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Kate Nash released her first album Foundations in 2007. It went to number one. The title single went to number two. It won her Best Female Artist at the 2008 BRIT Awards. She was just 19. Snappy lyrics of break-ups, breakdowns and the need to be different won over teenage fans who felt they could relate to the star. Now 22, Kate Nash is back with new album My Best Friend Is You, but is she as grown up as many critics are suggesting?
Kate Nash fans will be relieved to hear that catchy piano jingles and songs about boys have remained firmly on the setlist for the second album, however they’ve now got the jangling guitars on ‘I Just Love You More’ and the strings on ‘Take Me to a Higher Plane’ to compete with. To be honest, the effort seems wasted. Kate Nash is at her greatest when she keeps to what she does best. Clearly a talented singer and piano player, she shines on songs such as ‘Pickpocket’ when her beautifully simple voice is allowed to carry the song, a return to the Kate Nash we fell in love with on Foundations.
Although the music behind the lyrics seems to have matured, it’s definitely the same London girl fronting it all. The only song hinting at the maturity she must surely have gained over the last three years of fame is ‘Mansion Song’, with lyrics such as ‘I want to be fucked and then rolled over because I am an independent woman of the twenty-first century’ and ‘I take cocaine’. Sorry love, I really just don’t believe you. The whole album tries too hard, with some songs forcing Nash to grow up when she isn’t ready and the rest being the same tiresome songs about silly boys and bitchy girls. Surely there’s a happy medium, somewhere that would show us the real Kate Nash?
Everyone knows that the second album is difficult. It has to be enough like the first to keep the fans interested, but different enough not to draw criticism. To be fair, Kate Nash gets a good mix of the two, but it all just seems forced, like she’s trying too hard to be Lily Allen rather than being herself. It oozes of someone trying to find their musical feet, which makes sense when you remember that she’s just 22. Kate Nash has got plenty of time and hopefully she’ll use it well, with album number three getting the balance just right and showing us what the young London girl is really made of.
My Best Friend Is You is out now.
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