and “Under My Bed” on her first album where Meiko is truly at her best.
While I'm more partial to her songs about heartbreak and deception than her sunnier tunes, it can't be denied that Meiko is a true artist and definitely one to watch. Her songs have the kind of clever lines that make you sit up and listen and have a beat that you can't help tapping and humming along to.
Although she hasn’t quite made mainstream radio yet, her songs have been used in many hit TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, One Tree Hill, Pretty Little Liars and The Hills.
The Bright Side was released on May 15. Click here to watch the video for "Leave the Lights On."
Article comments
1 - Vanessa
This is going to be my personal Album Of the Summer - for sure!!!