Album Review: Gabrielle – A Place in Your Heart
2 min read
With her chart-topping debut single Dreams and a song on the soundtracks of the rom-com “Bridget Jones Diary”, Gabrielle is a true early 2000s icon. She has experienced a renaissance in the past few years bolstered by an place on The Masked Singer and appearances with Adele and Stormzy. Her 2024 album A Place in Your Heart aims to capture the magic of her early albums while also providing a more modern sound for new fans.
The first track Sorry starts the album off in an understated fashion, while a little slow to start, it builds into a powerful ballad by the end. The second song Miss You is even stronger than the first, with heartfelt lyrics paired with a piano line. It continues the ballad-like style of the first track and improves upon it with an emotive chorus and powerful vocals. Won’t Be There is an anthem reveling in independence, and its powerful and catchy styling gives Gabrielle’s vocal talent room to shine. Good Enough (featuring Mahalia) calls back to Gabrielle’s 90s pop roots, the simple lyrics such as “you should never give up” are heightened by the vocals and production. Mahalia had cited Gabriella as an inspiration and their styles blend well together elevating this song.
Never is a slower tune that utilises Gabrielle’s trademark raspy vocals, with a powerful chorus accompanied by a rising drumline throughout. While Change is a more catchy number with an upbeat snare line that contrasts with the more downbeat lyrics. The titular song A Place in your Heart once again calls back to the early 2000s with its pop sound and infectious beat. Rainbow is the album’s first love song and its lyrics and 80s styling draw an obvious comparison to Cyndi Lauper’s True Colours, but it manages to hold its own with a powerful blend of backing vocals.
Taken Over is by far the album’s most upbeat song with a happy tone and a fast drumline. It is followed by Lifeline and Feel which share a slower sound, and are less distinguishable than the preceding tracks.
The album ends on one of its strongest numbers Conquer. Its strong production and R&B influence combine with its strong lyrics and catchy chorus to make it one of her most modern-sounding tracks while still keeping the sound of a Gabrielle song.
With this album, Gabrielle doesn’t quite manage to recapture the heights of the 2000s and 90s hits. While there are several songs on the album that you’ll find yourself singing along to, some others are held back by their too-simple lyrics and similar sound. Despite this, the highs of this album are true highs and show why Gabrielle is still such an inspiration to so many new artists.
