Talk about a long journey to mainstream success. Singer-songwriter Rachel Platten is currently thirty-four years old, and is currently off the cuff of her breakthrough hit "Fight Song". Before 2015, she had released two solo records (the first in 2003, then a second LP followed in 2011), but Ms. Platten sat on the fringes for over a decade, writing songs for other indie artists but no audience or major record label was even aware of her existence. So, maybe the breakout success of "Fight Song" was more of a fluke than anything else, but whatever the reason, it caused enough stir to get Platten onto a record label which released her delayed third album "Wildfire" on the first day of 2016. Though the title implies a certain level of bombast, the cover art's imagery contoured by soft oranges and yellows conveys the album's sound and feel in a nutshell. Rachel Platten is just too sweet and good-natured to push herself beyond the familiar, so she ensures that much of "Wildfire" is filled with warm atmospheres and gently pushing grooves. She strays from this template a couple times--the Andy Grammer-assisted "Hey Hey Hallelujah" canned commercialism at best, but the generally enthralling "Angels in Chelsea" hits closer to the creative--but Platten makes no bones about retaining the formula of "Fight Song" and streamlining in further ("Stand By You") or accentuating it with more synths and club beats ("Astronauts"). Predictably, the mid-album piano ballad comes immediately after Platten's big hit (the tuneful "Better Place"), and further stabs at folky Grammer-pop present themselves soon after that. "Wildfire" keeps things simple, a somewhat disarming strategy when put in context to the other over-blown diva sets that littered the landscape in 2015, so it ends up being some low-key relief to the mainstream excess. Of course this record is not without problems of its own--there's a much stronger emphasis on song, for sure, but the blend of synths, guitars, and piano becomes background noise, rather than help push the hooks into the subconscious. However, it's hard to fault Rachel Platten for wanting to play to her strengths, because she's wound up with a pop album that is neither offensive or crass, just enjoyably light and engaging. It might be a little too late for her to cash in after the effects of "Fight Song" have faded, though, so there's also a sense of loss here. If she's lucky enough, she can use "Wildfire" as a record to lay the foundation for a more blossomed career, because she shows talent and promise, but the results either prove that her chance at mainstream success has either passed, or just begun. Only time will tell.
Recommended Tracks in Bold:
1. Stand By You 2. Hey Hey Hallelujah 3. Speechless
4. Beating Me
Up 5. Fight Song 6. Better Place
7. Lone
Ranger 8. You Don’t Know My Heart 9.
Angels in Chelsea
10. Astronauts 11.
Congratulations 12.
Superman
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