Review of Tough and Tender!
A sophomore album is always a tricky task for anyone. How to expand on what you delivered previously and how to create something that’s fresh and not a rehash of old material. Some people crumble under the pressure of it all and some people rise to the occasion, rarely is their an in-between.
Hannah Beth returned after a brief disappearance from the music industry and quickly began work on her sophomore effort Tough And Tender and may have surprised people from the get-go with the opening track.
Dangerous
A guitar fueled less than friendly track, it’s title said everything you needed to know and it’s a nice change to see a “pop” artist let go and unleash a certain devilish charm. Certainly different from what we’re used to and a welcome change.
It’s a dark tale straight from the Stephen King handbook that follows a young girl with a duel personality, a murder mystery party turns into a real life nightmare as 6 people fall victim to the young girls split personality. It sets the album up very nicely and gives Hannah room to move without raising expectations too high. All in all a good foundation to build the album on.
Shout (I Love You)
Your quickly brought back down to reality with a bump with the second song. A very different, pop friendly approach about just shouting about how much you love someone, Similar in theory to the Alicia Lena collaboration Rooftops (Feat. Ryan Ross Hernandez). It’s a total pop love song and couldn’t be more different from the album opener, it may make some people feel like vomiting at the sheer levels of happiness in the track but it’s charming nevertheless.
Think Again
This song seems to be in keeping with the previous track rather than the opener. Hannah seems like a completely different artist on this track, certainly in comparison to Dangerous.
It’s another radio friendly pop track, it’s a kind of break up song, not exactly an original idea but it puts a smile on your face and provides charm and warmth. Although the song may be radio friendly and pop oriented you can see the maturity in Hannah Beth’s writing, growth from an artist and at the perfect time.
It’s essentially about a girl attempting to make her ex-boyfriend jealous in a last ditch attempt to make him miss her, it’s heart warming and charming, but fails to stand alongside other commercially successful pop songs.
Catch Your Eye
The standout track possibly. Well there’s a few stand out tracks on the album and this is definitely one of them. It’s an upbeat song, possibly about a young girl who happens to enjoy attention but maybe enjoys teasing a little more. It’s a song about a young girl content on flirting with a man at a club with no intention of taking things any further, slightly frustrating for the guy? Maybe but it makes for a very interesting and fun pop track with more of a dance influence to it. Likely to become a big hit in clubs all over the USA.
Best Kept Secret
A decent track but it fails to stand alongside Catch Your Eye, Dangerous, When I’m Dead and A Fathers Love. It’s a song about a girl in the midst of an affair, after finding herself frustrated at sharing a man, she decides to reveal herself as the mistress to her lovers other woman. Despite It’s rhythmic beats, easy melodies and catchy chorus, it fails to give this track any real depth and lacks anything other than a passing appreciation at the musicianship on show. It’s not gonna break ground but it’s listenable enough to redeem it from being considered a poor effort.
Save Her
This is the kind of song that I particularly enjoy. It’s story and it’s depth is what makes it memorable. It’s about a young girl who happens to be treated badly by her mother, abuse, sorrow and a somewhat surprising ending. It’s haunting melodies and vocally one of the strongest tracks on the album gives it a memorable quality.
Emily’s Song
At this point, you may be thinking, please not another love song, it is a story overused in every kind of medium, films have made this kind of story over and over again and there’s been so many songs that have followed this kind of story.
It’s about a young girl who falls in love with a young guy, as love always is when your young, it’s naïve and it’s wreckless and as you’d expect, one of them has to leave and oh, the one left behind finds a new love and oh she ends up being torn between two lovers. However, Hannah can be forgiven because she’s young and she’s allowed to dream, my least favourite song on the album.
Stray
A story about the first time you leave home, a song everyone can relate to and a very honest representation of it. That loneliness and fear you feel and then the comfort and normality that begins to happen as you get used to leaving home. It’s very honest and at some points can even choke you up as you remember that feeling of independence and leaving your old life behind, a sweet and surprise track, definitely worth a listen.
A Fathers Love
This song has so much raw emotion. Hannah opens her heart on the track and you can’t help but feel pain for the person singing. The lyrics are beautiful and the music is just as good but it never takes away from the lyrics and that is something to behold, certainly for someone considered to be a popstar. The music never takes away from the lyrics in this song and the emotion is incredible, it has depth and that’s what I’m looking for from music. Easily the standout track from the album.
Stand Alone (A Fool For You)
A total, teen drama track, in my opinion anyway. It’s about dealing with heartbreak and moving forward with your life. It’s the story of a girl, unlucky in love and now unwilling to open her heart to anyone, of course as the song progresses, she finds someone who happens to start to open heart up a little bit. It’s another pop song on a predominantly pop album, it’s a good track and could be a pretty successful single.
Thinking Of You
This track is the second part of A Fathers Love. Written together with her young brother as was A Fathers Love and it shows just how good they could become as a song writing team, although this isn’t another pop song. It’s about remembering the person who loved you most in the world after they’ve gone and it’s another of those emotional tracks that Hannah seems to have found a niche with and I think this could be the future of her music. If she can continue to write such beautifully emotional songs then she’s got an incredible future ahead of her.
Just Another
It’s another song about independence and it sets the album up for a great ending, the previous track gave you emotion and feeling and this track gives you a smile and some inspiration. It’s about being more than someone’s girlfriend. It’s about creating your own path and walking it. It’s your life and you should walk it the way you want to. It’s about taking charge and it’s another good song.
When I’m Dead
The bonus track ends the album perfectly. It’s an upbeat track about leaving one life behind, will you miss people when your gone, It’s another really well written track and another with an element of emotion to it. A line, “You Don’t Know What You’ve Got Until It’s Gone.” couldn’t describe the song anymore. It’s a very good song and if Hannah can continue to write these kind of songs throughout her career then it’s gonna be a very long career indeed.
The album is a worthwhile purchase. It’s an emotional rollercoaster at times, one moment your smiling and the next your almost on the verge of tears. It has it’s bad points but they’re almost completely outweighed by the good points, standout track, Dangerous, Catch Your Eye, A Fathers Love, Thinking Of You, Just Another and When I’m Dead are all songs which are certainly worth listening to. And there’s a few upbeat pop tracks for the casual fan but for someone looking for something with a little bit more, I recommend taking a listen to this album, it has depth and emotion and feeling but it also doesn’t stray too far into the darkness.
All in all a good sophomore record and something to build on, maybe just perfecting one or two of those pop songs that fill the middle of the album would be a good idea and could in the future turn her work from good into great. But I’d definitely recommend this album.
7/10Review By
Jake WilsonTough and Tender
Chart Positions
UK - 10
Canada - 11
USA - 5
Europe - 21
Asia - 18
South America - 8
Aus & NZ - 14
World - 32
