Rating: 7/10
Key Tracks: No one’s easy to love, Seventeen, Malibu, Comeback Kid, You Shadow
“Remind Me Tomorrow”, released Jan. 18th, 2019, was Sharon Van Etten’s first release in a while, as she stepped away from music in order to pursue acting (she starred in Netflix’s “The OA”), a degree in psychology, and work scoring film. While away, she realized she couldn’t put her music on hold, as it was a vital part of her life. Out of that vitality came a newer, different sound from Van Etten. To many lesser musicians, this hiatus could have been a career detriment, but in her case, it enabled the artist to create one of her best albums yet. The songs on this album are some of her deepest, most piercing tracks. They arrive when listeners of the alternative category most need them, for guidance and clarity in the new year. The tracks on “Remind Me Tomorrow” album are extremely versatile, with slow jams and fast songs for entertainment and dancing. Each song on the album has its own story to tell, and Van Etten makes sure that each story in the tracklist is more captivating than the next.
Several of the tracks on the album reflect upon Van Etten’s adolescence, and in tracks such as “Comeback Kid”, “Jupiter 4”, and “Seventeen”, she harnesses her unique vocals and combines them with piercing lyrics and creatively new age background instrumentals to yield surprising new sound. These songs are painfully and wonderfully relatable and emotional for young adult listeners, which make up a large part of the artist’s audience. On “Seventeen”, one of the album’s most popular tracks, Van Etten sings, “Halfway through this life /I used to feel free / Was it just a dream? / Now you’re half shy / Think you’re so carefree /But you’re just seventeen”. These lyrics are powerfully vague and reminiscent of younger days and years, calling the listener to remember when they, too, felt young and carefree, although now it seems as far away as a dream. “Jupiter 4” describes the fleeting feeling of young love, with lyrics like “Turning the wheel on my street, my heart still skips a beat”, a feeling any listener can relate to. Van Etten’s sound, combined with strikingly relatable lyrics, create a showstopping combination for many of the tracks on this album.
If you’re looking for an album that has a little bit of everything, but specializes in new age pop with reminiscent storylines, look no further than Sharon Van Etten’s “Remind Me Tomorrow”, a window into the new era of her music.
“Remind Me Tomorrow” is now available on all streaming platforms.
