It's true. I said it. I have nothing against the little Kiwi. She definitely knows what she's doing behind a microphone. If anything, it's her talent that's holding her back. Like most songstresses of the day, she thinks that because she's got the pipes to bring the house down, she's an artist. But she's not. If anything, she's a technician. If you haven't already, go listen to her Grizzly Bear/Tears For Fears remix. At about two minutes in, she coos out the first few words of Head Over Heels, and then quickly belts out the next line like she just found Jesus. That kind of feminine mood swing is very sexy, but it's almost definitely calculated. Incidentally, I think it's the best work she's done, and it's NOT EVEN HER FREAKING SONG.
Not that there's anything wrong with that. The advent of soul performers singing their own works is a fairly recent one. In the 50's and 60's, you'd have been hard pressed to find a Motown singer doing their own lyrics. Teams like Holland–Dozier–Holland and Ashford & Simpson wrote thoughtful and charismatic songs that great performers like Marvin Gaye and Quincy Jones just didn't have the talent have come up with on their own.
That's the disease Kimbra's suffers from. It's rare to find someone with the observational skills, personal demons and sense of humor to be a talented songwriter, and at the same time be a great performer (see: Amy Winehouse). The personality types the two talents require are almost diametrically opposed. So predictably, her results are a little uneven: "Settle Down", is a charming song on female frustration that suffers from inane lyrics (I wanna raise a child/ I wanna raise a child/ Won't you raise a child with me?/ raise a child), and a break that goes nowhere and extends an already strained structure. Even worse are "Cameo Lover" and "Plain Gold Ring". Both songs exemplify the kind of identity crisis a talented songwriter would never suffer from.
I feel a little bad. Lord knows throughout all these songs, and particularly Settle Down, Kimbra's voice comes across as authentic, sassy and even a touch hurt. She's got the pipes to make it to the top of the charts (Or be the number 1 or download, whatever), but until she learns her limitations, it's tough for me to see her as more than a niche artist.
