Corrinne May – Beautiful Seed Live In Concert
Universal Cultural Centre
Review by: Derrick Lim
Corrinne May’s latest gig at the Universal Cultural Centre was one of many firsts. It was the first time she premiered songs from her latest offering, Beautiful Seed, and it was also the first time she introduced props into the set, such as during her performance of City Of Angels, where an array of lights were lowered down from the stage-top. But was it all that good?
It is always a daunting task for any artist to perform their new songs for the very first time, even more so if they are self-written. Will the audience like it? Or will they hate it? Corrinne May’s setlist comprised mostly songs from Beautiful Seed, and it was apparent that the audience was somewhat lost throughout most of the concert, judging from their lukewarm response to the new songs. Admittedly, tracks from her latest album were not nearly as melodic as those from her breakthrough hit album Safe In A Crazy World, which hit the top of the local charts back in 2005. Beautiful Seed is a break away from the tingly piano pop that Corrinne May’s listeners have grown accustomed to. However, Corrinne May did hold her own against the odds – she wrapped her silken vocals around even the songs with weak melodies, saving them from becoming forgettable performances.
The hits from her previous albums, such as Fly Away, Journey as well as Everything In Its Time received the warmest response from the audience, and it was often on the piano-vocal numbers like 33 and Love Song for #1 where Corrinne cut straight to the heart with her intimate vocals. Corrinne also played up to Singaporeans’ inclination towards music with strong hooks with her performances of Little Superhero Girl and Save Me in the encore segment of the show.
One of the many pitfalls that plague singer-songwriters like Corrinne May would be their tendency to play song after song without any interaction with the audience. She managed to avoid that pitfall by bantering with the audience between songs; her banter often with a local flavour and linked to the song she was about to sing, such as Singaporeans’ penchant to queue for good food (read: donuts), linked to how good things were worth waiting for and hence, Everything In Its Time. That is what is special about Corrinne May: she hits so close to home that everyone who watches her believes that they could be like her, a mark of how down-to-earth she really is. Signing thousands of autographs for anyone who wanted it even 4 hours after the show signified how much she values her music and her fans.
However, even with all the positivity and spirituality that Corrinne May emanates in her songs, she may come across as being over-indulgent to the non-religious. While the love for God expressed in some of her music is all good and well, it may bring about an adverse effect on her career. It keeps her within the boundaries of being a contemporary Christian artist with a pop twist rather than being a singer-songwriter with the potential to appeal to a worldwide audience such as Sarah McLachlan, with whom comparisons are rife despite their differing brands of music. What Corrinne May needs to do is to strike a balance between pleasing her old fans while garnering new fans by dealing with secular themes in more of her songs. Honestly, her brand of music may be getting a tad too boring for her fans to handle.
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