This is your brain…this is your brain on music. As peculiar as it may seem, if you’re a lover of melody, you might as well face it you’re addicted to drugs.
Believe it or not, musical research has shown that when people listen to music – good music – the brain releases a heapin’ helpin’ of those wonderful little endorphins – chemicals in the brain that change when positive experiences occur, like exercising or being with someone enjoyable.
Think about your favorite song – the one with the precise pattern of rhythms and reverberations that resonates deep inside you. When you’re listening to choice music, your blood chemistry actually changes. Your pulse races and your heart swells, every time you hear it. And well, you just feel better.
So right about now, thousands, nay millions of skeptical readers are assuredly waiting for the inevitable offer of “prime” swamp land for sale in Florida – or better yet, a clean, one-owner bridge in Brooklyn.
But it must be true. How else to explain the crowd’s musically inebriated bliss at Colbie Caillat’s Fox Theater show? Or the fact that avowed “non-teetotalers” Kid Rock and Tommy Lee were spotted at the show soaking up a little, uh, musical elixir?
OK, just kidding on that one – but serious as a heart attack on this one. From the first intoxicating notes of a brilliantly stripped-down “Realize” to open the show to the last beguiling refrain of “Bubbly” to close, the Fox fans were drinking up some amazing melodies.
After Caillat and boyfriend/guitarist Justin Young teamed up for the enthrallingly understated opener, the talented twosome were joined on stage by Caillat’s outstanding band for a couple of contemplative cuts from her Top 10 2011 release All of You, “Shadow” and “Make It Rain.” And based on the crowd’s enthusiastic reaction to the latter tune, the parched desert dwellers concurred with the sentiment.
All of You is the Billboard Breakthrough Artist of the Year’s third straight best-seller and most intriguing release to date, following on the heels of her chart-topping sophomore effort, Breakthrough, and her multi-platinum selling debut, Coco. And to the delight of the approving fans, Caillat’s soldout show was bubbling with tunes from each.
Caillat began again with the Breakthrough breakup lament “Begin Again,” one more shining example of her ability to craft a velvety melody with meaningful lyrics as she intoned, “Yes, I know we've said a lot of things / That we probably didn't mean / But it's not too late to take them back / So, before you say you're gonna go... / I should probably let you know / That I never knew what I had... / I never knew what I had...”
Now don’t expect Caillat’s fans to ever make the same mistake. They know exactly what they have. The two-time Grammy winner’s vocals have been alternatively described as “whisky,” “honey” and everything in between. But however you describe them, they go down as smooth as silk.
Caillat’s smoky vocal offerings on “The Little Things” were a big thing, proving once more that music calms the savage beast – and let’s just throw beastesses in there for good measure.
And speaking of savage beasts, “terrified” is the best way to describe the looks on the security guards’ faces, contemplating the impending testosterone-fueled stampede of male adolescents as the songstress sang, “I Do.”
“You make me wanna say / I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo / Yeah, I do, I do, I do, do do do do do do doo / Cause every time before it's been like / Maybe yes and maybe no / I can't live without it, I can't let it go / Ooh what did I get myself into? / You make me wanna say I do, I do, I do, I do, I do, I do.”
After only half an hour of upbeat music at the packed Fox Theater show, the Caillatians were already exhibiting some of the telltale signs of Colbie keenness. Like the bald spots that they’d scratched into their heads while fathoming Caillat’s American Idol rebuff – not once, but twice.
But the two-time “reject” confessed to Examiner.com in a recent interview that she wasn’t particularly motivated by the snub.
“I really don’t like performing in front of people or singing in front of people. So I was terrified to do it. My friends talked me into auditioning, so I did. And I did it twice and both times, I was so nervous, I pretty much messed up the auditions.”
“But I wasn’t ready for it at that point. I wasn’t gonna be good for the show so it was a good thing that I wasn’t on it. I wasn’t ready. It gave me more time to actually become a songwriter, which is what I was meant to do.”
Uh, no arguments from the fans on that one either. And she showed off her songwriting chops on the next three tunes, exploring the inevitable intricacies of relationships with the resigned sadness of “All of You,” the declarative devotion of “I Won’t” and the regretful lament of “I Never Told You.”
In spite of Caillat’s seemingly bittersweet lyrical tone, her music has an obvious optimism to it, a refreshing attribute when so much pessimism is swirling around the world. She spoke about it in the recent interview.
“Well, that’s what I do. I mean, I just turn my songs around. You know, all those songs that I wrote either came from me being upset with someone or sad about something or insecure. Half of ‘em are about being happy and falling in love.”
“I try to make them optimistic and I write from what’s going on. But I turn it around the second half of the song and see how I want it to be – or how it should be or the better way it could be.”
After listening to Caillat sing “Lucky” with – or rather to Young, it’s hard to imagine that the bouncy charmer could be any better. And just for good measure, she answered any questions as to her melody making supremacy with an untainted endorphin- fortified “Fallin’ For You.”
Caillat’s artistic comfort with her work was readily apparent (despite struggling with imperceptible stage fright). But she even laid claim to The Script’s “Breakeven” with an outstanding acoustic rendition of the crowd pleaser near the end of the show.
And as the multi-platinum selling Grammy-award winner jumped into the bubbly “Brighter Than The Sun” – right before she closed the show with her biggest hit – it wasn’t much of a stretch to imagine that Colbie Caillat was unintentionally singing about her stupendously solar career.
Oh, and one more thing. Colbie Caillat albums are illegal in some states – so please be careful when you listen and drive.
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