Stevie Parker - The Cure (Review)

Not often does a breakup album, feel so relateable and so personal and yet so understandable all at the same time. But Stevie Parker's debut album, The Cure, is so raw and so emotional that I almost feel like a fly on the wall whilst listening to this, watching the break up unfold. The bare-bones, darkness of this album is like an oxymoron to how you would perceive the album, the name (The Cure) insinuates that this is the positive side and the bright white colours of the cover represent that as well. What strikes me as I listen to this album is, how open Stevie is willing to be on the album. For example on the track Stay. Stevie is representing the desperation of a break up, the way that you leave all of your pride and beg, you just beg for them to Stay even though it's better that they leave. My personal favourite song on the album is the opener, Never Be, this sets the sombre yet eclectic tone for the album right from the outset. Yet, it shows off Stevie Parker's incredibly unique and powerful vocals.

This brings me onto her vocals. Stevie has such an incredibly raw talent, that on parts of the album you find yourself wondering how she could possibly keep this up. Yet, there's such a great portrayal of emotions within her voice and that's something that's very hard to carry over in music at times because there can be such a gap between the real life story and real emotions and the listener can feel that divide. Yet that is not evident on this album at all, emotion is the very forefront, almost the cover star of the album. What is encapsulated here is rousing choruses, like on the single Blue and we are given an inside look at the iciness of the album, the coldness of the lyrics and the story. Overall, this is an album that doesn't step out from a comfort zone, but that's because there's no need to. Instead, Stevie Parker takes the option to relate to the listener personally by presenting her break up story in such an emotionally driven and idealistic way that it's hard not to fall in love with this record.