Underappreciated artist ~ Vanessa Carlton

There are a lot of singers out there, many of them are very talented but not all of them are popular. Some were popular at first but as time goes by, slowly disappeared from the mainstream music scene, like the artist in my post. I personally think that this talented artist is underappreciated by the mass mainstream music lovers.

Vanessa Carlton

Vanessa Carlton were very popular when she debut with her easy-on-the-ears single, A Thousand Miles. Her debut album, Be Not Nobody, were received pretty well too when it was released. However, when she released White House, her lead single for her 2nd album, Harmonium, she was caught up in a controversy regarding her lyrics in the song which suggest sexual intercourse. From that moment on, she slowly disappeared from the mainstream music scene. Her Harmonium album were also done poorly in the market, possibly because of the controversy but also maybe because of the 'darker' approach that she took with the music in that album.

I'm not really sure why she was not celebrated as a talented artist as much as when she first debut anymore, but I'm thinking maybe because of the approach she took for her music which deviate a bit from the typical pop and commercial sound in her first album, which of course doesn't mix well with the mainstream pop music. But I really adore her music and lyrics; honest and true to life. She's very poetic in her lyrics that sometimes it's hard for me to understand (English is not my mother tongue) but her music really has that calm effects, and it makes me relax everytime I hear her songs.

I'm proud to say that I owned every one of her albums, from Be Not Nobody to Rabbits on the Run. If you've been following her, you will notice that her music became more and more non-commercial as it went along, but to me it still sounds very good. But being the artist that she is, making music according to her own style regardless of the music trend in the market, it became more and more difficult for me to find her albums in the music stores. To be honest, I almost give up in buying her latest 4th studio album when I can't find it after searching the music stores around my town after a while. Luckily, I did found it, around 6 months after it was released in the US.

Some of my favourite tracks from her are as below;

1) From her debut album Be Not Nobody - Rinse, Paradise and Twilight
2) From 2nd album Harmonium - Who's to Say and Private Radio
3) From 3rd album Heroes & Thieves - Fools Like Me, Heroes & Thieves and Home
4) From 4th album Rabbits on the Run - Tall Tales for Spring and Get Good

I hope that Vanessa Carlton would continue making music. She is one of those rare artist where I would simply buy her album without even know any of the singles or promotional songs for the album. Hopefully with this post I would also be able to make several readers interested in her music and would try to search and listen to her songs.